Honest Parent Impressions of Reed College

Parents Forum
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<p>Honest opinion from a rising sophomore: She is going to go back, and there are some things she really likes about it, but she says drugs are a terrible problem (and she's not a goody two shoes). She also observed that the students tend not to be very balanced. There is an intensity and a self absorption that goes beyond normal 18 year olds. This is D's best friend who hangs out at our house all the time when she's home from Portland. </p>

<p>These are quirky kids--not the bright well rounded types she was friends with in high school. It is exhausting for her to be around all of the angst. She likes returning to her high school friends for a dose of reality and fun. The classes are hard--she does say the education is fabulous, but it is taxing.</p>

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<p>*he also observed that the students tend not to be very balanced. There is an intensity and a self absorption that goes beyond normal 18 year olds. *</p>

<p>I would disagree from my view of Reed as a parent.
I would however restate my observation that , that which we find most irritating in others, is that, that we are trying to deny in ourselves.</p>

<p>I would bet that, the observations made by that college freshman, say more about herself than her classmates.</p>

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<p>I'm not a fan of Reed. It is very much a work hard / play hard type of place to the point of not being all that healthy. I know of two students who went to Reed and ultimately graduated (within the last 5 years), but both struggled a bit (and more than just typical adjusting to college). </p>

<p>I'm sure that Reed is just great for many students as others here have posted, but I definitely have a different opinion from most of the other ones posted here</p>

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<p>
[quote]
If you are a freshman, who decides to have a glass of wine in commons with your dinner, you really aren't affecting anyone else as long as you bus your table/take some to the scroungers.

[/quote]
Underage drinking okay in full view in the commons (I assume that it is communal dining area)? How about drug use? As long as it's not affecting anyone else, that is, of course. And no one does anything? The college doesn't follow state and federal laws? </p>

<p>Is this the way it is at Reed, Emeraldkity4? (I doubt that it is.) If not, then you must not be very happy with the place!</p>

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<p>Two of my kids' close friends are at Reed. One is a quirky type -- sweet, a neo-hippie, the kind of kid who was interested in Buddhism at 15. The other is bright, well-rounded, athletic, an alpha-male natural leader who wants to make a million bucks. Neither one is particularly intense.</p>

<p>I'll also add that I think Colin Diver, Reed's president, is terrific. He's the hero of Anthony Lukas's book Common Ground, about desegregation in Boston in the 1970s, and he was an excellent dean at Penn Law School. He's someone who really understands the relationship between scholarship and civic virtue, and he knows how to be a leader within an academic institution.</p>

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<p>I think the school tries to walk a very fine line between enforcing the rules and policies and maintaining the trust of the student body. In part they do this by recognizing that these are kids making their first decisions (sometimes bad) as young adults. In addition the honor principal and the way it is enacted (constantly interpreted in light of actions being reviewed) allows the community to be self policing. It is taken seriously and there is a lively discussion that goes on in various campus forums about what it means for student life.
In a parent meeting at orientation a couple years ago the admin (the counselors and campus security staff) made the point that one of their primary concerns was to make sure students felt comfortable calling for help if they need it. In other words they see themselves as being there as a safety net for the students. They don’t do this if they feel threatened (Campus security as enforcers). From the list of Security incidents in the student paper – many of them consist of intervention when rules are being broken (confiscating paraphernalia for example – so no, open drug use isn’t tolerated) and coming to the aid of students (bike accidents, questionable people on campus).</p>

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<p>*Underage drinking okay in full view in the commons (I assume that it is communal dining area)? How about drug use? As long as it's not affecting anyone else, that is, of course. And no one does anything? The college doesn't follow state and federal laws? </p>

<p>Is this the way it is at Reed, Emeraldkity4? (I doubt that it is.) If not, then you must not be very happy with the place!*</p>

<p>If illegal drug use is really in your face, then it is affecting others, because it compels others to act, but no, an occasional bong under the blue bridge or glass of wine with dinner doesn't make a ripple in my opinion, and while there are things I don't like about Reed , that isn't some of them.</p>

<p>My younger daughter is 8 years younger than her sister, and she took the train many times over the years my oldest was at Reed to visit, including staying on campus. We would go as a family several times a year as well & younger D got to know some of the students well enough that during her sisters year off, in what would have been her original year to graduate, I took my youngest out of school for the ceremony.
There are students who are very intense at Reed, it kinda goes with the age, plus I don't think it is something to be embarrassed about.
Among my daughters friends at Reed was a young woman from an Idaho Catholic school who brought heels and nylons in her wardrobe and wore them;) , a young man who was a theatre major and who won an Obie last year, a young woman who played rugby ( like D#2 and cut her hair during a game because it was getting in her way. She is now in med school at Tulane)
They also include a man who worked as an EMT during his college days and now is a EMT-Paramedic & loves it.
She also counted among her friends, community service officers & staff/faculty, and I was heartened by the willingness and interest of the older adults on campus to spend time with the students on their off hours.</p>

<p>D has played paintball with Peter Steinberger, went to see all the Harry Potter movies that came out during her time at Reed with her advisor and his family, had dinner at his house several times, enjoyed a knitting group (some claim she taught 3/4 of the campus to knit) on Sundays for many months a group took turns reading Harry Potter aloud, while she was more reticent in high school, she co-led an ADD support group weekly @ Reed, and I even think she may have taught one or two classes during Paideia ( the break inbetween semesters)</p>

<p>Yes there may be inyour face drinking at Reed, if you are in the right place, Im sure there is in your face drinking at my daughters high school in some areas, but I don't see it & it hasn't affected them adversely as far as I can tell. There are many things that molded D's experience at Reed, and as she already was responsible and mature, aided by her year off doing community service, she wasn't harmed by the expectation that she was responsible for her own behavior.</p>

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<p>S1 looked at Reed as an alternative to UChicago (where he ultimately chose to attend). Absolutely loved the place. S2 (currently a soph) also liked it a lot and it's on his current list. Neither one is into the partying scene, but tend towards live-and-let-live. I would want to be confident that my kids are self-starters and can manage their behavior and workloads well, however.</p>

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<p>I'm not a partent, but as someone who knows a couple of Reed students and a Reed transfer:</p>

<p>a) Reed is a fantastic school acedemically. Make sure your D understands about their distribution requirements, because they aren't everyone's cup of tea, but if she goes to Reed she will get and awesome and intense education.</p>

<p>b) OTOH, I very much agree with MomofWildChild that Reed is the perfect place for some people, but very much not for others. If your D liked it, def. have her apply, but have her visit overnight if at all possible before enrolling, if that ends up being an option. </p>

<p>I have on friend therw who likes it a lot (she is the kind of intese person someone was talking about), and one of the coolist and most interesting (and fairly balanced) people I know graduated from their a couple of years ago and adored it. OTOH, another guy I know, though he still says he likes it, has been VERY worn down by it, had to take a year off, and just doesn't seem like the happy guy he was in highschool. And I know a girl who transfered from Reed to Wesleyan because she wanted a more balanced community...and while Wes is more balanced than most give it credit for, I still think that says something.</p>

<p>SO, def. have your D apply if she likes it, because it is a great school. But really try to figure out if it is the right school for her if it ends up being an option...it may be that it is her faviorte by a mile, because there are few places like it, but it might be that she ends up not feeling quite comfortable.</p>

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<p>Interesting link between Reed & UChicago, many students it seems have both on their short lists. I believe I read somewhere that UChicago is one of the most frequent destinations for Reedies doing graduate work. I personally love the place and know people who teach there. They adore their students, and are committed to Reed's teaching philosophy and intellectual culture. This is extremely important, and I believe why the education is so good there.</p>

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<p>idad,
S liked both Reed and Chicago because Reed also has a humanities core, dedication to teaching, a well-regarded math department and they are #4 (behind MIT, Caltech and Mudd, if I recall) on the list for sending their math graduates on to PhD programs. He also likes quirky and intellectual.</p>

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<p>I'm a parent of a freshman at Reed. I also have a couple of friends who attended Reed and burned out -- left before getting a degree. Because of that, I was concerned about how my son would do, given that he was used to breezing through classes that were never hard enough, and doing papers the night before they were due. </p>

<p>What I've seen is over the course of the year, he has developed much better study habits and generally more confidence in his abilities. He's still stressed sometimes, but as an example, he had a rough draft of his most recent HUM110 paper done almost two weeks before it was due. My impression is that he's also maturing socially wrt how he handles relationships. </p>

<p>Reed's policies seem to be focused on students developing personal integrity in their choices and actions, not in creating a "safe" restrictive environment. Another parent suggested that the school should or could focus on creating a "drug-free" campus, thus pushing drug use and drug users off campus. As a parent, I think that would be a bad idea, because it ignores the complexities of the issue to create a false sense of security. Honestly, I think the Reed community will handle the matter in the Reed way -- dialogue, community debate, and realignment of community standards and norms, if necessary.</p>

<p>At the risk of seeming rude, I think that Reed isn't a good choice for a family with an authoritarian structure. If your family is about the parents being in control and valuing obedience over collaboration, Reed is likely to feel like it's undermining your family structure, because it's so different from that. Having my son at Reed involved saying explicitly, "I respect your ability to make choices for yourself, and to choose responsibly and with integrity, without me or anyone else setting down absolute rules." I have friends who would not be comfortable doing that; I get the impression that there are CC parents who are not okay with that, either.</p>

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<p>In my opinion, for most of us, sending your son or daughter away to college is saying "we trust your ability to make decisions". I can't see how Reed is any different than almost any college in that regard.
I suppose some schools are less supportive, institutionally or by philosophy, than others. I've spent much of my life in and around the University of Chicago, which will certainly treat you like an adult, more for institutional reasons than philosophical ones. The University has historically been dominated by graduate and professional programs.</p>

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<p>You know, danas, you'd think that, but CC is full of threads from parents and students that have to do with parents not trusting students to make decisions, or students being refused choices. That includes everything from parents making the final college choice (not related to financial choices) to parents decided whether a student can live on or off campus, if they can be in a co-ed dorm, if the student must show their grades to the parent. There are entire threads devoted to parents discussing how they do not allow their students to drink, sleep over with intimate partners, things like that. For many of the families in those threads, it seems a family-held value that parents have decision making power, even over their college-age children. </p>

<p>Yes, I <em>do</em> think that Reed's policy concerning drug and alcohol use is different from many colleges, and I do think that it would bother families that are used to have rules applied externally.</p>

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<p>TrinSF...
You make some very good points.
However, I think the "loco parentis" (sp?) thing was settled in the 1970s. With the exception of schools like Brigham Young, colleges and universities, in particular the elites, have taken a "hands off" stance on student activities. The exception, from what I can see, is for students who seem suicidal. The elites seem to want those folks separated from the institution as quickly as possible.
Parents, on the other hand, are capable of micromanaging their kids regardless of the institution, particularly when it comes to the power of the purse. They may refuse to pay for a studio art major, or to pony up for an off campus apartment. I can't see how the nature of the institution makes much difference.</p>

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<p>You know, in theory they may all be alike. In practice, I have walked into the Sallyport at Reed during orientation and been surrounded by students of all ages drinking alcohol. I saw a student approached by the CSO's who poured out her 40oz and let her return to the party. I am aware of any number of colleges where that would not occur, or would not occur in the open, in full view of security officers, parents, and others, the way it does at Reed. </p>

<p>I was there, in person, and yet I was still comfortable with my son attending the school. However, I met other parents who found out about the event and were NOT okay with it, wanted to know what the college was going to do to stop it, and why Reed allowed such events to take place in public spaces on the campus. The morning after the party I walked into, there were a fair number parents at the "Meet the College President" event for orientation who were there to express their unhappiness and surprise that school policy allowed for such things. Given that even some parents of attending freshmen were surprised and rethought the decision to attend, I expect that there are plenty of families who would not even consider it as a school option. </p>

<p>But it's possible that you know more about this than I do. My experience is limited to 10-15 campuses in California and the South, most of which would have taken a different approach than Reed's administration does.</p>

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<p>Perhaps Reed parents do take a particular leap of faith.
From Reed's common data set posted on its website, 46% of students who started in 2001 graduated within 5 years.</p>

<p>Fall 2001 Cohort
Report for the cohort of full-time first-time bachelor's (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduate students who entered in fall 2001. Include in the cohort those who entered your institution during the summer term preceding fall 2001.</p>

<p>B4. Initial 2001 cohort of first-time, full-time bachelor's (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduate students; total all students: 349</p>

<p>B5. Of the initial 2001 cohort, how many did not persist and did not graduate for the following reasons: deceased, permanently disabled, armed forces, foreign aid service of the federal government, or official church missions; total allowable exclusions: n/a</p>

<p>B6. Final 2001 cohort, after adjusting for allowable exclusions: 349
(Subtract question B5 from question B4)</p>

<p>B7. Of the initial 2001 cohort, how many completed the program in four years or less (by August 31, 2005): 203</p>

<p>B8. Of the initial 2001 cohort, how many completed the program in more than four years but in five years or less (after August 31, 2005 and by August 31, 2006): 46</p>

<p>B9. Of the initial 2001 cohort, how many completed the program in more than five years but in six years or less (after August 31, 2006 and by August 31, 2007): 13</p>

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<p>Reed filled out the common data set in a nonsensical way. They appear to say that that 59% completed within 6 years. But by the math (203 out of 349) 59% graduated within 4 years.
Hmmm...
High school drop out rates for such smart kids, regardless.</p>

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<p>trin when my D started @ Reed, she thought 40's night involved swing dancing.
Another friend visited a school back east & upon hearing that her hosting student was having an 80's party said " I don't think I can drink * two * of them!" :eek:</p>

<p>Aren't I blase, considering my daughter is out at the prom and I thought it was tomorrow night?</p>

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<p>89 students didnt complete their degree @ Reed within 6 years or less from who began in 2000.
THat might seem high but it doesn't to me.
This is why.
Reed is very small, smaller than many high schools.
It might be the picture perfect image of a college with the sallyport and grotesques, but very small, which means smaller depts, perhaps more conflict with classes & sick of seeing the same faces everyday.
Your favorite professor you were going to thesis with didn't get tenure and had to go back home.
Expensive.
No merit aid.
Other colleges that have more name recognition, don't have your grandparents thinking it is a "hippie school". ( except for Brown )
Kick you in the butt academics.
Drag you out of your chair and kick you again.
If you aren't a masochist, you might not like that so much.
No football,basketball or baseball teams.
Other schools have sports teams you can get your grandparents excited about. Grandparents are not normally so excited about fencing.
Junior qualifying exam.
Senior thesis.
Rain.
Rain.
Rain
Very small, even I recognize people I don't know on the school website.
Reed is like prep school for graduate school, but if you are going to graduate school and you aren't getting need based aid, you may need to transfer to a school that has merit awards.
Some students come to Reed* because * they want to see noise parade for themselves.
( Or because they think Portland is really ...hip...)
Portland * is hip*,( just ask them at the Redlight) but if the workload at Reed is overwhelming you will never get outside the bubble.
My older daughters high school graduating class was 18, so a college grad class of 350, is pretty big, but that is smaller than her sisters inner city high school graduating class.
Reed does not make applicants jump through hoops to apply.
In that way I compare them to the Marines. They will challenge you, but not everyone makes it through Parris Island.
My daughter was accepted to Reed, even though her GPA and her test scores were below the average. She was a great writer and Reed was her first choice and they believed in her.
She also is first gen, with learning differences from a blue collar family.
There were a lot of challenges and it took her 5 years to graduate, but if you persevere, they will support you.
What they won't do, is hold the hand of students who were so brilliant they coasted through highschool, but didn't learn the skills they needed to succeed in college, and didn't want to do what was needed to acquire them.
They drop out,
& Reed apparently takes that as their lumps for taking the chance on kids like my daughter.</p>