Reed Class of 2016 Results

Colleges and Universities A-Z Reed College
1

<p>I've been passively scrolling through the other thread, and I thought there might be sufficient interest to justify creating an independent decision thread. Or more bluntly... post your stats here for giggles!</p>

<p>[ size=+2][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted*[/color][/size]
[ size=+2][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Waitlisted[/color][/size]
[ size=+2][ color=red][ b]Decision: Rejected*[/color][/size]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:[list]
[ *] SAT I (breakdown):
[ *] ACT:
[ *] SAT II:
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] Senior Year Course Load:
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[list]
[ ] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
[ *] Job/Work Experience:
[ *] Volunteer/Community service:
[ *] Summer Activities:
[ *] Essays:
[ *] Teacher Recommendation:
[ *] Counselor Rec:
[ *] Additional Rec:
[ *] Interview:
[ /list][ b]Other*
[ ] State (if domestic applicant):
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type:
[ *] Ethnicity:
[ *] Gender:
[ *]Income Bracket:
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
[ b]Reflection*
[ ] Strengths:
[ *] Weaknesses:
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
[ *] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
[ b]General Comments:*</p>

2

<p>Ok, I will do a few of them ^^
Decision:Accepted
Objective:
Sat 1: Math:760, Writing:800, Critical Reading: 800
Sat 2: US History:780, Math 2: 780
GPA: 3.9
Rank:69/832
AP: CompSci(4), Calc BC(5), Lang and Comp(5), US Hist(5), Human Geo(5)
Senior Year: AP Lit, Span 3 Pre-AP, AP Stats, AP Environ Sci, Choir, Academic Decathlon(1st semester), AP Gov(2nd semester), AP Macro-Eco(1st semester)</p>

<p>Subjective:
ECs:
Choir(4 years)
Show Choir(2 Years)
NHS(2 Years)
Worked as intern for Harris County Democratic Party
Volunteered for Bill White’s Campaign for Texas
Interview: Yes</p>

<p>Other:
State: Texas
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male</p>

3

<p>SAT I: Reading 770, Writing 720, Math 710
SAT II: Math II 720, US History 730, Biology M 770
GPA: 3.25
No ranking at my school
AP: US History (5), Chinese (self-studied) (5), Biology (5), Macroecon (5), Microecon (5), English Lang (5).
Senior year: AP Chemistry, AP Calc AB, AP Env. Sci., General Physics, English 12, Spanish 4</p>

<p>Subjective
EC: Varsity Swimming (4 years), school magazine writer
Job/Work experience: none
Volunteer/Community Service: Habitat for Humanity trip, Roots and Shoots
Summer: 3-week academic camp at UCSD</p>

<p>Other:
Country: China
School type: private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male</p>

4

<p>As someone who was very intimidated by the college application process, I always appreciated any and all information. Thus, I think a future Reedie who is googling Reed might see this and appreciate knowing that you can have mediocre stats, and still get in. I honestly think that if you can convey a passion for intellectualism, and have any way of backing it up—be it through essays, course choices, test scores, teacher recommendations—then you’ll get in; assuming of course that you find Reed to be absolutely amazing, as a run-of-the-mill BSed “Why Reed” essay probably won’t get you in. A visit is also stupidly important. Visit. Visit. Visit. Spend $2000 and cross the globe if you have to. Otherwise, just be damn sure that you love learning to the point of masochism, and are a practicer of critical thought and skepticism.</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): Math: 720, Reading: 700, Writing: 640 = 2040/2400
[</em>] ACT: 31
[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97 (lots of grade inflation at my school; do a good job, get an A)
[</em>] Rank: 18/684 (this is out of the senior class only)
[<em>] AP: Psychology (5), Physics B (5), Calculus AB (5), Statistics (5)
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: APs: US Government, English Literature, Chemistry. College biology. The rest = insignificant HS requirements.</p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Sole student tutor at after-school tutoring center. ~60 hours total.
[</em>] Summer Activities: Self-studied Calculus (summer before Junior year); studied along with Yale and MIT courses through opencourseware: Physics, Philosophy, and Game Theory.
[<em>] Essays: Worked hard as hell on them (20+ hours). Weren’t particularly amazing (versus the essays on the website), but were a solid expression of myself as far as my existential goals, my writing style, my humor.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: English teacher went to Reed’s MALS program, and teaches “Reed-style”; vouched for my fit to the college. Psychology teacher vouched for me being capable of college since I began high school. Calculus teacher vouched for my fervor to learn as much as possible about mathematics, and my willingness to assist other students. I only read my Psych teacher’s rec, and it was glowing.
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Huge school; knew me, but not very well.
[</em>] Interview: Lasted an hour. Went very well. Awesome person. Answered all of my questions, and we just kind of talked about classes and opportunities at Reed for the majority of the conversation. Didn’t go in prepared at all, and I stand by that as being a good decision; be chill, it’s Reed.</p>

<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State: Oregon
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Hispanic (Mexican)
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>]Income Bracket: Middle-ish (parent’s post-tax income = $56,000, 6 people, including myself live in the same house)
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation, URM, from Portland. (I think URM and First gen played a role, but I honestly don’t think that they impacted the final decision).</p>

<p>[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Intellectual passion and stats/essays/recommendations to substantiate it.
[</em>] Weaknesses: Not very into school activities at all = no ECs. Didn’t really study for ACT/SAT = standard scores (no big deal, it’s Reed).
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I Applied Early Decision 1. I am an URM and Reed has a strong multicultural initiative right now. I spent my “Why Reed” essay discussing the experience of my visit, and how much I loved how intellectualism permeated everything. I felt like I was a very good fit for the college.
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Applied no where else, but was strongly considering UChicago before my visit to Reed (sealed the deal), and Harvey Mudd before I decided that I didn’t want to narrow myself down to the maths and sciences.
[/ul]</p>

<p>General Comments: Figure out if you crave knowledge more than anything else, VISIT THE COLLEGE, then figure out if you mesh with the social atmosphere. </p>

<p>WORK HARD ON YOUR ESSAYS. Convey your passions (including your passion for Reed) in them. Don’t procrastinate. Be crazy if you want on the “Why Reed”, but know that being straight-up honest and direct on it won’t hurt you (as in my case). If you’re at a loss, just go for the plain old recollection-of-your-visit essay. Edit. Have your most well-respected teachers read them. Take their advice selectively. </p>

<p>Also: their aid may not by Ivy-good, but they gave me a damn good amount. My EFC was ~$7,500 on the FAFSA, and my award amount sits at $46,000 without any loans or additional scholarships. Reed seems to make sure you can actually afford the college. They won’t pay for everything, but they also won’t stockpile debt (so it seems). I’ve heard of many students who received aid awards that were too low to satisfy their need, and after communicating this, received substantial increases. Mileage may vary, however.</p>

<p>Perhaps the most important thing to remember: Reed only accepts people who love both Tim and Eric Awesome Show: Great Job! and The Mighty Boosh.</p>

5

<p>You all have very intimating statistics, and as a future Reedie who has been googling Reed it’s quite scary. I feel like I’m the average one here, or maybe just very lucky. Reed seems like an amazing school though, and I’m both really excited but extremely nervous about attending. Sadly, as much I wanted to visit I wasn’t able to, so it’s kid of been shooting in the dark for me regarding college choices. I got into a couple of schools, but I went with the gut feeling and chose Reed. The work load is more than intimidating, but I’m pretty sure (well more like hoping) I can handle it.</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted
Objective:[ul]
SAT I (breakdown):
Critical Reading - 640
Math - 580
Writing - 670
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.56
Rank: 30/114
IB: We haven’t taken the tests yet, and I haven’t asked for my predicted grades so I’m unsure about my total, though I was predicted 6s and 7s in my HLs
Senior Year Course Load: HL English Literature, HL Art, HL Psychology, SL Spanish, SL Math Studies, SL Biology</p>

<p>[/ul][ b]Subjective:**[ul]
Job/Work Experience: Ayala Museum Intern (Sounds a lot fancier than it actually was. I worked behind the counter selling tickets, though in my last few weeks I did get to host a guided tour)
Volunteer/Community service: Global Issues Network (G.I.N Conference), Filipiniana Club (Donations, fundraisers and drives), Gawad Kalinga, Green Earth Ambassadors (Basically a fancier way of saying environmental club)
Essays: I feel like my common application was very good. Out of the box and risky, but that seemed to pay off. Did lots of research on the “Why Reed” essay before I was able to write a decent one.</p>

<p>[/ul]Other
Country (if international applicant): Philippines
Ethnicity: Filipino
Gender: Female</p>

<p>Reflection
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted into Oberlin, Occidental, Bard, Lewis & Clark.
Waitlisted Colby.
Rejected at Pitzer.</p>

<p>General Comments:
I did a lot of Ecs in school, but they were diverse. Mainly this was because of the CAS (Creative, Action, Service) requirement of the IB. A long with the rolling amounts of work the program gives to you, you are also required a minimum of 50 hours each of creativity, action and service.</p>

6

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): Math: 600, Critical Reading: 740, Writing: 800
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.74 uw/4.4 w (nearly straight As after freshman year)
[<em>] Rank: 10/64
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World History (3), APUSH (4), AP English Lang & Comp (5), AP Bio (didn’t take the test) + 53 units from the community college
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP US Gov, AVID, Environmental Science TA in high school + Ecology and Calculus in community college
[li] Major Awards: Alexander Hamilton National Merit Award, Humanitarian Student of the Year (awarded twice), two awards for “Excellence in English”</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars: Student Senate (Community Facilitator, a position I created), Student Peace Alliance (Founder/Head Coordinator), Environmental Science Teacher Assistant (I created a month-long block of curriculum centered on the environmental and ethical implications of pesticides), Non-profit that advocates for binational farmworkers (Secretary), guitar, ukulele, Irish tin whistle
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Food Policy Research Intern for a food justice non-profit
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: see above, 150+ hours
[</em>] Essays: I’m really proud of my Why Reed? essay–I inserted a lot of funny bits (hypothetical argument about whether Machiavelli or Rand has influenced modern republican ideology more and so on) and explained specific aspects of Reed that make it a particularly good fit for me. My Commonapp essay was about some gnarly personal hardships I’ve faced and how I’m still working to overcome them.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Both of my teachers wrote absolutely amazing recs on my behalf. Among other things, my English teacher wrote my maturity and intellect are “far beyond that of [my] peers” and my Bio teacher emphasized my love of learning for the sake of learning and humanitarian bent.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Didn’t read it, but she likes and knows me pretty well. I’m fairly certain she emphasized my dedication to social justice.
[<em>] Interview: My interviewer was an assistant dean of admissions. I think she liked me, as she encouraged me multiple times to apply to ROME. In my memory, however, I wasn’t very composed and babbled a bit. I did manage to coherently discuss food justice, eastern religions, and the political implications of folk music, though, so I think I presented myself as equally nervous, enthusiastic, and academically engaged. I also discussed my experiences as a white-passing POC and inadvertently talked about Mexican movies/literature fairly extensively, so that probably helped me.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): CA
[<em>] School Type: Early College (Public)
[</em>] Ethnicity: Mexican
[<em>] Gender: F
[</em>] Income Bracket: I only live with my mom, who’s a teacher; middle class
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, Applied/Accepted to the Reed Overnight Multicultural Experience program (ROME)
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: writing, demonstrated commitment to social justice, recommendations, urm
[<em>] Weaknesses: GPA, math SAT score
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My strengths overrode my weaknesses.
[li] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I applied EDII.[/li][/ul]General Comments:
I wrote a lot here specifically because I think every aspect of my application counted. Try not to stress, prospies: epecially in Reed’s case, admissions are so much more holistic than you’d think. I second nickmo’s assertion about what it takes to get into Reed: a passion for something, dedication to intellectualism, and evidence.</p>

7

<p>Geez seems to be a competitive year</p>