Is getting into Reed possible for me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Reed College
1

Hi! I’m from New York, but I love Reed and really want an insight on my chances of getting in. I got 2 31’s on my ACT’s ( E 33, M 31, R 32, S 27) (E 34, M 28, R 29, S 34) and am taking it again in April. However, my gpa isn’t that good. It’s currently an 86.32 (I didn’t really take school that seriously until now) but should be anywhere from 88-90 after this year is over. I have several other accolades which will be on my transcript, however, such as being in 3 clubs for, most likely, all 4 years of high school (I’m the president and founder of one of them) and being a ski instructor. Also, Reed has been “recruiting” me, sending me tons of emails, a huge packet, and even wanting to connect with me on Naviance (one of the few schools that did).

With this information, can you please give me my chances of getting accepted into Reed?

2

Hey, I was accepted ED2 this year. Honestly, Reed is a school that’s impossible to predict chances on based on scores. I know of people with really high stats that got rejected. And I have pretty low stats for Reed but was accepted.

My biggest pieces of advice are to show LOTS of interest (I visited campus, went to the info session at my high school, kept in close contact with my counselor, and sent in an extra essay stating why I wanted to go to Reed) and to spend a lot of time making a well written, unique essay. Be funky! Let your voice come through. Reed is very focused on fit so you need to demonstrate your personality

3

Thanks. I’ll try to show a lot of interest. How do you think that I should go about doing that? I do live in New York, after all.

4

I would start with reaching out to your regional counselor. Just a quick email introducing yourself, expressing love for Reed, and maybe asking a question. As the year goes on, you should be asking calling or emailing your counselor with absolutely any questions that can’t easily be found on the website. Don’t ask on CC or the admissions tumblr page, use it as an opportunity to build a relationship with them. By the time my counselor visited my school in October, he knew exactly who I was. Second, really try to get an off campus interview. At Reed, interviews are evaluative which means it becomes part of your file. A stellar interview can be super helpful if you don’t feel confident in your stats. Also, I don’t know if your school hosts colleges, but there’s a good chance that a Reed representative will visit your school or go to a college fair nearby. They aren’t super helpful if you’ve already done your research, but go anyways. They do take note of the students that came. So it’s the next best thing if you can’t fly out to Portland.

5

It would be a plus if you submit a good SAT score; the SAT is more applicable to Reed’s culture (and Reed prefers the SAT).

6

@vonlost How do you know that Reed prefers the SAT? They accept both.

7

How on Earth can standardized testing be “more appliccable to [a college’s] culture?”

8

Reed’s '15-'16 Common Data Set recommends “SAT Subject Tests only”; the old '08-'09 CDS version spelled out “SAT preferred.”

The issue is which standardized test better matches Reed’s culture. The ACT tends to measure knowledge, while the SAT tends to measure thinking.

9

Eh, I did terribly on my SAT. I honestly think that the SAT is one of the worst ways to measure an applicant’s work ethic, intelligence, or potential, especially if the applicant is lower income. I’ve been praised as a talented writer by nearly all of my teachers since elementary school, was asked to be a peer tutor at my high school, and have even done writing summer camps. Yet my CR and W scores kinda sucked.

Study for it and try your best, but it’s hardly a deciding factor at Reed.

10

Right, your “numbers” account for only about a fifth of Reed entrance criteria. But a good SAT is still a plus, especially if your GPA is relatively low.

11

Yes, the '08-'09 CDS may have said the SAT was preferred, but 2009 was 7 years ago, and the ACT didn’t use to have the same reputation as the SAT for most schools on the west coast and in the northeast.

And SAT IIs have nothing to do with SAT/ACT preference. In fact, their recommendation that students take subject tests in addition to the SAT or ACT demonstrates that they want some standardized testing which measures knowledge in addition to reasoning testing.

12

For some discipline, SATs and the SAT subject tests have great predictive power. HS GPAs can be all over the place with grade inflation at some low ranked public schools and grade deflation at others (thinking of the IB DP schools here). To state the SATs are bad at measuring a number of factors is reflective only of your experiences, @Marihorror - it might not be the same for many others. It would, for example, be illogical to rely mainly on essays while evaluating applicants to hard-core STEM majors (Math, Physics, Engineering, Computer Science) since being an eloquent writer has nothing to do with having the mental capability to do the calculations to send astronauts into space safely. If these did not matter to Reed, they would have been test optional like Smith or Wesleyan.

13

@khanam no two students will have the same experiences regarding the SAT, however it’s well known that there is a direct correlation between income and the scores an applicant recieves. The SAT is not a reflection of intelligence. It’s a reflection of how good a person is at test taking and performing under time restraints tbh.

My point in sharing my story was to demonstrate that real world skills and knowledge often don’t apply to the test. Some of the examples of essays I’ve seen that scored quite high on the SAT wouldn’t even earn a B in my AP Language Comp class. I think Reed recognizes this because there isn’t much weight put on scores. A good essay will take an applicant much farther.

Also, essays are a relatively good way of evaluating most people. True, not everyone is super eloquent or creative, but any “intelligent” or educated person ought to be able to organize and articulate their thoughts into a well written essay.

14

One cannot get a high SAT score simply by being fast and working well under pressure; knowing the right answers is required. High income indeed increases the chances of high scores; schools know this, and everything else associated with applying, including the limited importance of standardized testing. The problem (not so much at Reed) is when schools are flooded with high test scores, such that there’s no compelling reason to accept a lower score; an excellent class can be crafted from high scorers.

15

@Marihorror Communication skills (apparent through essays or other means) are only one part of a person’s overall intellect. Some of the brightest minds of previous generations have been lost in their own worlds - unable to articulate their thoughts into a semi-comprehensible paragraph let alone a well thought out essay - yet without their contributions most of what you take for granted would not have existed - including the internet or your computer. There is a spectrum of abilities and intelligence. Aged 17, these people would have had perfect scores on standardized tests for PhDs, not just on those created for HS students. Just as some like you believe that a mark of intelligence is the ability to convey your ideas coherently, others might state that the only true mark of intelligence is purely mathematical. And anyone unable to operate at the same level in a mathematical world is not bright enough.

However, both of the above are wrong. I believe relying only upon standardized scores across all evaluations is as meaningless as relying only on essays to evaluate potential candidates across all disciplines. In real life, most of us do not use the same yardstick to measure everyone by - we recognize that our journeys are different. Who cares what Picasso’s GPA or essays were about? Who cares whether Hemingway ever studied math? And who cares if Einstein wrote love letters that were similar to scientific dissertations?

The reason why there seems to be a correlation between standardized tests and income is because the 1-5% have turned the standardized tests into an industry with prep classes etc, thereby gaming the system. Which is why most colleges do not differentiate dramatically between a 2200 and a 2400 SAT score candidates. But to pooh-pooh all that score highly in standardized tests would also be incorrect. Some score highly despite a lack of access to the same resources, their brains are wired differently. On CC itself I have seen 2350 SAT, 3.4 GPA kids. I have numerous other examples.

In fact most economically disadvantaged kids should be upset at the focus on essays and ECs at colleges because they have no hope of being able to access the same EC opportunities and coaching for college essays that many elite academies provide to their graduates. You can actually catch up in math, but how will you get to do the ECs many kids are able to put on their resumes?

https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/Rankings/Details/MedianSAT

You would also be very surprised to know that Reed’s average SAT scores are 40th highest in the nation, higher than Barnard, Oberlin, Berkeley, Middlebury, Brynn Mawr, Colgate, Emory, UMich, UVA, NYU and many more. So it most definitely does not ignore standardized tests but it does accept those that are exceptional in other ways if their SAT scores are not that high. But I repeat, the reason why SAT scores are important is because GPAs can be a bad measure on their own. Sometimes you need to see how each kid did in standardized tests, his school environment, essays, ECs etc in the context of his environment and so on. And that is why we have holistic admissions.

16

I’m aware that Reed has high test scores, it was, after all, my first choice school. I think I might be misrepresenting my opinion. No, I’m not particularly a fan of standardized testing but I do think they can be advantageous for certain students. However, I simply don’t think that a test like the SAT, which can be gamed through test taking techniques rather than having actual knowledge, is that valuable. I think knowledge based tests, like the AP exams, are more fair for everyone involved. Either you know it or you don’t. Perhaps it’s because I personally know of a student who spent thousands on SAT prep in order to get into Penn. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a very bright young man and I think he’s a fine fit for Penn. But it makes me wonder how well his scores would have been if he didn’t have the money to blow on a private SAT tutor…

I also agree that GPA can be a flawed measurement as well. At my school, it is not uncommon for there to be an instructor known for giving unreasonable amounts of homework, while there is a teacher of the same discipline whom students simply need to show up to class in order to receive an A. I’ve gotten both types of teachers. At the end of the day, I think that brilliance is really difficult to measure. A gifted writer simply isn’t going to express themselves and their skills in the same way as a gifted biologist. It’s part of why I chose Reed. I’d like to think that as far as “elite” colleges go, they appreciate different types of intelligence.

17

@Marihorror good points and I agree especially that AP scores are more valuable than SATs which can be gamed much more easily. The SATs on their own are fair tests except for the gaming of the system. Perhaps they have to become broader or more random tests with formats changing every year to ensure these stop.

I think a holistic admissions process is the only cure to people gaming the system although my concern is the rich can more easily game the ECs and essays than people realize, not just standardized tests.

On Reed - despite my own very non liberal arts background, I believe Reed is a very unique institution - much more intellectual than all the elites - if socrates decided to create a college in the US in and relevant to these times, it would be Reed.

18

lol let’s not be that pretentious about it. Reed does many things differently, but in the end its preparation and environment is similar to a lot of schools.

To be honest it isn’t THAT much work… unless you really go all out, push yourself so much that you get a 4.0. Reed has kept me busy, but I have been able to do a lot of things that I wanted to do. I never felt like that my learning was more “intellectual” than other “elite” schools. My friends at other schools are mostly on the same page.

The only thing about handling this school is that you need to have strong academic preparation for it. Otherwise you may have to play catch-up first-year here. I feel that even after I thesis I won’t feel like I have learned more than I would have at a different school, because, surprise, surprise, it’s possible to thesis at other schools too. The only thing that puts pressure on you is that Reed becomes smaller and smaller over time, and at some point you don’t want to do anything more than get out.

19

Reed is perhaps similar to other schools that require a senior thesis, where the entire senior class is in thesis mode for the year, and the culture is thesis.