I agree with porcupine98 that Reed is the most rigorous of the CTCL schools, however its unique nature will appeal to a very particular sort of student, thus it has an acceptance rate that isn’t most selective, applicants are already doing self selecting.
Whitman also offers rigorous academics, has high achieving applicants and has the latest acceptance rate of 42%, it is often overlooked because of it’s location. Walla Walla is a very charming town and the area offers many outdoor opportunities and eagerly supports the campus with internships and many opportunities for student involvement. Loren Pope states in the revised edition of CTCL that it would have been removed from the CTCL list because of it’s steadily growing selectivity, but still battles the perception that it’s in the middle of nowhere and deserves to get more attention.
BTW HRSMom, Whitman’s former president, George Bridges, left Whitman this summer after 10 years of amazingly competent leadership to take the helm at Evergreen College. To do so he took a huge pay cut, but he is a man dedicated to education and I can see him being intrigued by that unique public liberal arts college, and wanting to help it live up to its potential. I think the future at Evergreen is going to be very bright.
I really got a lot out of Loren Pope’s other book, “Looking Beyond the Ivy League”. It made a very good case for putting a student’s “fit” at a potential school as the most important criteria for attendance. I recommend it as a very thought provoking read.