<p>That is the unofficial motto and dates back generations. Maybe 1920. It mocks criticisms of the school during WWI, aiui. </p>
<p>“Comrades of the Quest.”</p>
<p>OP: at American colleges, students try all kinds of things since most are without adult supervision for the first time. Most students get drunk (at many American colleges, a “party” is not a place where you go to dance and sip something, it’s a place where really loud music plays while you drink bad beer in large quantities until you’re ready to vomit). At some colleges, students would rather smoke pot than dirnk large quantities of beer. There’s beer and pot on almost all campuses but some dorms are quieter than others (honors dorms, substance-free dorms). Not all students drink, not all students smoke pot. Some colleges forbid drinking alcohol for all, they’re called “dry campuses” and are often religious. One college, BYU in Utah, even forbids drinking coffee and tea. Some other colleges are less strict (St Olaf is fairly liberal for a religious, dry school). Some colleges are known as “party schools”, ie., many students like to go to “parties” and drink a lot even during the week (those “party schools” are actually ranked on “top party school lists” if you want to avoid them). Some colleges are “work hard, play hard”, meaning during the week they study all the time, and over the weekend they get very drunk (the first time I heard of this expression, it was relative to Yale). Some colleges are known for drug use (Humboldt in CA for pot, Rollins in FL for cocaine). At most colleges where Greek Life is small, it’s easy to have a social life with people who don’t drink, or don’t smoke, or whatever. However it varies on the size and type of Greek Life you’re talking about. (“Greek life” refers to fraternities and sororities and these tend to condone drinking.) At schools like Washington&Lee or DePauw, it’s difficult to be “independent” (not Greek). At schools like Beloit or Knox, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re in a fraternity or not. Some schools are proudly “non Greek” like Hendrix or Grinnell.
Your best bet is to look for a Fiske Guide, and/or Insider’s Guide to the colleges, and/or Princeton review’s best colleges, and read about colleges you’re interested in.
Does their “culture”, their “vibe”, appeal to you? Once you’ve found a few that you like, come back to this forum and people will suggest schools that are similar. Or if you’ve found schools you really dislike, they’ll provide ideas of schools to avoid. :)</p>
<p>calla1, you say this like communism, atheism, and free love are necessarily things to be avoided. But if you think you know anything about the students who go to Reed because you’ve read this slogan, I’ve some other words for you to believe: “I’m not a crook!” and “I did not sleep with that woman!”</p>
<p>OP, one of the questions that a school like Reed endeavors to teach its students is to be wary of assuming that you know something about that which you do not. The lesson is over 2400 years old, at least, and these are words you can believe. Wisdom comes from being skeptical about our own knowledge and that of others. It is never a mistake to teach students such lessons and encourage them to adopt these lessons themselves. Would that more students were taught this lesson; would that the nation could find it in its heart to support more such lessons, even if it means fewer football games and high-salaried administrators and faux faculty.</p>
<p>Instead of avoiding schools that other people call hippie, druggie, or fascist, I encourage students to discover for themselves. I walked onto Bard’s campus a month ago prepared to dislike it for its artsy fartsy, ultra-liberal rep. Indeed, I found students staring at my leather jacket and boots and I was immediately prepared to say that what I’d heard was true: I’d find intolerance for all kinds of non-progressive, non-politically correct behavior and dress. But when I stopped at the info desk and met this gothed-out, pale-skinned, eyebrow-pierced young man in need of a shave, haircut, and floss, he turned out to be one of the nicest and most helpful people I’ve met on any campus. He was very concerned that we find what we were looking for. I walked up to a young junior studying alone in the science building on a Sunday morning–pasty and alienated might best describe her “look.” She was an artist, it turned out, but she had nothing but good things to say about the science courses she’d taken and gave us a story of her love-hate relp with Bard. She spoke of how hard she worked at Bard and how much growing up she’d done there and that she’d forever appreciate those lessons. Interviewed two other students at lunch and got two very different assessments of the school in answer to the question “what’s this place really like?.”
So get to the campus if you can, and question whatever you hear about a school from anyone else.</p>
<p>"… there was no way students could balance the workload and stay in a near constant haze."</p>
<p>Note also that about 65% of Reed grads go to grad school.</p>
<p>But how many of them do well with that workload? The six-year graduation rates of Reed and some LAC’s with median SAT’s comparable to those of Reed:</p>
<p>Carleton: 92.6
Haverford: 92.4
Wesleyan: 92.2
Bowdoin: 91.8
Davidson: 91.5
Claremont-McKenna: 91.1
Washington & Lee: 90.9
Middlebury: 90.4
Reed: 80.2</p>
<p>Considering that Reed is one of the most rigorous schools in the country, it’s quite impressive that they have such graduation rates (quite a few freshmen can’t handle it and leave after a semester or a year).
I agree that if they were in a constant pot haze, they wouldn’t be able to handle the in-tense workload.
However Reed is pot-friendly in the way a fraternity is beer-friendly.</p>
<p>^ Intense workload? What about Swarthmore? Swarthmore’s SAT scores are a little higher so I did not include them, but the Swarthmore six-year graduation rate is 94.6.</p>
<p>OP: Do what I did, and talk to real people with real experience at Reed. I was concerned about certain aspects of the school, but after talking to alumni from my S’s high school who have gone to Reed, as well as parents of current and former students, I was convinced (as was my S) that it’s a fit for him. Reed is unique and not for everyone. It does attract a lot of unconventional people, and I think that accounts in part for the lower graduation rate.</p>
<p>Reed told us at family weekend that the most common reason given for not returning after freshman year is that Reed wasn’t what they expected. I think that was one reason a new version of the Reed view book mentioned the freshman Humanities 110 course ([reading</a> list](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/apply/tour/index.html?humanities/index.html~mainFrame]reading”>http://www.reed.edu/apply/tour/index.html?humanities/index.html~mainFrame)) 19 times (“You will be reading and reading and reading! -Read College”).</p>
<p>Edit: Whoops, that list is 10 years old.</p>
<p>OP is international. So “visiting campus” and “talking with people” aren’t practical ideas for him/her. However, OP could email the admissions office and ask to be put in touch with someone from his/her world region, or an international student interested in the same major. It’d certainly filter some things but might provide another view.</p>
<p>@Vonlost: the presentation has changed a little, not the list:
<a href=“http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/hum110/[/url]”>http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/hum110/</a></p>
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<p>And, I say, any generation old enough to (still) make their own car repairs has the right to wear whatever the heck they want:</p>
<p>[Long</a>, strange trip ending for VW’s hippie van](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/09/23/vw-van-brazil/2854119/]Long”>Long, strange trip ending for VW's hippie van)</p>
<p>Thank you guys for help, and I’d like to tell you what’s going on, I crossed Reed off from my list, as I’m a crazy thinker but will never do so on behavior, so drug and politicaly-active thing aren’t my preference… Stil, thank you for information. it really helps!</p>
<p>A good decision. It’s a great school for the right person, but not for you.</p>
<p>You’ll do great wherever you do wind up. Best wishes to you.</p>