Hi! My son has been interested in Reed for a long time, but a friend just threw me for a loop and said her son applied last year but chose another school because it takes most Reedies 6 years to graduate. Not some, most. College is expensive but I was only planning for 4-4.5 years of it for undergrad–does anyone know if my friend’s statement is true?
According to College Factual, their 4yr grad rate is 66% and a 6yr grad rate of 79%.
Compare/Contrast to some other similar schools (more/less):
Wooster: 77%
Vassar: 86%
Whitman: 79%
Oberlin: 76%
National average is about 33%
Best to go directly to the source. Here is historical Reed 4, 5, and 6 year graduation rate data:
https://www.reed.edu/ir/gradrateshist.html
Regarding Reed, it is definitely a ‘fit’ school, so highly encourage that you visit before making the decision to attend, assuming offered admission.
The two people I know who went to Reed graduated in four years so it certainly is possible.
I graduated from Reed in 4 years, as did most of my classmates
Me too [and almost all of my friends]. '74 so I’m an old fart boomer, but there is no reason you cannot graduate in 4 years. I had friends who took longer, but they did things like bike around Europe for a year. Reedies.
I graduated from Reed in 3.5 years quite a while ago, but I don’t think it is way harder now. A few friends took longer, but that was usually because of radical changes of major (history to math, chemistry to drama) or indecisiveness over thesis topic.
Parents, you won’t have to pay for 5 or 6 years if your kid follows the ordinary path. Mine didn’t.
I graduated in five years because I took a year off in the middle to work. To take a year off required that I write an application, explain how it would help my academic and personal development, and get support from a faculty member.
A friend of mine took a long time because he was “majoring in intro.” He wanted to understand the human brain, so started with Intro Psych. Realized how essential biology is and took Intro Bio. Realized how critical chem is and took Intro Chem. Saw that physics was the foundation, took Intro Physics. Each class is a full year long. He took so long because he just had to get to the root of it all. He’s effing brilliant and I learned more from him than from almost anyone else.
The place is filled with people like that – driven, impractical, brilliant, atypical. I got so much from my classmates it’s amazing. I loooooved Reed. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and made Michigan Law a cakewalk.
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