<p>Hail to the unique non-US news school!</p>
<p>Do Reedies have much down time & social life?
I've read that it's so academic that most students choose to spend most of their free time studying, in the library, etc. We want high academics but not a total pressure cooker. Do students compete with themselves or each other? What are some of the most fun things Reedies do?</p>
<p>My daughter just called from Portland. She is there visiting for the weekend. She was flying, raving about how smart and different the kids are and how passionate they are about their interests. She sat in on three classes and was high about the discussions and some student run seminars. She said Sunday night was quiet--they played pool with their hosts. Tonight they were headed to Powell's (?) bookstore and out to dinner. Says the food is good. She did not find it to be a pressure cooker atmosphere and said the kids were warm and friendly.</p>
<p>THis is a good place to ask questions of actual Reedies, ( but check memories first)</p>
<p>Thanks, Emeraldkity. My daughter is talking about working for a year to earn more dollars for college. Your daughter worked for Teach America, didn't she? I am not sure if this is afterglow or if Reed is so unique she is willing to make that sacrifice. She has visited several very fine schools so far, and she says the intellectual energy at Reed is hands-down the best. I am waiting to hear what she has to say about Chicago. I have reservations about the academic intensity and also wonder if Reed might get kind of claustrophobic after the first couple years. We'll see how things shake out.
How is your daughter doing? Is she feeling ready to go back to Reed after her break?</p>
<p>She worked for CityYear which is a subgroup of Americorp
IT was in our city so she could live at home which was helpful cause although they receive a living stipend its pretty small.</p>
<p>My D still loves Reed, it is small that is true, it is smaller than her sisters high school, but she didn't want all the amenities of a university plus it is in a city, so she doesn't feel too confined.
She has been going down to Reed every few weeks or so, this weekend for some reason ( it is also parents weekend), again in a couple weeks to see a friends theatre thesis production. IT is close enough that friends also came up to Seattle during their fall break, so while I originally had encouraged her to think outside of the area, it has worked out to have her close.
She has been doing very well in her organic chem class, and has been talking about taking biochem when she comes back. I think she still has no idea what she is doing her thesis on, but she still has time for that.
We didn't look at Chicago, she had stayed there during a CityYear conference ( and shook hands with both Clinton and McCain), and I had the impression that Chicago was too gritty for her. </p>
<p>She is thinking about doing TeachforAmerica after college, she is currently working at her old primary school teaching science after school and loves it, although she is more drawn to middleschoolers.
As far as academics at Reed, I think it depends on major. The science and math majors would be lots more work as you not only have lecture but labs. I do have impression some things are as difficulty as can be at Reed not because they have to be to understand material, but because that is the "reed way".
Her profs have been very supportive however, and there is the sense that they are all in it together rather than competing to be the top of the bell curve.</p>
<p>Glad to hear things are going so well. Your daughter must be special if she is attracted to middle school teaching--gotta love 'em, but it is the ultimate awkward age. I helped line up my son's choral group last night, and oh, my gosh, I admire his teacher. They were little monsters in the rehearsal room, and then they morphed into these angelic-voiced pro's when they made it to the stage. You have to feel for them; many are growing in big spurts, voices are changing, they are being told how much things will change for them when they get to high school, and they are becoming more aware of the world.
It will be interesting to see how my D makes her decision. I hope she likes Chicago and gets a scholarship, but I am open to her taking other routes. We'll have to wait and see who accepts her, what they offer, and what she wants. I feel good about her choices. I think she could be happy at any of them. I had heard such bizarre things about Reed, but it seems that a lot of that is either exaggerated or invented.</p>
<p>Pattykk, Reed is a different kind of place but I don't think bizarre describes it. I am a Reed graduate. My own kids didn't end up attending, though my son was admitted but chose Chicago. What's different, or special about Reed is what your daughter has already noted: the dominant ethos is rather intellectual, but not in a posing and posturing way; rather in a way that taking one's academic work seriously and putting it very high on the priority scale is almost universal.</p>
<p>Then again, Reedies are definitely individualists, and sometimes try to outdo one another in being different. But at the same time they are highly cooperative, there is very little competitiveness student-to-student, and they are very tolerant of one another.</p>
<p>oh yes quirky I think covers it ( but have you been to fetish ball?)
although my daughter was very impressed by the elaborate scavenger hunt at Chicago
I am not aware of flaming jackolantern catapults at Chicago however
( always run very safely I am told)</p>
<p>Mackinaw: Yes, my daughter said many of the same things. She was most impressed by what went on in the classroom and by the interesting things the students were doing. She picked up on the lack of competitiveness, the community of scholars feel, and the tolerance. Does your son find Chicago competitive? Is he happy with his choice? We have been talking about Reed's policy of not buying minorities and not providing merit aid for affluent. D kind of admires the policy and is considering working for a while to supplement our savings. I waver between being very willing to be bought and thinking that the other route could be very good for her in the long run. She has some very good schools on her list--I am confident she has made choices that fit her and that a good choice can be made.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity4: They sure seem to be a quirky bunch, but I can see my daughter in that environment very easily. Her father is wondering if she would tire of it after a few years. He says she will get tired of being around only people like herself, but right now she finds that very appealing after being different in a public school for so many years.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity: Forgot to mention that gritty would not be a problem for my daughter after living in San Juan. She is sick of living in a place whose main draw is that "it's a nice place to raise a family." I think she is actually looking for grit.</p>
<p>Mackinaw: I wanted to explain what I meant when I said I heard bizarre things about Reed. I had heard that Renn Fayre is a drunken orgy and that there were pinatas of acid, heavy drug use, etc. I spoke to the Dean of Students who assured me that Renn Fayre is not as decadent as all that. She said that some students are socially awkward and can fall into excessive behavior when they try to be cool. My daughter said that some students were kind of introverted and aloof, but that everyone was friendly when she engaged them in conversation. She said her host told her that there was no way to be a heavy drug user and do the work and that the pinatas held condoms this year, not drugs. I think some students enjoy the 60's reputation and do what they can to preserve the rep. D came home with a shirt that says, "Communism, atheism, and free love." Wore it to school today to afflict the comfortable here in the heartland. She said she introduced herself as, "Hello, I'm Katie. I'm from Ohio. I'm sorry."
Incidentally, what is the Nu Reed vs. Old Reed thing?</p>
<p>The way I understand it, is Olde Reed is the way it was your freshman year.</p>
<p>Well if the scroungers didn't scare her away, she probably will love it.
I thought they were pretty pretentious like in the 60's when it was cool for rich kids to wear dirty patched jeans, but I got used to them. They are actually pretty polite and don't seem to have a hierarchy.( we did a faux study one evening)</p>
<p>I don't think they have had a blotter acid pinata for years, although Reed does allow/require more independence/responsible behavior than schools that keep a tighter rain. I have not noticed a great deal of any kind of substance use,( my husband saw three kids go under the blue bridge with a bong once) the cool thing about Reed is they can do really geeky fun things and dont need the excuse of being "high"
All staff at Reed from professors to housekeepers gets a stipend to spend on student interaction. THis results in my daughter regualry attending movies with professors, playing paintball with the president of Reed, the housekeeper giving rides to airport and hosting dinners, so while it may seem they are on their own, adults have a lot of contact with students.</p>
<p>Hi Patty, I will address your other comments later (am on the run) but I got a kick out of the Old Reed vs. New Reed reference. Unless you are referring to something that I don't know about, I can say that at least for the last 50 years, it has been a tradition and an in-joke that every graduating class declares that now that they are leaving the Old Reed is Dead -- the place will never be the same. Of course what's remarkable is that this isn't fundamentally true. On the contrary, Reed maintains a distinctive culture as one cohort follows the next.</p>
<p>You know that line, "The King is dead. Long live the King." The people change but the King-ship remains and somebody else moves into the role.</p>
<p>Patty, my son preferred the University of Chicago mainly because he preferred the city of Chicago for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it's a major league (baseball) city. Also, he wanted a larger school to move around in.</p>
<p>He's not the type of person who gets caught up in competitiveness, and so while a much larger proportion of Chicago students than Reed students are very pre-professional in their thinking (which may mean, among other things, that they are grade-grubbers), and he disparaged the intellectual pretentiousness of of some students, he did enjoy Chicago a lot. </p>
<p>He majored in economics, a very good and also very popular concentration at Chicago. He wasn't always happy with his teachers, in particular some of the post-docs and the like in his intro econ courses and math courses. He felt that the quality of teaching in his year-abroad in London (at LSE) was better overall than at Chicago. My own second-hand impression is that Reed faculty were better teachers than Chicago teachers. But my son did like some of his teachers at Chicago a lot.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for sharing that information about Chicago. My daughter is also attracted to the city. She might have a problem in the baseball department, since she is a Cubs fan and would be living in White Sox territory. I think you gave us a very balanced assessment of the teaching at both schools. I am familiar with the economics department's reputation; your son must be extremely bright.
Thanks for shedding light on the Nu Reed/Old Reed bit; now I get it.</p>
<p>When I picked my son up from college in June after his first year, I asked him whether he had gone to any baseball games. "Oh, about 10," he said. "TEN!??" I asked him. "Did you ever miss class to go to to a game?" "No. . . . well, only on opening day." "On opening day? Which opening day game did you go to, Cubs or WhiteSox?" "Both," he said.</p>
<p>He's more a Cubs fan than a Sox fan, but he does like baseball.</p>
<p>More generally, he made it a point to take advantage of Chicago as a city (and not only for baseball), and not just stay on campus all the time.</p>
<p>When I was at Reed, BTW, it was easy (10-15 min busride) to get involved in various things downtown including concerts, museums, restaurants, the occasional political event, and the like. But I think Reed is also more intense than Chicago in term of the level of demand on students, and so we were all pretty focused.</p>
<p>I think both cities have a lot to offer. Sounds like your son is a balanced guy. It would be a shame to be in a city like Chicago and not have fun.</p>
<p>It was actually a trebouchet, not a catapult.</p>
<p>;-)</p>
<p>Acktuually, a Trebuchet is a type of catapult
<a href="http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/catapult%5B/url%5D">http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/catapult</a> :)</p>