Hey, I am just wondering if Reed College is for me. (My family and I do not have the finances to visit Reed). I come from a small, conservative town in the Midwest. My personal views, however, are “leftist”.
I think I would enjoy the open-minded atmosphere, close-knit community, and humanities-focused aspects of the school.
However, I am worried about its small size, lack of racial diversity (the common online description “homogenous” is concerning, especially when I am from a very homogenous area), and its high academic rigor. I am a person who likes to meet new people and visit new places–is there a quick way to travel into Portland, like a bus? Something besides Uber/Lyft?
I do have a tendency to work my tail off in school, however, my small high school is not/has not been as competitive or rigorous as many city schools are. How hard is the academic adjustment freshman year?
Finally, if anyone could share thoughts or experiences on moving across the country to Reed College, or else attending, that would be fantastic. It looks like a really great school.
My daughter did a two day visit to Reed last April. She stayed in the dorms, and sat in on two classes. She loved the left leaning atmosphere. We visited again in June. It is small, but I dont think she felt it was too homogenous. It is a quick trip into the heart of Portland (10-15 minutes by car). I’m sure public transportation into the city is readily available. Academics are rigorous, but not at all unmanageable. The campus is beautiful, very green, and easy to navigate. Hope you like the rain a lot. Good luck.
Portland is extremely bike-friendly. When we toured Reed, we saw so many portlanders, young, old, man, woman biking to work. It was really refreshing to see bikes be used truely as means of transportation, not just for exercising (nothing wrong with that of course).
It was during the summer so we didn’t see the student bodies to be able to tell about how “homogeneous” it truly is. But we did notice the majority of students on tour with us were whites, just two non-whites.
Regarding Reed diversity, https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=reed&s=all&id=209922 says
49% no FA grants or scholarships
16% Pell Grant
59% white
11% non-resident alien
10% Hispanic or Latino
08% two or more
06% Asian
02% black
@heyohalo, travelling across the country to attend Reed is certainly not unusual. One study showed that Reed students traveled the farthest of any high ed institution to attend. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/look-where-top-students-are-going-to-college/ Attracting students from across the country and the world is of course par for the course at any highly selective institution in the US
From a small, conservative town in the Midwest, the vast majority of colleges will seem liberal in comparison. Reed is a fine school, but so are many others you would enjoy.
I realize that the Midwest is big, but if you are near Grinnell, Macalester, Wooster – for example – and you can visit and like that vibe, I would guess that Reed would be a fit. If, otoh, they feel too alternative, you may be looking for something else.
Reed is a great school, btw, just not everyone’s cup of tea.
Those who got easy A’s in HS are said to have a harder time adjusting to the Reed workload. Reed will admit you only if you’ve shown you can handle it.