<p>To add to Mackinaw’s reflections: 4) For many years, support services for students at Reed were underdeveloped at best, a function of the sink-or-swim mentality that pervaded the culture (fortunately, the school has made great strides in this area over the last ten years or so); 5) Reed is intensely distinctive, a stange brew of contradictions; combine a rigorous, conservative, almost restrictive academic program with a liberal, free-wheeling social scene and you have the makings of a place that can be difficult for some folks to negotiate.</p>