<p>So, out of curiosity, is it true that Reedies have to read around 200 pages a night? Or is this just hyperbole? The reading list of Hum 101 is pretty large, but what is the rate you read each book? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>My son just finished his first semester at Reed. He took three courses (Reed recommends that first semester freshmen only take three, because Hum 110 is considered to be a sort of "course and a half"). </p>
<p>While I doubt he had 200 pages to read for all three courses every single night, he did have a ton of reading AND writing to keep up with - much more than he expected. My son was a very good student in high school, but in high school you would never have found him staying in on a friday night or up very early on Saturday morning doing school reading or other school-related work. At Reed this past semester, it was a rare friday night (and Saturdays too!) that we couldn't find him in reading, doing math problems, or writing a paper. </p>
<p>The famed Reed workload is definitely NOT exaggerated, although my son found it manageable, and, for the most part, enjoyable -- but also exhausting at times.</p>
<p>For Hum 110 in particular, you might want to look through the course website and take a look at the Syllabi from past semesters to get an idea of what the pace and expectations are: Humanities</a> 110 Homepage</p>
<p>Obviously, the amount of reading or time working that any particular student will have during a semester is going to depend on the courses they're taking, their major, and the year they're in at Reed, so your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I just finished my first semester and I would say I had more or less 200 pages of reading a night (for all of my three classes combined). However, I also did still find time to maintain as much of a social life as I did in high school. I rarely spent a Friday in doing work- but then again, everyone manages their time differently.</p>
<p>LOL, that's probably why my son ended up in on Friday nights so often. Deficient time management skills. :)</p>
<p>depends with the book, texts such as The Republic, Histories, Peloponnesian War takes about two weeks at most. Others in a day's lecture. You read the majority of the text, in some cases the whole text, this depends with your conference leader. I didn't read 200 pages per night to answer your question - only did that a couple of times. However, I tend to read some of the texts ahead of time because I was taking four courses and didn't want to cram. in reed it's recommended to take three courses your first semester.</p>
<p>There can be hundreds of pages assigned a night, but talking to actual Reedies, every single one I know has said that they didn't do ALL the reading ALL the time. For example, they may have read all of Plato, but skimmed Augustine. Even very conscientious ones seemed to have days that they only glanced at the reading. My impression is that the more hardcorestudious a Reedie is, the more of the reading they'll be doing, up to an amount that approaches 100 percent, but only assymptotically.</p>
<p>A goodly part of managing the Reed workload is learning to manage the difference between college and high school in how scheduled events are organized.</p>
<p>There's a basic reality to keep in mind: there are 168 hours in the week (24x7).</p>
<p>In high school you may be in class 6 or 7 hours a day, then have your organized extracurriculars (sports, clubs, theater, debate, other activities), perhaps at the school -- say 40 to 50 hours per week. You then have "homework," etc., to do on your own during the remaining ca. 120 hours, mainly away from your school. </p>
<p>In college, you are likely to be in class only 3 or 4 hours per day (perhaps more if you have labs) -- say 15 to 20 hours in class per week at maximum. This means that you have about 150 hours left over. </p>
<p>You can manage Reed's heavy reading/writing requirements if you manage your time well. I once calculated that the reading in my freshman year -- basically Hum 110 -- averaged 400-450 pages per week (I took Hum 110, Chemistry, and Calculus in first semester, and added Quant. Analysis in chem as a 4th course in second semester).</p>
<p>I realized from the start that the only way I was going to manage this workload was to use my daytime hours effectively. Use the time between classes to study (to "work"). I headed to the library, back to the dorm, or to some place where I could think. During the day I seldom just hung out. Think of yourself as having a basic "40 hour work week" during daytimes, including class, reading, research, writing, etc. If you can manage that, then you probably have to find another 15-20 hours per week to do the work that's required at Reed. This usually means some weekend and evening work. And when there are paper deadlines looming, it may mean more -- including occasional all-nighters, not a solitary enterprise I can assure you. </p>
<p>Now, as Carolyn said, your experience may differ. I knew some who didn't need nearly as much time as I did to comprehend the reading; or they didn't require multiple drafts of a paper to get it right. And you really do come to realize that some readings need attention to every word, and some not so much.</p>
<p>But if you use your daytime Monday-Friday hours effectively, you have plenty of time to manage the Reed workload. And if you follow my math here and you "work" an average of 60 hours per week, you still have ~100 left over in your 168 hour week. What do you do with that? Well there's sleep, of course. But there's also plenty of time for recreation of all kinds. Hanging out, parties, sports, clubs, politics, what have you.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of Reedies handle the load well enough. And a good deal of what I have referred to as "work" was truly a pleasure to do -- even if demanding and time-consuming. And even though this work is solitary in the sense that nobody else can read or learn for you (just as nobody else can do your eating or breathing or exercise for you), learning at Reed is very much a social phenomenon. Everybody's doing it. Pretty much everybody wants to talk about it. And even when you're doing an all-nighter, you're likely to have company -- somebody to comiserate with.</p>