<p>So it's that time of the year again, college application time. I was actually a big stalker of these boards back when I was applying to Reed last year (and look where I am now!) so I thought I'd come back and answer any questions you guys might have about life on campus, academics, life, the universe, and anything else that floats your boats.</p>
<p>This may sound corny, but how did you know you wanted to go to Reed?</p>
<p>What’s your favorite thing about Reed?</p>
<p>@UndecidedSr: I actually found Reed on accident. I fell in love with Portland after watching a documentary about the city and went online and happened to find Reed. I think what drew me here was a combination of the academic atmosphere (because honestly, it’s nice to be surrounded in this giant waft of “So you wanna learn huh?” rather than feeling as if I’m simply paying for a diploma) and for the people (more on that in the next response). That and I did an insane amount of research on everything about the school, and really, all of the things I wanted could be found here. So it was partly luck and partly that I have always wanted to find a home in a school of nerds who aren’t necessarily nerds on the oustide, but who all have something nerdy on the inside.</p>
<p>@yankeedoodle – The people, by far and away and nothing comes close to the people I am currently surrounded by. I love my roommates, my dormmates, my cross canyon buddies, my classmates, my community development SEEDS trip friends, everyone. From the Ultimate Team members I’ve had to the people in my Spanish class I can honestly say that I really have yet to meet anyone here I have an extreme dislike for. Everyone here is brilliant in one way or another. Some know everything about Sylvia Plath, others can shoot stop motion animations, and others have an obsession with Chinese Philosophy. There are people here who can and will beat you in Katamari and Smash Brothers and people who will challenge you to think in Hum Conference. And I love that. There is never a stagnant moment where you’re sitting around like, “Huh, what now.” When there is nothing, people make something. That being said, if you’re not particularly nerdy yourself (and I say this in the loosest possible way, you don’t have to be outrightly dorky or anything, but you need to have that intellectual curiosity in your core) this is probably not the school for you. But if you’ve ever come out of an English class one day wishing that the good discussion could have lasted longer (or you’ve always wanted a good discussion in English class in the first place) then you’ll find your people here.</p>
<p>I hear academics are very traditional, what is the workload like? Is there time to go skiing or hiking? Are proffesors open to new perspectives on the material they teach? Do conversations often take unexpected turns, or are they more to make certain points and move on with the curriculum? Is it easy to get around town/ in between towns?</p>
<p>In terms of time the workload can vary slightly depending on which classes you take exactly (Religions courses, for example, require WAAAAY more reading, while studio art classes require sketches, etc.) However, I think it’s fairly safe to assume that a freshman with an average course load spends about three hours a night working on something school related. There is ABSOLUTELY NEVER a night with no homework. I am not making this up or exaggerating at all. There has been no moment since I got here where I have been free of homework. Also, I legitimately spent six hours studying for a chemistry exam last Thursday. Straight. This is after having spent at least a total of six hours studying for the exam in the previous three days. Papers will take hours and you can’t just do them the night before because this isn’t high school or a slightly harder version of high school. This is the kind of academics that will eat your soul away if you don’t handle it properly (again, not kidding, try talking to your friends after they’ve been studying for five hours and see if they have much of a will left to learn). It’s academic masochism, really. It hurts, and we know it hurts, and we tend to question why we put ourselves through it, but then we get a concept or finish a reading and that great feeling of having accomplished something truly difficult and challenging comes in and reels you back in (for those who don’t get reeled back in, there’s struggle or transferring).</p>
<p>Despite the overwhelming amount of work, however, there IS time for free activities (if you learn to manage your time well, do so or perish). For specifically skiing and hiking I can’t really comment because I haven’t participated in either, however there are enough outing groups and outdoor trips that you can choose from that finding a way to do any of the above isn’t difficult. You CAN choose to budget in alone time, tv time, video game time, hangout time, downtown exploration time, anything you’d like. HOWEVER, there will be times where you’ll have to choose between finally taking a break from academics or doing another hundred pages of reading for a class. The truly mature thing (that I’ve realized, anyways) is to understand that sometimes your schoolwork might have to suffer in order for you to keep your sanity. I have skipped readings to get off campus and clear my head. While it’s not necessarily tanking my grades (in fact, it probably isn’t affecting grades at all) it’s unpleasant to show up for conference with little to nothing to add to the discussion. But the important thing to learn about time management is that you really need to take care of yourself along with doing your schoolwork (this applies to any college you choose to go to).</p>
<p>Professors are very open to (well constructed) new perspectives on material. That being said, if you’re coming out of left-field with something reeeeeeeeeally different, you NEED to be able to (and will LEARN to be able to) support your argument/point. On to the point about conversations in class, they’re generally very student led, however, sometimes the professors do need to make specific points because they’ll be on a quiz or a test or a paper. For the most part, however, it feels more like the students are driving the class and the professors are simply there to help navigate the material.</p>
<p>It is SO easy to get around town. The public transit system here is amazingly simple to master, fairly inexpensive (two dollars for a six hour pass is NICE), safe, clean, and… well, if you come here USE IT. Most people stay on campus and get stuck in the stress culture bubble and it drives them nutters. Thanks to the wonderful public transportation and equally wonderful downtown/Hawthorne district/Portland in general life can be better. That being said, unless you own your own car you’re going to have to get creative with getting out of Portland. Trips are easy to sign up for if you want to get out for a weekend, but suddenly deciding you want to go up to Seattle just for the heck of it will probably require a bit of cash. It can be done, but it’s not as easy as it is elsewhere.</p>
<p>Hi StudiousNutcase</p>
<p>I’m Interested In Applying To Reed This January. I Have Two Questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I’m African American, What is The Minority Population like. How is the Overall Attitude, Programs, etc. At Reed For Underrepresented Ethnic Groups?</p></li>
<li><p>I Live In Georgia like over a thousand miles away…Due To Convenience (time away from school) and Financial (about $400 + for a plane ride) Issues, I probably won’t be able to visit. How else can I get a feel for the school and will this affect my chances of getting in?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>hello. How are the study abroad programs at Reed? Is the cost already included in the tuition?</p>
<p>hi there… i’m quite interested in reed. i love what you’ve said so far about it, and what you’ve said echoes what i’ve heard so far. however, i still have a few questions… </p>
<ol>
<li><p>what’s the music department like for someone (me) who’s very dedicated to piano?</p></li>
<li><p>i’ve heard a lot about drugs… what have you encountered, personally? (if that’s not too nosy a question)</p></li>
<li><p>the freshman year workload doesn’t sound that bad. it actually sounds like less than what i have to do now (i’m a junior). does it get worse? what about the thesis business?</p></li>
<li><p>i’m sort of intimidated by the school, actually. i’ve been psyching myself out, reading all this stuff, like how half the people in some dorm are fluent in ancient greek and the other in latin. is it an intimidating sort of place? what’s the atmosphere like to you? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>thanks for your time =] ((i created an account just for your thread!))</p>
<p>Elikipeki, the music department at Reed is quite small, and for private lessons, it is often necessary to make off-campus arrangements. You might want to look at Oberlin, and perhaps Lawrence. Both have Conservatories, and are much more oriented to musical types.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I’m a current Reedie as well, and as a past stalker of CC, I should contribute. StudiousNutcase has given some excellent info thus far, but I’ll add my perspective. To answer some of the questions posed…</p>
<p>The workload is heavy, but you will have time for other things. Right now I am taking a full courseload, working 20 hours a week, I have a fantastic social life, and I’m pretty involved in campus activities. It’s all about prioritizing. Some Mondays I can go out and have fun until 2AM, some Fridays I need to be in the library until midnight. I was shocked by how different everyone’s schedules are, and it took a bit of adjustment to be able to refuse a party in favor of working on a paper.</p>
<p>The professors are very, very cool. They want to help you. I recently had the swine flu for a week and was knocked out entirely, so I was super behind. All of my profs have done everything they can to help me catch up, including offering extensions and giving me notes for longer readings so I would be able to participate in conferences without doing the reading (and like a good Reedie, I still did the reading after the conference). Every class will have its own flavor, depending on the people and the professor. My hum conference is entirely reading-centric, whereas my friend’s is entirely lecture-centric. Neither of these are perfect, so we get together and swap notes and ideas. You have to make Reed work for you. The professors will not feed you, but they will give you every resource to learn how to hold the spoon. Some of them are harsh, but it’s constructive. They will destroy your papers with criticism but are very willing to tell you WHY you’re wrong.</p>
<p>The Gray Fund gets you off campus and provides activities that you wouldn’t get at most other schools. Hiking, skiing, trips to Seattle and the coast, even just in-town stuff such as Saturday Market (weekly downtown outdoor market/tastyfoodstravaganza). It’s all free and they plan some seriously cool stuff. And like I said, as long as you get your work done before you go, you will have time.</p>
<p>Getting around is easy in Portland! The streets are super bike-accessible (wear your helmet, as always, though), people are pretty willing to offer rides in exchange for cookies and/or karma, and TriMet (public transportation) is super fantastic and not difficult, especially if you’re coming from a place where public transport is stigmatized/unsafe. If you want to get out, again, the Gray Fund, or you can use a Reed van (lots of people are certified to drive and many of them welcome taking the weekend off), or take the train. They’re all good options.</p>
<p>Reed tries really hard to give every available resource to minorities. We have the MRC (multicultural resource center) that hosts a lot of events and does a lot on campus. There’s also the Peer Mentor Program (that StudiousNutcase and I are both a part of), that can match you up with a student with similar concerns. Definitely look into that if you decide to come, or search Reed’s website for Dana Bays (she’s in charge of the PMP) and email her for more info.</p>
<p>Check out Reed’s website for pictures and videos. Also Flickr has quite a few. Lots of people don’t visit, and Reed understands, especially if it’s because of financial constraint. Try to get an interview with someone in your area. Reed is big on demonstrated interest in admissions.</p>
<p>Study abroad: lots of programs for languages. The cost is not entirely covered, but about to scale with your financial aid package. Reed will only pay (and again, only in part) for approved programs. You have the option of taking a leave of absence to go to another school, but your student loans will start demanding payment, which is a big mess unless your parents are paying full tuition and you don’t have to worry about that (in which case I envy you). There’s a helpful man in the study abroad office who can answer all of your questions and more. He knows what he’s talking about, but you need to take the initiative and start planning early, because a lot of majors have a lot of requirements, and since Reed is so small and most classes are only offered one semester out of the year, it may be hard for you. Usually people go abroad sophomore year, so yeah, talk to the study abroad office freshman year.</p>
<p>Music isn’t big here. It’s definitely nothing close to a conservatory, but it’s a dedicated bunch. There’s a jazz band that plays weekly and does shows for on-campus events. There’s a piano in the student union that gets a lot of love, but your roommate will not appreciate you playing the keyboard at 4AM.</p>
<p>There are drugs here, but there are drugs everywhere. The nice thing about Reed is that you can do them every day, or you can totally avoid them. What I have to say depends on how you feel about drugs. Feel free to message me directly and I can answer your questions.</p>
<p>I am a freshman, but this seems to be the general consensus: Freshman year is not bad. You’ll spend a lot of time adjusting to Reed, academically and socially. Sophomore year, you will have a lot of work. Your classes will be more specialized, so depth rather than breadth. This requires more independent thought, but the material will be interesting since it’s in your major. Junior year, you’ll be taking even more specialized classes, you’ll have your qualifying examination, and you’ll start thinking about your thesis and what you’ll be doing post-graduation. Senior year, you’ll be doing your thesis, and you will be in hell. Hopefully interesting hell, though. That said, I have a considerable amount of free time, even with all of my extracurriculars. Reed takes into account what all you do now, and if they accept you, they think you can handle it. There are lots of academic support services here, and they totally rock. There’s tutoring at least twice a week for intro classes and you’re entitled to a free hour of tutoring each week in each of your classes. Also, again, professors here rock and want you to succeed. It’s a lot of work and yes, it is hard. But you can do it, and honestly, it’s super fun.</p>
<p>It’s kind of an intimidating place, yeah. Everyone has something they’re into, but that fact is amplified here because you interact with them so much (dorm living, conference classes, the general dorky conversation that goes on). The atmosphere is very chill and encouraging for the most part. People are totally friendly and willing to help you out. I think the coolest thing is that people aren’t ******y about how smart they are. We play video games. We read Cosmo. We play beer pong. We watch Family Guy on Hulu instead of doing homework. It’s college. Of course, the nerdy fun stuff goes on too, but most of us are way too tired of that once class is over to do it outside of class.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you for the replies! Reed sounds fantastic… Too bad about the music, though- I guess I’ll just have to take classes outside of college (if I get in, that is). </p>
<p>Studiousnutcase, I have looked into oberlin also and it does seem epic…I’ll look into the other one, too. Thanks. </p>
<p>Btw, is it true that 300 pages per night is occasionally assigned? Because that does seem like a bit much, especially if it’s in a textbook.</p>
<p>You won’t have that many pages assigned for a single class (at least not your freshman year). However, depending upon which classes you sign up for you can have upwards of that amount of reading assigned per night. If you take a religions class and/or poli sci or pysch you might have that much reading. Religion is fairly reading heavy and polic sci and psych require you to read a few dense articles a week.</p>
<p>How hard is Hum 110 for an international student with no previous humanities exposure (my high school is primarily maths & science.) Similarly, how are the science majors coping with their distribution requirements in the humanities?</p>
<p>I know Reed has a hippy stereotype. How accurate is it? Do you find a lot of “normal” t-shirt-and-jean people there i.e. the average college student?</p>
<p>Our daughter graduated from Reed in May, and she considered her Reed friends to be “normal” (as did we) just as we consider her to be “normal.” 
Well, okay, they all accepted working more than the “normal” or average college amount.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, everyone is totally normal. Eccentric, yes, but certainly normal.</p>
<p>Three hundred a night is inaccurate. I probably average 300/week with hum, calculus, intro econ, and political behavior.</p>
<p>^ That’s a relief. I’m not sure I could handle 300 pages/day especially with cryptic Hum material.</p>
<p>well, the freshman workload sounds manageable, but sheesh, how do the upperclassmen in psych/religion/political science survive? i guess they’d have to really like what they’re doing</p>
<p>Someone told me that the Reed stereotype is someone who studies 12 hours a day and then smokes pot for the remaining 12 hours. I dont mind the studying, but the high prevalence of pot scares me. Is there a lot of drugs on campus?</p>
<p>You should probably try reading the other post about drugs in this very same thread…</p>