<p>No, Reed isn’t a safety, but for a student who really belongs there it is a much safer bet than Chicago. Chicago used to be that way – the kids who really belonged there almost always got in – but that hasn’t been true for a few years. And Reed is either less difficult or much less difficult to get into than Carleton, Oberlin, and Swarthmore (not certain about Grinnell).</p>
<p>The LACs that seem to attract students who also like Chicago the most seem to be Swarthmore, Pomona, Reed, and Carleton, and of that set only Reed is meaningfully less of a crapshoot for admission.</p>