How Prestigious is Reed?

Sp/usage: “transposed onto”

“Not very prestigious outside of certain very narrow academic contexts. So?”

This is the type of perspective that makes me think of Reed as prestigious.

Very. Fairly rigorous. Little Ivy of the West Coast.

Little Ivy might be a stretch. Bright, but VERY quirky students from my class went there. As I recall they had a very public problem with autoerotic asphyxiations.

It has an acceptance rate of about 40% and a yield rate of only 25%.

It is important to consider acceptance rates with average SAT/ACT scores. Reed’s 25th/75th percentile ranges are in line with those of colleges like Vassar, Wesleyan, Middlebury etc (the last two are test-optional, so have higher average test scores than they would otherwise).

Also Reed’s acceptance rate is 28% now.

Wesleyan is test optional only as of this year. Any published data regarding SAT scores for attending students would not reflect this recent change.

It might surprise you to know that Middlebury reports SAT I scores for a greater percentage of its enrollees than some non-test optional schools like Amherst. It’s true–look it up.

The acceptance rate for the Class of 2018 was 38%. The common data for the 2014-2015 application year shows 39%.

JustOneDad, I was talking about ‘now’ (for the class of 2019): the most recent data, which is not going to be available through institutional research until the end of the summer.

Also I do not see how that the acceptance rate was 38% changes the conversation. There are schools that have <15% acceptance rates, like the College of the Ozarks. Would you argue that College of the Ozarks is the ‘little ivy’ of the midwest??

How “prestigious” is Reed? Depends on who you’re asking. When I was about to head to (at Reed) the gardener I worked for in summer tried to persuade me that I should go to a good college. He had in mind LA Valley State College (later renamed Northridge State). I found out when I was attending Reed that lots of people who lived in Portland didn’t know the name or location of Reed College (based on a poll).

But out in the broader world, especially in the academic world, the Reed name carries a lot weight (but sometimes a bit of baggage). It was been a strong positive on my resume.

More importantly, my Reed experience gave me a start in an academic career – and living a life of the mind – that is unsurpassed. I’m delighted to be able to return in a couple of weeks to a reunion at Reed and to meet up with so many other long-term “survivors” of a life at Reed.

Just anecdotes.

My dad works for the Associated Press and interviews people sometimes, and the other day he interviewed this NASA physicist. My dad talked to him on the side about me because I want to study physics, and the physicist said that Reed is an excellent school, especially for those looking to do a PhD.

A couple months ago I walked into this market trying to get a job, and when I told them where I would be going to college, the person said “I’ve never heard of it”.

Reed is an elite institution. Elitists know of it. I do not use those those terms in a pejorative sense, My personal take is: if you don’t know about Reed, then your opinion does not matter to me. I have received “where?” and “huh?”; I have also received “wow!” Guess which ones matter. Reed '74

When I first heard of Reed, from an uncle of mine who was a college professor, my first question was “where?” I trusted his judgment. He named several colleges that he thought would be good for me. He also gave me some general advice about college that I wish I had paid attention to. Shortly before I set off for Reed, he told me that I’m going to hear of some professors whom everybody talks about, and who may be very stimulating or charismatic. I should take courses from those professors, he said, even if the subject isn’t in my major fields of interest or I might not earn a good grade. (Never mind that I never gave any thought to grades at Reed, and never saw my transcript until after I had graduated and gone on to graduate school.)

I did encounter some amazing lecturers, for example in Hum 110 and 210, as well as conference leaders who were poets and novelists. I recall being excoriated by my Hum 210 professor for being “too rational” – after I had exclaimed that I didn’t understand how the Committee of Public Safety had reached a certain decision. He admonished me. “You have to realize that any time a committee meets you’re lucky if it reaches ANY decision, let alone a good one.” That stuck with me.

My biggest regret is that I didn’t take Lloyd Reynolds’ course. I missed several other opportunities as well.

But Reed shaped my life and helped me choose my lifetime career, which I recently concluded.

Reed '65 (ret. 2014).

^ Well said. A Reed education not wasted.

Yes, well said, mac. I hope you don’t retire from posting anytime soon.

@mackinaw You have definitely provided me with some valuable insight. Now if only Reed will accept me once I apply :((