@rayrick yes I’m aware of that, and I was probably referring to the 3-2 or 4-2 engineering programs. From what I know, Reed offers a lot more variety in that (more institutions in partnership with, more programs, including physics and comp sci which is a big plus) and I think academically I’m leaning more towards Reed, since I’m planning on doing grad school and all that. However, I’m worried (probably paranoid? idk) about the social scene there, a lot of people say you get trapped in a “bubble” and there’s a big stress culture etc. I have plenty of experience in working my ass off in high school, and since some people have said the workload is comparable to Chicago, and I’ve talked to an alumni of Chicago and my high school during their interview and they said I’d do fine. I don’t know though, it does seem quite intimidating.
I really like the atmosphere at Colorado, although it does seem in the middle of nowhere and doesn’t seem as impressive as Oberlin or Reed. I feel like Oberlin when compared to Reed isn’t as great, and one thing that sort of turns me off about Oberlin is how intolerable the people are when exposed to non-liberal ideology (and my experience with that sort of social justice stuff is eeehhh). I think I prefer Reed to Oberlin in terms of academics and resources, so I think I’m just stuck between Colorado and Reed right now.