<p>@stepay, not having attended either of these colleges, you may be basing your opinions on rankings. What many people don’t know is that Reed completely opted out of rankings such as USNews for many years and/or did not submit the information that would have made the college competitive in the rankings. Why did they opt not to participate? Because they understand that rankings are mostly not a useful or accurate way to evaluate colleges or education. Being small LACS Reed and Vassar are better known by the general public on the West and East coasts respectively but I think if you talked to anyone working in selective post-secondary education you would find they are comparable educational institutions with unique aspects and qualitative rather than quantitative differences.</p>