<p>They seem quite similar to me in their academic philosophy. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Definitely Reed.</p>
<p>Reed is a smaller.
=> potential less opportunities for students
UChicago has grad students.
=> potential less opportunities for undergrad students.</p>
<p>and UChicago is more about grades. </p>
<p>Reed is for those in high school who got by getting As/Bs because they were intelligent. Those who only worked at the subjects they cared about.
UChicago is for those in high school who worked hard at all their subjects because they liked working hard. </p>
<p>Also, UChicago folk = less attractive.</p>
<p>I attended Reed. My son attended Chicago. Reed and Chicago are similar in academic philosophy. But aside from some obvious differences between the two colleges (Reed is a liberal arts college, i.e., it's small; Chicago is a university and each entering first-year class is about as large as Reed's entire student body) they go about things differently. Chicago has its core curriculum. Formally, Reed does not have a core. Instead it has its mandatory humanities sequence (Hum 110) that's essentially an introduction to the classics followed by a second-year option "civ" course that can be focused on Western Civ (Hum 210) or some other. Beyond that, Reed has a set of distribution requirements in math/science, humanities, social science, and language that may be a lot like Chicago's core by another name. But the big difference in the end is that while at Reed every student takes that same year-long first year Hum 110 course (which is tantamount to about 4 semester-long courses), at Chicago there is no single course that all students must take. I think this gives Reedies a common language of discourse based on that shared experience that Chicago students may not get. There's more common intellectual discourse and experience at Reed among students with widely different majors (from math to art to anthropology to biology), while Chicago students tend more toward pre-professional thinking (pre-law, pre-med, pre-business, etc. (there is no business major, but a huge number major in economics, which takes them to business later)).</p>
<p>Beyond that, however, at both colleges the faculty have high expectations of the students. Both colleges ask students to do a lot of independent work, perhaps more so at Reed, however, with its universal requirement of a senior thesis (it's optional for honors students at Chicago). On the other hand, at Chicago students have a broader variety of courses to choose from, including graduate courses; and they have Chicago (I'm not denigrating Portland at all, but it's no Chicago).</p>
<p>Because of their "intellectual" orientation, both colleges send substantial proportions of their graduates on to doctoral studies (a larger fraction at Reed than at Chicago -- <a href="http://web.reed.edu/ir/outcomes.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.reed.edu/ir/outcomes.html</a>).</p>
<p>I visited Reed last autumn and Chicago last summer. I noticed the most disparity between the energy of the students. Even on a Thursday afternoon, Reed's campus retained a lethargic ambiance; few students were around (besides those sleeping on the library floor under their thesis desks) and more often than not the students lounging outside smoked.</p>
<p>I felt a lot more vibrance and general enthusiasm for life at Chicago– definitely not where fun comes to die. While I waited for my interview, a group of PSAC tour-givers sat with me and my mom, asked about my goals and interests and offered advice. Much more welcoming.</p>
<p>I visited Reed last autumn and Chicago last summer. I noticed the most disparity between the energy of the students. Even on a Thursday afternoon, Reed's campus retained a lethargic ambiance; few students were around (besides those sleeping on the library floor under their thesis desks) and more often than not the students lounging outside smoked.</p>
<p>I felt a lot more vibrance and general enthusiasm for life at Chicago– definitely not where fun comes to die. While I waited for my interview, a group of PSAC tour-givers sat with me and my mom, asked about my goals and interests and offered advice. Much more welcoming.</p>
<p>My S narrowed his choices to Reed and Chicago the year before last. He visited both, overnights at both, classes at both etc. He ultimately decided on Chicago. He was swayed by the greater range of choice and the city of Chicago. He loves the theoretical bent of the place and the commitment to inquiry. He also has found the social life to be great contrary to the "where fun comes to die" reputation. Who knows, however, if had chosen Reed he may have (and probably would have) enjoyed it as well. Both are great schools.</p>