<p>laid-back:</a> - Wiktionary: relaxed and easy-going; an absence of stress or worry</p>
<p>No, I don't think of Reed as laid-back, but also not competitive in the sense that students are not in competition with each other. Students are stressed, but the professor isn't going to fail a certain percentage; everyone will succeed if they work hard enough and learn the material. Grades are never posted or written on tests or papers (students must ask to see them, and the culture is not to ask), so there is no grade competition.</p>
<p>I think of Reed as socially laid-back, which is the only kind of "laid-back" that matters to me. I've never felt stressed out about a demanding academic courseload, but I feel stressed out in social situations quite frequently. Thus, I think I'd find my experience at Reed to be a lot more easygoing for me than a school that is more traditional socially but academically laid-back.</p>
<p>yeah i meant it as more socially laid back. </p>
<p>Im looking for challenging academics with a relatively low amount of competition.</p>
<p>I know you meant socially laid-back, I'm more than aware that Reed has tough academics. Like I said, an acquaintance of mine transferred away from Reed because she felt it was too hard to make friends and very isolating at times. She transferred to a school that is equally well regarded academically, if not more so, so I don't think academics were the problem. I got the impression that she liked the level of academic difficulty but did say it is very competitive and unsociable. I didn't ask her too much about it since she just mentioned in passing (since she knows I'm actually a big fan of Reed and it was one of my top undergrad choices; don't get me wrong, I think it's a fantastic school.)</p>
<p>You should just think about it when you visit, since I'm only talking anecdotes. She might very well be an oddity (there are unhappy people at every school!)</p>
<p>lazydog, is your friend still at ohio wesleyan? it is hard to make cross-college comparisons without using objective data. i am not a huge believer in perceptions or stereotypes. for example, many college counselors who rely or promote such stereotypes are a generation above the college-aged kids who make decisions and many of these counselors have never really even visited the campuses they are supposedly giving advice about or are giving advice based on old visits. go figure. i personally like the princeton review ratings on college culture. the books attempts to get as close as possible to an objective survey-based method of capturing the vague idea of what perceptions attempt to proxy. This is what PR has listed for students' opinion about OWU:</p>
<p>Ohio Wesleyan Students Say...</p>
<p>“The high percentage of international students” is one factor that causes OWU students to describe the school as “very diverse,” although they also acknowledge the presence of “your usual preps with popped-up collars.” As one student puts it, this “snobby, preppy image” is in fact “a stereotype that belies the camaraderie that really pervades the campus.” The school’s “Numerous student organizations facilitate cross-cultural discourse. OWU is also very GBLT friendly, with sexual identity courses and discussion forums a regular aspect of OWU’s social and cultural scene.” One student observes, “It is not unusual to see people walking around with mohawks, or to see people walking around in seersuckers.</p>