<p>I attended Reed. My son attended Chicago. The overall academic/intellectual intensity of both schools is high. I think, though, it's higher at Reed than at Chicago. Chicago has its common core, which I think is actually more a distribution requirement than a truly common core because there are really no specific courses that each and every student must take; Reed doesn't claim to have a core but its Hum 110 course, which is a year-long course that is the equivalent of 3 or 4 semester courses, is required of every student, which has the effect of developing a common language of discourse and a more widely shared common experience for Reedies than for UChicago students.</p>
<p>Because of its location, size (ca. 5,000 undergrads), and availability of graduate courses, Chicago offers a rather more diverse set of courses than does Reed. But some of those courses are going to be taught by graduate assistants and post-docs. In comparison, all of Reed's courses are going to be taught by faculty members. My son thought some of his teachers at Chicago were outstanding, but on the whole he thought the instructors at London School of Economics, where he spent his junior year abroad, were better teachers than his instructors at Chicago.</p>
<p>Even with these differences, in the larger scheme of things Chicago and Reed are more similar to one another than are most schools. Students there are, well, studious; faculty have high expectations and the students tend to take their academic responsibilities seriously. The slogan, of course, is that Chicago is the place where "fun goes to die." But in fact many Chicago students find ways to take advantage of the rich and diverse opportunities for extracurricular events on campus and off. My is a sports fanatic and liked being in a "major league" city. He also wrote for the school newspapers and generally speaking regarded himself as living in Chicago and not at Chicago -- taking in not only sporting events but other aspects of the life of the city.</p>
<p>At Reed, life centers around the college itself. While Portland is an interesting and progressive city, and it offers access to the Columbia River gorge and Mt. Hood (where Reed has a cabin), it is not Chicago in the range and diversity of things to do, restaurants to take in (assuming one has the inclination and the money to take advantage of this), and so on. </p>
<p>On the whole Reedies are more crunchy and counter-cultural than Chicago students. But if you look at what happens to the graduates of both schools you will find that extraordinarily large percentages of them go on academic careers (somewhat more at Reed than at Chicago, however). The may be partly a function of size, and partly a function of the fact that proportionately Chicago has quite a few more pre-professional students (medicine, law, business) than does Reed. It may also be partly induced by the curriculum itself -- for example, with Reed students all having the requirements of passing junior qualifying exams and writing senior theses, while many Chicago students do write senior theses if they want to graduate with honors in their major field (as opposed to "general" honors, which is based on GPA alone).</p>
<p>I can probably say more about the comparison. If you have some specific questions, I'll try to answer them.</p>