You can call me crazy, but this is what I want.
So this is the comment I posted on this NY Times article.
As a rising Junior currently attending Reed College, it saddens me to read the responses to this article that are detracting attention away from the positive qualities of this school. Alums, students, and other supporters have already touched upon its reputation for high grading standards, the percentage of students who go on to achieve graduate degrees, and the higher-than-average number of individuals who hail from Reed that become Rhodes and Fullbright scholars. To be quite frank, it is an excellent school, and those who claim that it "isn't very good anyway" are sorely mistaken.
I'm an ethnically and socially diverse recipient of Reed financial aid, and I am anxiously awaiting the letter that will tell me if I will continue to scrape by or if I will have to go deeper into debt. My parents have already taken out a second mortgage, but they continue to encourage me to reach for the stars and learn as much as I can. As an only child, I will inherit this debt, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make, considering that I am determined to achieve my career aspirations. It may not be a very financially pragmatic choice, considering the cost of attendance, but the value of the education I am receiving here is priceless to me.
I don't want to be educated "well enough" to get into a decent graduate program. I don't want to settle for a school that doesn't suit my learning style. I want to be surrounded with other passionate, determined, and admittedly stressed out students who share the same driving curiosity and desire for knowledge that I do. I feel like I've learned as much from my peers as I have learned from my professors, and that is invaluable to me. Reedies benefit not only from the professorial staff and the academic resources, but also from the knowledge that our colleagues bring in from their various backgrounds, and I would not sacrifice that for a less-expensive university any day.
These are my priorities; few of you will share them, but that's okay. Do what works for you, but I request that you keep in mind that people value education in different ways.
It's all worth it to me. Love Reed.
As a rising Junior currently attending Reed College, it saddens me to read the responses to this article that are detracting attention away from the positive qualities of this school. Alums, students, and other supporters have already touched upon its reputation for high grading standards, the percentage of students who go on to achieve graduate degrees, and the higher-than-average number of individuals who hail from Reed that become Rhodes and Fullbright scholars. To be quite frank, it is an excellent school, and those who claim that it "isn't very good anyway" are sorely mistaken.
I'm an ethnically and socially diverse recipient of Reed financial aid, and I am anxiously awaiting the letter that will tell me if I will continue to scrape by or if I will have to go deeper into debt. My parents have already taken out a second mortgage, but they continue to encourage me to reach for the stars and learn as much as I can. As an only child, I will inherit this debt, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make, considering that I am determined to achieve my career aspirations. It may not be a very financially pragmatic choice, considering the cost of attendance, but the value of the education I am receiving here is priceless to me.
I don't want to be educated "well enough" to get into a decent graduate program. I don't want to settle for a school that doesn't suit my learning style. I want to be surrounded with other passionate, determined, and admittedly stressed out students who share the same driving curiosity and desire for knowledge that I do. I feel like I've learned as much from my peers as I have learned from my professors, and that is invaluable to me. Reedies benefit not only from the professorial staff and the academic resources, but also from the knowledge that our colleagues bring in from their various backgrounds, and I would not sacrifice that for a less-expensive university any day.
These are my priorities; few of you will share them, but that's okay. Do what works for you, but I request that you keep in mind that people value education in different ways.
It's all worth it to me. Love Reed.