Reed College :)

Ghostt
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:26:13 +0000

Reed gives great aid to internationals. My package includes over $50,000/year in grants, a small loan, and the expectation that I’ll find an on-campus job to pay for my books.

If you apply ED, get in, and receive insufficient aid, you will be within your rights to back out of the ED agreement. That, however, seems to be a problem mainly for middle-class families as it is harder to determine how much money they can afford to spare, and some schools take advantage of that/simply calculate their EFCs differently. If your family makes very little money and cannot contribute more than $5,000-10,000/year to your education, it is very unlikely that Reed will give you a bad fin aid package. Reed meets full need, which means that it won’t admit you unless the adcom wants you to attend. If it cannot afford to give you enough aid, you’ll simply be rejected. You can see the basic info here:

http://www.desperateguide.com/us/top-25-financial-aid-colleges-in-us-for-international-students-need-aware

I remember seeing another chart that showed that Reed’s average fin aid package for internationals is the third most generous in the country, after those of Yale and one other college. I don’t know which source is more reliable, but in any case, Reed doesn’t hand out dud packages to internationals.

The essays are very important, especially Why Reed, so yep, make sure they’re good.

Your SAT score is a bit low.