<p>As a current Reed student who plans on attending graduate school next year, I will address your considerations in regards to Reed:</p>
<ul>
<li>Prestige: Reed is pretty well known within specific field of science. Personally, I know that Berkeley and UCSF biology PhD programs view Reed graduates quite favorably.</li>
<li>Academics: At Reed, just like anywhere else, you will find people who study very hard and people who don’t. But in order to do well in your classes, you need to put in some efforts. It is easy to find friends at Reed who share strong commitment to academics at Reed, if that’s your concern.</li>
<li>Financial Aid: A lot of international students are on financial aid. I think of the 85 current foreign national students, 45 are on some form of Reed financial aid.</li>
<li>Drug/Alcohol Culture: Reed has a reputation for drug/alcohol usage, but I highly doubt that it is more prevalent than any other American college. People at Reed respect others’ life choices, and there are plenty of people I know who do not drink heavily on weekends or use drugs.</li>
</ul>