<p>Reed is a very, very good school that is also notoriously Far Left. If you don’t like in your face politics, it isn’t for you. I believe the Princeton Review once had a quote about the place that it was so uniformly leftist that the only political arguments on campus were between the communists and the socialists. If that’s your speed, so be it, you’ll love it there, but some/most people like to take a break from politics.</p>
<p>You’ll find that some campuses are much more politically active than others. They’re all liberal to some degree, it’s just a matter of whether or not they engage in 24/7 political activism or how much they tolerate opposing views. Each is different, and you have to decide how much you can tolerate.</p>
<p>I’ll give you an example from our college tour. Went to a campus where the tour proudly pointed out how “green” they were. Locavore everything. And organic. And then there was the battle over “humane” bananas. Quite frankly, it was a bit much, and a whole-lot of a turnoff. The entire dining hall experience was not about food but about politics.</p>
<p>I really wanted to ask them why they didn’t have local, organic, humane bananas in the dining hall, but decided it wasn’t worth it. I didn’t think they would see the humor in it.</p>
<p>Why are you the “most un-fun person ever” if you like to discuss world events with friends? That sounds like a lot more fun than hanging out at a party playing beer pong.</p>
<p>I agree with SoCalDad, and I am happy to tell you that you’ll find lots of other students when you head off to college who like to have fun in the same way that you do.</p>
<p>I apologize if I misread something, I think OP is a woman? The women’s colleges wouldprovide supportive, not overwhelming environments while at the same time encouraging you to succeed in math / sciences in a way which other schools cannot always accomplish. Academically there are several which hold their own. Smith, Wellesley, Mt Holyoke, Barnard if you can tolerate living in a big city and Bryn Mawr. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yup, I’m female. I’m not too sure if a women’s college is exactly where I’m headed towards…my mum did go to one though, and loved it, so it’s a bit of a grey area on that particular topic.</p>
<p>I just had to ask another thing: In uni, I want to try everything, and take any and all classes, like art, physics, maths, psychology, international relations, ethics…this is allowed, right?</p>
<p>If I am say, a neuroscience major, does this mean I must mainly take courses like bio and psych? Because at college I’m pretty sure there’ll be the most interesting teachers/lecturers/professors (whatever you call them), and I’ll probably end up sitting in on a few classes without getting graded on them (if that is possible at my uni), if I’m forced to concentrate on a particular subject area. Right now I’m doing IB, which is two year courses of only six subjects, and I cannot wait to be at a place where I can learn lots of things as opposed to only 6 for two whole years.</p>
<p>However, if all unis are the same in terms of letting you take lots of different courses, then I stand corrected…but if there are specific types/ones that let you, and those that don’t, please feel free to voice your oh-so-wise thoughts right here.
Merci!</p>
<p>It will vary college by college if not professor by professor and you’ll need to check with each for their answer.</p>
<p>As for how your major works, that varies by college as well. Some have core requirements, others don’t. Some have foreign language requirements, others don’t. But in general, you do take classes outside your subject area - in fact I’d guess that the majority of your classes in almost any program are outside your direct area, though many will be related to it, e.g. bio, chem, writing, etc. Check for a sample curriculum for each major at each college.</p>
<p>Outside of engineering, most students take around four courses a semester, so they take eight courses a year. The old rule was you spend 3 hours studying on your own for every hour you spend in class, and that rule probably still applies to the most academically intense schools. (One class is generally 3 classroom hours per week, so 12+36 = 48 hours studying or in class per week. Plus labs.) But surveys show that at many lesser schools, students rarely spend half that outside of class. You could get away with that at a school where the average class size is very large, in a seminar with 6-10 other students, you’d quickly look foolish, so decide how hard you want to work.</p>
<p>On women’s colleges, I advise those women interested in LACs to go see one or two, even if you don’t think you’re interested. Some people confirm their interest or lack of interest, others flip their interest or lack of interest, but at least they do so from an informed standpoint. D wasn’t really interested but went to see two, hated one, found the other intriguing but not for her, and dropped any interest in them.</p>
