<p>are there any students here that transferred into Reed? I'll be a freshmen next year at another school that was not one of my top choices and the more i read about it the more i dislike it...I've been reading about Reed some more lately after glancing at it last year when i was doing the whole college search thing (i saw the 3.8 average GPA and left it at that...) Now, after reading more about it i wished i had applied because i feel like i had many strengths that reed looks for beyond my gpa (which isn't too too bad).
So my questions are:</p>
<p>1) how competitive is it to apply as a transfer student? will strong grades at the school i plan on attending now help make up for my lower gpa in high school?</p>
<p>2) what was it like transferring into reed? was it easy to find your place socially and adjust academically/catch up with some of the work freshmen are required to take?</p>
<p>also the school i plan on attending in the fall has trimesters so i would be sending two terms worth of grades with my application instead of just one semester of grades</p>
<p>I am a new transfer student. I had horrible high school grades (2.3) but had finished 2 years at another college doing much better. Things to note from my experience:</p>
<p>Take the ACT or SAT ASAP... stuff I had learned in HS is covered on these tests and some of it is not really relevant to what you learn in college so if you haven't taken one of these tests take them early before you forget the silly stuff.</p>
<p>If you are serious about wanting to transfer set up your current schedule to fit Reeds Requirements and remember 4 semester or 6 quarter = 1 reed unit. I went to school in CA and our grad requirements were a lot different so I ended up with a lot of .75 units, non-transferable and stuff like that.</p>
<p>Make sure you do an interview it is really fun</p>
<p>Do something like work or volunteer to add to your stuff since your HS graduation. I don't know if they care but I could see some one looking at your outside of school work during high school and seeing a lot of stuff but then entering college and it all disappearing, and to me that would discredit the stuff in high school as being done simply because you wanted to go to college.</p>
<p>Do your absolute best on your Why Reed? essay. Some people in admissions, after I submitted it, told me I should make sure that I let them know that if I am accepted that I would go for sure and that Reed is my top choice. I didn't get that advice until after I submitted but I'm passing it on to you early. I guess if they are a bit on the fence about you or aren't sure if you will come if you get accepted then if you outright tell them they are more likely to admit you and take you seriously. One intern in admissions said to me when she thought I had not applied already "just beat the dead horse by saying 'I will come, I will come...'." Or she said something to that effect anyway.</p>
<p>My visit made all the difference, and so although I can't answer your question on the social life yet from my visit I felt like I would fit in perfectly. But a word of caution, the school has a love-hate relationship with the visitors. Admissions wants you there but I got the idea that no one else really does. Some students and faculty are anti-prospie so just tread lightly and be respectful. On the visit they gave me a bunch of dumb stuff to do with the other prospies and I didn't do any of them. I just went to the cafe' and library and talked with people and found out where some real stuff was going on. My tour guide dude who was supposed to show me around was sort of hired by default (the real one was sick) so I left him in search of my own fun, I would expect your experience to be different. They also give you 4 meal vouchers and that was a plus. Some of the students told me that during the heavy visiting months they tell everyone to tone down a bit (they hid all the cigarettes in the coffee shop so parents wouldn't see and other stuff like that) so if you can do a visit during a weird week that might yield a better result.</p>
<p>On the last little note, I read somewhere that they still have some space for this class so you might consider calling them up and seeing if you can get in this year on my visit I talked to one girl who said she had done a mid-summer application, got in, and switched schools.</p>
<p>thanks!
my high school gpa wasn't too bad...i think it ended up being 3.3 or 3.4
also i've taken the SAT's and have good scores
and thanks for the advice about transfer credits..i'm picking my classes on monday so that's just in time!
as much as i'd like to call them up and see if it's possible to start attending this fall I think i'll just wait to transfer because i would need a good amount of financial aid</p>