Reed vs Soka University of America

Colleges and Universities A-Z Reed College
1

<p>I am an international student who has been admitted to the above colleges and I am simply unable to come to a decision. Neither of them is my top choice school, but I like both of them. Everyone tells me that I should go to Reed. But, as somebody who wants to go to graduate school for development or macro or international economics, I simply don't know if Reed can offer the same opportunities as Soka. Soka is not nearly as selective as Reed, but its endowment is twice the size of Reed's ($1 billion), and has only 450 students. Obviously the Reed label is much more recognized, but sometimes I have to wonder if I should include prestige in my decision? Who am I trying to impress? I just want to go to graduate school and work in policy later. From a cursory look into Soka, I gathered that 40% of the students went to graduate school immediately after graduating. Now, obviously, I am aware that Reed does incredibly well in PhD production. But I have many concerns about Reed.</p>

<p>1) Is it worth it? I am a poor international, and have to pay significant but manageable money to go to Reed over 4 years. Additionally, I will have to incur $16k of debt. Now, I wouldn't have been very concerned about paying all this, but Soka offered a full ride.</p>

<p>2) Is it true that there is limited access to food at Reed? Lol. This is ridiculous, I know, but I like to eat! Especially when I need to work a lot. I can eat as much as I want at Soka. hahaha I know it's stupid, but it's an important-ish, albeit not huge, concern. </p>

<p>3) Soka offers me the opportunity to study abroad. Actually, I HAVE to. From what I have learned about Reed, study abroad isn't encouraged a lot of the time if you do econ-math or something like that. Now, I really want to go to Oxford or France (I'll study 4 semesters of french), but I don't know if Reed would let me.</p>

<p>4) Summer. Because of the full ride, I could return home during summer. Now this isn't really a concern, but what can Reed allow me to do during the summer? I could go to my family in Washington or Colorado or California and work maybe, but I don't know if federal restrictions would allow me to. Is there funding available at Reed to pursue unpaid internships and such? On campus stuff?</p>

<p>5) Location. Well this doesn't really matter to me. I do not care for the California weather. </p>

<p>6) Opportunities at Soka worth giving up? As part of "learning clusters", I would HAVE to travel to all these places (yay!) and do research. Now I know that research is very important for graduate school, and I wonder if I should account for these opportunities (there are other travel/research opportunities at Soka too, but those are not compulsory, but the OPTION is what's great.)</p>

<p>Concerns about Soka:</p>

<p>1) Preparation. I'm a bit concerned about how well Soka could prepare me in math. After talking to professors there and reading the catalog (my econ major friend at Amherst helped me to review it too), I know that preparation in econ would be strong, but the math seems to be lacking... I like math, not enough to major in it or study a lot of it lol, but the catalog seems to give the impression that math is taught in a very broad fashion. I want enough mathematical skills to be able to handle graduate school.</p>

<p>2) The quality of the student body is no doubt lacking. Compared to Reedies... oh well. How much should this matter? I talked to a student there and she wagers that the students are.. well.. in a group, not the best, but there is a range. So I can definitely find intellectual conversation there, as pretentious as that may sound, but should I care that not all students can offer the same kind of conversation, even though that will more or less change after two years of school for sure?</p>

<p>What I am not concerned about:</p>

<p>1) The size of the student bodies at the schools.</p>

<p>2) The beauty of the campus (Soka wins, though). </p>

<p>I cannot afford to make the 'wrong' decision, though I doubt there is one, because there is little to no possibility of transferring for internationals who need a lot of aid. A friend of mine who goes to a Claremont school found the students to be insufferable so she is transferring, but I don't have that option because I need $$.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>By the way, even though Soka has concentrations listed on its website, do not jump to conclusions: courses are offered in all subjects from art history to zoology, often at a major level (except for physics, I guess. Env studies requires bio and chem, methinks.) So economics would fall under “Social and Behavioral Sciences”</p>

<p>Also, I am definitely considering International Studies too!</p>

<p>ALSO I HEARD THAT EVERYONE SMOKES AT REED OMG??? Not about that life. :(</p>

3

<p>Um, you can eat at Reed, not everyone smokes, you can go to Oxford or France, Reed is not in California, there is funding for unpaid internships but it is competitive, loans are bad.</p>

4

<p>Soka of America is a real thing? You are really trying to choose between Reed and whatever that thing is? </p>

<p>Reed is in Portland, Oregon. It rains a lot. Go ahead and choose Soka of Orange County.</p>

<p>Seriously, Mellatrix, there is no comparison. I do not mean to be harsh, but if you have to ask this question, I do not think you should go to Reed. Reed’s “competition” is places like Swarthmore and Haverford … not Soka of America. </p>

<p>How could I even distinguish it from KOA (a campground company)? Imagine your resume coming across my desk. Imagine your Reed resume getting at least one look. Imagine your Soka resume going straight to my round file (aka trash). </p>

5

<p>@AboutTheSame Let’s not ignore the cost difference? It seems like that’s the main concern @Mellatrix has.</p>

<p>Anyway, OP, you need to make this decision on your own. Very, very different schools.</p>

6

<p>@International95: OP said Reed was “manageable” and I did not interpret anything s/he said as money being a major concern. But, I would agree with you that they are “very different schools.” I may not have done the best job of conveying that message. </p>

7

<p>It’s manageable, but it would be a significant chunk of money for my family. The full ride would put my family at ease.</p>

<p>Anyway, I really have no idea what to do. But @AboutTheSame, that does make sense. However, how many employers really even know Reed? I want to go to graduate school for sure. I know Reed does well, but Soka is a new school with tons of opportunities, which isn’t surprising given its endowment per student is more than Princeton’s. </p>

8

<p>OP, when you say “I want to go to graduate school for sure,” and “…how many employers really even know Reed?” it makes me wonder if you know what your plans for your future are. </p>

<p>By graduate school, do you mean PhD or MBA? If you want a PhD, Reed does more than “well” in that area; it is one of the top producers of future PhDs. Graduate schools know and respect Reed. Doing well at Reed improves your chances of getting into a graduate program that employers will know and respect. Now, if you want an MBA, Reed probably is a poor cultural fit for you, anyway.</p>

<p>As for employers knowing Reed vs. Soka, all I can say is, I used to live in OC, and I assumed Soka was a Buddhist commune, not an accredited school. I honestly see no comparison between Reed and Soka. Now, if we were talking Reed v. Swarthmore, those are two comparable schools, but Soka? No.</p>

9

<p>I hope to attend graduate school. Yes, MA/PhD/M.Phil etc etc. I know that graduate schools know and love Reed. I am absolutely well aware of the fact that Reed is a vastly superior institution. I know that to many, Reed is the obvious choice, and to compare these two schools is ridiculous. But to echo the same advice I’ve read on countless threads on CC: isn’t it who you become, what you do, that matters when you apply to graduate schools? Because of Soka’s resources, I’m sure that my CV would become incredible. Can Reed afford its students similar opportunities? Isn’t there a lot, lot more competition for those opportunities?</p>

<p>So simply, what I’m asking is, Is Reed worth it? Is Reed worth the money? I know that intellectually, I would be more satisfied at Reed. But when reality chimes in, when the time to repay debts, to look at my transcript (3.0 GPA? gasp.) comes in, what would happen to me? What if I don’t get into graduate school? What if I have to return home to work, and employers, oblivious to the idea of liberal arts colleges, just see my transcript and squint to ensure that it isn’t straight B’s they are seeing, what would happen to me?</p>

<p>While researching Soka, I read that in 2001, a girl had left offers from Brown and Wesleyan to attend Soka, in hopes that it would become a great school one day. Today, I feel it has become a school worth attending, even though most people do not know what it even is. Snide comments will not make me feel unjustified to compare these two schools. But I just wish someone could tell me about the worth of Reed for a significant chunk of my parents’ money, especially since I want to attend graduate school. How much would the Reed label really help me versus what I actually do in my undergraduate career?</p>

10

<p>Is there a CC area for Soka? You might join up at thegradcafe.com and ask. You need information from Soka people about where their grads have gotten in. A good/great record at Reed can get you into any graduate school in the country. I’m not sure Soka, even with an interesting CV, can do the same, but I have no personal knowledge of the school – as my initial snarky [sorry about that] comment indicated. Yes, what you do matters, but it also matters where you do it. Graduate school admissions are a department by department decision, and who you studied with/who is writing your recommendations/experiences with prior students from your school are very important factors. </p>

11

<p>I’m not being snide, OP. I lived in OC, and Soka had no profile whatsoever; I really did think it was a non-accredited organization.</p>

<p>AboutTheSame is on the money with grad school admissions. Who your thesis adviser was, who supervised your research, who is writing your letters, these things cannot be underrated. A good letter from an adviser who is highly regarded in the field opens doors. Period.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that your parents should not have to underwrite a PhD; one generally must pay for terminal master’s programs, but PhD students should expect to receive a modest stipend in return for teaching and research duties.</p>

<p>Given all that, unless an internationally-recognized expert in your field(s) of interest is teaching at Soka, Reed is worth every extra dollar you are paying for the degree, in my opinion. Now, when it comes to PhDs, it’s where you get the PhD, not where you get the bachelor’s degree, that really counts, but in this case I think Reed’s reputation is so well-established and well-earned that the answer is clear. It’s not as if you are trying to decide between Amherst and a nice merit package from Kenyon or Oberlin.</p>

12

<p>To put “PhD students should expect to receive a modest stipend in return for teaching and research duties” in perspective, D [who went to an Ivy rather than Reed] is balancing offers of ~$33,000 stipend [on top of tuition and fees] for PhD programs at three of the top ten schools in her field. I can see Reed getting you that kind of support. I don’t see Soka doing so. Maybe ten or more years from now, when/if it has a track record. </p>

13

<p>Do some research on the Soka Gakkai before you make a decision and find out whether a significant number of the kids are associated with SGI. The overlap may be slight, but the last thing you want is that you went to a “Moonie” institution. It may be an unfair characterization, but that is the impression you will be working against.</p>

14

<p>I am much more familiar with Reed, and I don’t put much weight into rankings, but Soka is the 41st-ranked LAC by USNWR, while Reed is 74th.</p>

15

<p>@sschickens Reed does not cooperate with USNWR. That “ranking” has no meaning. </p>

16

<p>Okay, since you got admitted, you have a financial offer at least from Reed. I’m probably going to Reed next year, and I know their aid is need based and have heard that it’s excellent for international students.</p>

<p>Soka University looks quite interesting, I personally love Reed, but understand what you see in Soka, if you like the environment and feel. To me study abroad was a negative-to-non-issue, not a positive, so I have no idea. I actually wasn’t aware of Reed’s reputation and thought they were an unknown, which is what I was looking for.</p>

17

<p>I am an international student currently in my senior at Soka. Like you, I took up the full-ride thinking that would save me so much money , should I need to spend it later on a graduate degree. Reed was my top choice at the time, but I didn’t get in. If I were you, I would go to Reed in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>My interest is in the medical field and going to Soka does absolutely nothing to help me get into medical schools. Their science classes are of intro/pre-science level at other universities, and therefore not accepted as fulfilling pre-reqs for medical schools.They are also ridiculously easy. Since coming here I have to take classes at a nearby community college whose science credits have at least more weights.</p>

<p>But if you’re talking about math/econs, Soka does an OK job. You still have to take your math classes somewhere else , like UCI (and you’d better have a car and a drivers license to do that.) The Soka’s econs department has only one professor that would probably help you land an offer at graduate school. And good luck getting his attention (it’s a small school, so the competition is really not that bad.)</p>

<p>for the pros: super nice campus, nice dorm, nice weather (man I can’t imagine Reed in the winter)… But all of that for a brand name like Reed, I’d rather choose Reed.</p>

<p>Not to sound ungrateful or anything. I’m extremely thankful for the full-ride. However if you can afford to go to Reed, go to Reed. </p>

<p>and if you already chose Soka, I should hunt you down and say hi before I graduate :smile: </p>

18

<p>I met OP, and OP is at Reed.</p>

19

<p>Smiley face. Way to go, OP!</p>