<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I first was introduced to Middlebury through my creative writing teacher, who was an alum, at summer school. My English teacher back at school also mentioned it as a school with a great English program, with its association to Breadloaf. I'm very interested in writing and Middlebury seems like a great place, but I can't visit as I live abroad in Asia.</p>
<p>I'm most interested in Middlebury and Reed, and I was wondering what was the difference between the school in terms of:
1) academics- strong majors? learning environment?
2) social scene</p>
<p>Appreciate it greatly!</p>
<p>For an academic school like Reed, one way to measure the strongest majors is by the percentage of graduates who later earn a PhD in each field. Reed publishes some of the HEDS data (older version at <a href="http://server1.fandm.edu/departments/CollegeRelations/BacOrigins/BacOrg98.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://server1.fandm.edu/departments/CollegeRelations/BacOrigins/BacOrg98.pdf</a>) in a more readable form at <a href="http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html</a>. Using this measure, the ten strongest major areas at Reed are:</p>
<p>Biological Sciences
Chemistry<br>
Humanities
History
Foreign Languages<br>
Political Science<br>
Physical Sciences
Math & Computer Sciences<br>
Sciences & Engineering<br>
Physics</p>
<p>For overall environment, I find that the entry at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_College%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_College</a> provides a good independent overview.</p>
<p>As for social scene, I'd say that Reed is noted more for academics than clubbing, though students seem to have plenty of fun. The Gray Fund (<a href="http://web.reed.edu/student_activities/gray_fund/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.reed.edu/student_activities/gray_fund/index.html</a>) provides for many social and recreational activities.</p>
<p>Thanks, vossron! How about Middlebury, could anybody tell me how it's like there?</p>