<p>I'm actually already a college student, but heard of Reed's name, and heard it's a good school, but know very little about it. I generally have posted on threads for colleges that I know something about, but I was very curious what Reed is like.</p>
<p>The reason being that I hear a lot of these small, focused schools cater to students who're somewhat over-focused on academics and want Ph.D.'s [though understandably, such students end up elsewhere as well, for instance myself]. And I want to broaden my knowledge of the different kinds of schools like this.</p>
<p>The only smaller schools I considered back in the day when I was making my decision [because I was basically ignorant of any others] were Harvey Mudd and Caltech [being a mathematics major, these caught my eye of course]. </p>
<p>So, anyone and everyone who knows something is free to comment! Thanks.</p>
<p>I'm a Reed senior parent; DD1 found Reed early in her HS junior year, so I've been watching Reed for over five years.</p>
<p>I think of Reed as a grad school prep college; 75% go on to grad school, 20% eventually earning a PhD (with the highest per-capita in biology in the country). Students are academically serious, yet whimsical; they know to have as much fun as anyone. They are linked by Hum 110, the year-long freshman course covering ancient Greece and Rome (and other subjects), mentioned 19 times in the viewbook. Courses are conference-style, averaging 14 per class. The Honor Principle governs academics and campus relationships.</p>
<p>I think I'm just scratching the surface. ;)</p>
<p>Sounds cool. I have a younger brother with many years to go, and I daresay I will be able to provide him with a more informed view on colleges than I had myself to work with. This is definitely a school I would've applied to if it's such a "grad school prep" environment. </p>
<p>Does it favor "purely intellectual" students? That's basically how I was -- love academics, beyond what most high scoring/high GPA students do, definitely want to go to grad school, etc. </p>
<p>I have no idea how my brother will turn out, since he's very young now, but if he turns out like me, this sounds like a good choice. Oh and, who knows, these sorts of intense small schools sound like interesting places to even potentially get jobs at, as hard as it must be to get positions there. I want to be a professor some day.</p>
<p>We visited Reed a few weeks ago. I think as a professor you would need to be very teaching-focused. Reed profs seem to be especially available to their students and almost every class is discussion based. Our tour guide stated that profs focus more on teaching than on research or publication. As stated above, the Honor Principle seems to be at the very heart of Reed culture.</p>
<p>Two years ago, Reed sent out letters to students who got 5s on their APs , asking them if they were tired of hanging around with inferior beings of inferior intelligence and telling them they would find superior beings at Reed. Then last year the students who got 5s on their APs and who hadn't contacted Reed back were sent nasty letters saying they had been contacted a year before and demanding to know why they hadn't contacted Reed. These letters were a real turnoff. The students I know who got those letters didn't even consider applying at Reed.</p>
<p>Here is another way of looking at these mailings:</p>
<p>Every year Reed "searches" for students with 4's and 5's on AP exams; they get a mailing containing the periodic table. Reed does not request that the searchees "opt in" immediately, but some do. Reed follows-up a year later by telling the searchees who have not responded that if they want to keep getting Reed information they need to opt in, otherwise, Reed will save trees and remove them from the mailing list. The request to opt in or be cut from the mailing list is standard procedure in college admissions.</p>
<p>Clearly, those who find these mailings "nasty" are not a good match for Reed.</p>
<p>I got two fives and never got any letters–but I visited and interviewed (and decided not to apply) so I might have already been on their lists. </p>
<p>BTW, Reed’s very into being different–working hard, doing drugs, getting laid, and then going to grad school. It was the emphasis on doing drugs and getting laid, paired with the bad food (or, at least I thought so, but I visited Scripps and Pomona which have really good food) which drove me off. That, and the fact that so many of their traditions revolved around nudity. On the plus side, I think they are a really good school for science–they even have a nuclear reactor on campus! So you’d have to decide whether or not you want the rigor and the atmosphere, and preferably visit.</p>
<p>Eh. YMMV. They’re pizza was excellent, though, I remember that. Better than some pizzerias I’ve eaten at. </p>
<p>Maybe I just came at a bad day at Reed. However, the other problem I had with Reed was that it’s 20 minutes from home, and I don’t want to be within a MAX ride to my parents’ house. That won’t be true of most other students though.</p>
<p>I don’t recall having many conversations about what I would be doing after I graduated from Reed – until early in my senior year when I had to make some choices. It’s not like Reedies have the equivalent of the “pre-professional” focus that is found at some other colleges (pre-law, pre-business, pre-med, pre-pre). They don’t. What they generally do have is a strong interest in learning. And the curriculum and the faculty encourage that. I don’t want to say “learning for its own sake” – another cliche. I mean learning in order to slake one’s curiosity, solve problems and puzzles, find out how things work, find out how people think and what brilliant thinkers have written, etc. There are many reasons to learn things, other than for learning’s practical impact on future career choices.</p>
<p>I think so many Reedies go on to doctorates (but to be fair, it’s less than 25%) because they like doing research and writing up what they find. They like pursuing problems. And they may discover in college that they can continue to do that and get paid for it! They pay people to do research? To pursue their interests? Amazing.</p>
<p>At least that’s how I viewed it. It happens, however, that Reed so prepares people to do doctoral work that it seems to come easily once they enter a PhD program. Remember that there are fairy high attrition rates in doctoral programs, perhaps 50%. For so many Reedies to get PhD’s implies that an even higher proportion try it out; but I suspect Reedies have a lower attrition rate when they do enter PhD programs because the process is familiar to them. They are so used to the idea of doing research on their own, to taking classes in a run-up to a “comprehensive exam” (all doctoral programs have them), to writing a thesis. Their “product” is something they themselves create. And they put their name on it.</p>
<p>Reed may be an incubator for future PhD’s but it doesn’t style itself as a factory. It’s just a great learning environment. And everybody’s doing it.</p>