<p>Reed is my absolute dream school. I love the atmosphere, student body, location, etc. I'm kind of an odd child so if anyone can shed some light on this whole thing for me that'd be awesome. </p>
<p>I took the California High School Proficiency Exam and went straight to community college after my junior year in high school. I wanted to get a head start on my ge classes. </p>
<p>I have about 13 units from APs and college credit courses I've taken in high school. I'm currently enrolled in 16 units and so I should have about 29 transferable units by the end of semester. </p>
<p>My high school record is pretty bad. I was probably hovering around the 3.0 range. I took all honors and AP's throughout my hs career. I had a little incident during my junior year that completely murdered my grades. Nonetheless I passed all my AP exams with 3's 4's and 5's. I even received CollegeBoard's Scholar with Honor award.</p>
<p>I was part of several honor societies in hs. Held several office positions.. but I'm not sure if it matters seeing how I'm applying as a transfer. </p>
<p>Also, low test scores. SAT - 1780; ACT - 27. </p>
<p>Anyways I'm hoping to get some insight on what I can do to improve my chances. </p>
<p>I'm applying for Fall 2011 sophomore transfer. </p>
<p>Also, does anyone know any school similar to the old reed? Has this kind of atmosphere but hasn’t gotten to the point where its acceptance rate is 30%?</p>
<p>Consider Evergreen State College, in Washington state. Maybe Hampshire college or Bard college. All of these have off-center approaches to academics, are self-contained cultural systems, and allow freedom of individual choice regarding leisure activity (maybe not so much for Bard on that last one–I’m not sure.) “The old Reed” was not merely the present-day Reed with easier admissions standards. Less structure and lower admissions standards often equal more chaos and less academic (and sometimes, less intellectual) achievement. The much-vaunted “magical spirit” thing that is the core of the Reed mystique–many schools have their own versions of this, specific to themselves. Remember that the purpose of going to college is to learn and develop your potential. Ask yourself what you want out of college, and then look at CollegeConfidential.com, especially the student testimonials.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions I’ll definitely look into those! I understand that the old reed is merely this reed with lower standards but they were also open to students that they thought had potential and could grow from being at the institution. Most of the students that have gotten in in the past might not even be accepted today. But i definitely see how raising the bar for admission also raised the academic achievement at the school. I want to go to reed because I feel that I could really grow there. Plus the school supports the same ideologies i believe in. thanks for your input though!</p>