<p>My DS and I visited Reed yesterday and to my surprise he feel absolutely in love with the school. It was one of his first college visits. He was somewhat reluctant about visiting colleges in general but I wanted to get some geographical areas out of the way this year so next year won't be so crazy. We also looked at Lewis and clark and Willamette. Unfortunately after the Reed visit the other schools did not compare favorably to Reed. He loved everything about it and actually said, " I feel so happy inside!" I really wasn't expecting this..... he especially loved that there were no Varsity sports and that he could sit and talk to people about " random" things??? Our tour guide was so amazing and you could tell she loved the school. It was also raining the entire time.
Anyway, my question is that I'm afraid the academics will be too intense for my DS and although he loved the environment, has not talked to anyone in depth about the insane amount of work he would have to do. He loves the outdoors as much as he loves conversing about books. Does anyone know of a school that is similar to Reed but maybe not so rigorous, that is located next to some sort of outdoor opportunities and maybe not jock or sport focused?</p>
<p>you might want to check out Whitman. It’s in Walla Walla.</p>
<p>also, you probably already know this, but Reed College has a HUGE drug problem. Just something else to consider…</p>
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<p>It isn’t a problem. It’s a freedom–Reed feels its students are intelligent and mature enough to govern themselves without the tolitarian intervention you see at other schools. Under this same philosophy they allow students to take tests home and do them independently without supervision, expecting students not to cheat, etc.</p>
<p>And I think everyone should try various “substances”; do realize that the human mind is just a mix of chemical interactions and there is no “pre-determined” or “proper” state. Why not switch it up a bit and not be so obtuse?</p>
<p>Note that Reed does have substance-free dorms for students weary of drugs and alchohol.</p>
<p>As for the OP’s question, perhaps check out Carleton.</p>
<p>Try Carleton and Oberlin. </p>
<p>As for substances, at Reed it seems more optional and less integral to the school experience than, say, somewhere like Dartmouth or Williams. I avoided schools with drinking problems, because I’m not interested in a school where the social life revolves around getting drunk; I did not see this as a problem when I visited Reed. This is probably a function of Reedies not being trapped in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do on a Saturday (as Dartmouth and Williams are), but I think it’s also to do with the lively interests of the student body. Oberlin, for example, is nearly as isolated as Dartmouth and has nowhere near the drinking problem of a number of other rural LACs because there’s so much going on on campus. Whitman has a huge drinking problem of the trapped-in-Walla-Walla-and-bored variety, incidentally.</p>
<p>And TIL is 100% correct. Reed takes the philosophical stance that students are adults who are responsible and do not need helicopter parenting/proctoring.</p>
<p>Not sure what you’re basing your opinions on. I am very familiar with Whitman - I have never heard D or anyone talk about a drinking problem there. This is a normal college, but its rigorous academics preclude it from being a “party school”. I’m not sure this is the school for OP tho, because there is a very athletic student body at Whitman. It is outdoorsy tho.</p>
<p>Add Grinnell as a possible alternative somewhat similar to Reed.</p>
<p>Did you look at Lewis and Clark? I think at least a small part of that Reed allure is Portland and the PNW, although in essence I really don’t think there are very many schools similar to Reed.</p>
<p>Oh sorry 5boys forgot about your comment about Lewis and Clark just not measuring up to Reed. Grinnell, Carleton, Oberlin and Whitman are all I think as tough academically as Reed. A friend who didn’t get into Reed ED last year loves L&C, although at the time of applying she couldn’t see past Reed love.</p>
<p>Check out Bard College. My son is there. They do not recruit athletes. It is very intellectual and has a beautiful campus. Strong emphasis on the arts, literature and social sciences.</p>
<p>kolijma, I have a number of friends who’ve gone to Whitman who would describe it rather differently. but perhaps your D and my friends operate in different social circles; good to know it’s not as pervasive as I’ve heard though.</p>
<p>Bard, Bennington Hampshire, Sarah Lawrence would be Reed’s lesser brethren when it comes to academic intensity and intellectualism, but would trump Reed when it comes to artsiness and a general air of creativity. Also, they’re easier to get into than Reed, if that’s a concern.</p>
<p>but Reed College has a HUGE drug problem. Just something else to consider…</p>
<p>As a parent of a recent grad, I disagree.
Reed believes in young adults behaving like adults, and in colleges NOT behaving like their parents.
While death of a young student in 2008 due to an overdose was tragic, the decision by his parents to send him to a school that is known for it’s emphasis on personal responsibility and academic stress, despite his recent in patient treatment for drug addiction- was perhaps not the wisest- .</p>
<p>The recent deaths really surprise me, however, I do not feel that it reflects on the education or the administration of the school or of the general attitude of the students, any more than suicides at another school, taken by itself, should remove those institutions from consideration</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the great replies and advice! We actually were supposed to make it to Whitman this long weekend but couldn’t get there because of bad weather. We started in Portland, then were going to drive to Walla Walla and then back to Seattle. We ended up just driving to Seattle and staying with my parents. Whitman is on his list… although not sure how much he will like it after the Reed love affair. I’m thinking it may be too jocky/ preppy for him. He absolutely loves the outdoors… he’s already summited a few 14’ers. he rock climbs, is an eagle scout and volunteers up in our local mountains on their search and rescue team. So, I’m not sure about Grinnell and Oberlin… although they do sound similar to Reed. I had forgotten about Bard, and that may be a good option. He isn’t very artsy though, just is very non-conformist and REALLY loves the whole idea that Reed has regarding the honor code and treating them as adults. My S does not do drugs or drink, although he has friends that do. I trust that he could handle the supposed drug scene at Reed. I don’t think it would bother him at all. I do worry about him getting in though, so would love a few less selective Reed clones. He is VERY smart, almost perfect test scores, but his grades are not always the the top. He wants to major in Classics and then go to Med School. He did actually kind of like Lewis and Clark and will probably apply there too.</p>
<p>If the honour code is a big draw for your son, Haverford College near Philadelphia is a smaller, formerly Quaker-affiliated, fairly nonconformist school where the honour code is a HUGE deal. It’s probably of comparable difficulty to get into compared to Reed, and the academics are definitely very respectable.</p>
<p>ha ha, I didn’t mean to imply that Whitties are jocky or preppy. far from it! they just like their intramural sports. But they also like the outdoors (skiing, rock climbing, kayaking are all common weekend trips and the outdoor shop provides the equipment) and are much more often referred to as hippies than jocks.</p>
<p>My D is a frosh at Oberlin. I believe the current Reed Admissions Director is an Oberlin alum. They are peer schools. Both are very liberal. Oberlin surroundings are rural and flat, so rock climbing is out. Oberlin has 2800 students, about 600 of which are Conservatory students. Although Cleveland is only about 45 minutes away, nobody goes there. There is so much to do on a campus that has more 300 concerts and muscial events every year, most of them free to students, few people complain about the eclectic small town environment. There is a huge contingent of Oberlin students from the West Coast. Most of the West Coast students are from California, and a few are from Hawaii. Drugs are not as pervasive at Oberlin as I’m hearing they are at Reed.</p>
<p>Oberlin at one time had a reputation as a huge “hippie” school. Very smart hippies, of course. That reputation is no longer accurate. It was a funny experience at parents orientation to see so many parents with long hair and beards (Oberlin alums) while their kids looked totally regular, that is “non-Hippie.” Funny how student bodies can change over time even with a strong legacy presence. </p>
<p>5boys, I think your son would like Oberlin very much (if he decides against Reed) but he’d have to give up some of the rugged outdoor stuff like rock climbing. There just aren’t any rocks to climb. :)</p>
<p>Paul Marthers, who got his BA from Oberlin, moved to RPI this past year actually. But the two schools do have a significant interchange of people.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the characterization of Williams. I have a son there and his social life definitely does not revolve around drinking. And there are many others like him. There is so much going on at Williams, especially at the 62 Center, that even though its a rural LAC there is a lot to do. I imagine Dart is the same.</p>
<p>As for Reed, I think you can trust your S to do the work if he loves the school. I know Reed has this reputation, but really, all the good LAC’s are academically demanding.</p>
<p>However, I think you’ve gotten some great suggestions. To summarize and add a bit: Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire, Oberlin, Bennington, Whitman, Lewis and Clark, Skidmore and Grinnell.</p>
<p>5boys, I kind of understand what your son liked about Reed. The unfortunate bit is that there is no college that emulates that, and honestly apart from stray similarities, mostly relating to “druggy/hippy” culture, there are no colleges truly like Reed. Swarthmore would come closest in having almost all of the elements Reed does, but it’s more difficult to get into and almost as difficult workload wise. I hope your son gets into Reed because he sounds like he enjoys it. Pitzer is another college that comes to mind-less competitive and in a consortium with Pomona, Harvey Mudd etc. so he’ll get a whole mix of people to talk about “random things” with.</p>
<p>Paradox7— Thanks so much! Yeah, after leaving Reed and having my son surprisingly fall head over heals in love, I knew right then and there that finding a school similar would be hard. First of all the location is great… that is if you can stand a lot of rain. He LOVED Portland and it is great that Reed is so close to a city that is easy to fly into. Point being, we were supposed to go to Whitman but there was a big storm so you couldn’t drive there easily and we didn’t go. It kind of made us think about how hard Whitman is to get to.
Another problem is that my S insists on being close to the mountains, so that pretty much crosses off Oberlin and Grinnell. I don’t think he could get into Swathmore, so what does that leave? Previously he was leaning towards Colorado College, but we haven’t visited yet. But really, is it going to have that non-conformist, fun, wacky, free-thinking, atmosphere like Reed? I could just see him relating to everything the tour guide said. Everyone seemed so happy and nice. He loved all the books for Hum. and was so excited just thinking about it. I think he is generally bored with high school and so that is why his grades are not perfect. He loves to be challenged. He also liked that the “SCI???” dorms were discussing the zombie apocaplyse and he and the tour guide had a fun discussion about that. </p>
<p>Anyway, we have another year to think about it but I do agree that there will probably be no place like Reed.</p>