<p>Good post pkeirk and you summed up a lot of the factors I weighed when considering Reed. But this sentence about sums it up for me:</p>
<p>"i'm not trying to sell the school, personally it sounds painful and I would be happier elsewhere"</p>
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However, when I hear that the rampant drug use is a reason why a decent percentage of students either leave or end up not graduating, a red flag goes up.
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<p>Is this even true about Reed? Where did you read this?</p>
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The fact that only 85% of students return for their sophomore year is further evidence that, for many (and probably myself), Reed is a more extreme environment than Brown or Wes. This may also be attributed to the intense academic environment at Reed, where many students graduate with GPAs in the 2.0-2.9 range. As someone that wishes to go on to earn a MBA and to thoroughly enjoy the college experience, Reed is not a place I am particularly interested in.
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<p>...you neglect that Reed also produces the most Ph.D candidates out of any college/university in the nation. I wonder why...</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Brown is also extremely liberal. Whether or not they are brutally rigorous in the academics, the university tends to manifist its extremeness in various events: sex power god and star ****, two parties that are widely known to be massive orgies. I am pleased about your stance on drugs, but it is unfortunate that your stance on sex does not pass muster.</p>
<p>85% graduation rate is by no means low...
You should look at state school rates...</p>
<p>^^^ it was 85% freshman retention rate</p>
<p>Also: "Politically, I see Brown and Wesleyan as perfect matches, whereas Reed again seems to be the extreme version. From Princeton Review:</p>
<p>"We also heard numerous warnings that "at times the political liberalism of the student body is undoubtedly stifling to fundamentalist Christians and Republicans, which is slightly ironic given the ‘open-mindedness' that Reedies claim to pride themselves on."</p>
<p>This exact quote could easily be used to describe Brown or Wesleyan. The number 1 complaint I have heard from conservative B/W students is that anything right-leaning is derided both by students and professors. So if you don't like the above quote about Reed, trust me, you aren't going to like B/W. You know the recent incident with the Minutemen/Jim Gilchrist at Columbia? The same exact thing could have just as easily happened at B/W.</p>
<p>Oops...didn't read the comment carefully.
even so...my point still stands. 85% retention is not 'awful.'</p>
<p>"This may also be attributed to the intense academic environment at Reed, where many students graduate with GPAs in the 2.0-2.9 range. As someone that wishes to go on to earn a MBA and to thoroughly enjoy the college experience, Reed is not a place I am particularly interested in."</p>
<p>Half of students graduated in 2005 with GPAs in the 2.0-3.1 range, the other half in the 3.1-4.0 range.</p>
<p>2004-2005 Graduating Class
10% graduated with a GPA of 3.63 or higher
25% graduated with a GPA of 3.46 or higher
Average GPA 3.1 (about the same for over 20 years)</p>
<p>Based on a national survey of graduating seniors at 34 private, liberal arts colleges, and over 10,500 responses, 2005 Reed College graduates are 44% more likely to be very satisfied with their undergraduate education than the national average, and 51% more likely to say they definitely would attend the same institution again.</p>
<p>Reed graduates earn MBAs at U Chicago, Portland State, Harvard, U Pennsylvania, U Washington, Columbia, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, U Oregon, U Portland, U Santa Clara, Yale.</p>
<p>Data from various pages on the Reed web site.</p>
<p>Links from the Brown Daily Herald, all articles published within the last month and a half. [Read the comments on the bottoms of each article, too]:</p>
<p>Lack of intellectual diversity at Brown: <a href="http://www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2006/09/27/Columns/Zachary.Townsend.08.I.d.Check-2310599.shtml?norewrite200610131617&sourcedomain=www.browndailyherald.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2006/09/27/Columns/Zachary.Townsend.08.I.d.Check-2310599.shtml?norewrite200610131617&sourcedomain=www.browndailyherald.com</a></p>
<p>Liberal Bias on Brown Faculty: <a href="http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2002/october_2002_5.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2002/october_2002_5.html</a></p>
<p>Wesleyan is exactly the same, if not more extreme.</p>
<p>Nspeds - I am well aware of Reed's success at producing PhD candidates. As for my stance on drugs versus sex, I would like to make myself clear. I do not particularly care what people do with these things. If someone wishes to do drugs, that is their decision. If someone wishes to participate in orgies (which, for the record, I find disgusting), that's their decision as well. The point I am making is that after researching the school, it sounds like drugs are so common at the school that those who do not do them often feel pressured. If this is not the case, I would be happy to discuss the topic further with evidence. My information is basically taken from articles I've found on the college, conversations with current/previous students on CC, several college books from my library, and studentsreview.com. </p>
<p>vossron - I would consider 50% of the students to be "many." However, I was unaware about much of the information you've brought up, including the happiness of the students and where they end up often going after school. </p>
<p>WindCloud - compared to the other schools being discussed (Wes/Brown), 85% is pretty low.</p>
<p>brand, is this the research you found?</p>
<p><a href="http://academic.reed.edu/psychology/pluralisticignorance/sexrelationships.html%5B/url%5D">http://academic.reed.edu/psychology/pluralisticignorance/sexrelationships.html</a>
<a href="http://academic.reed.edu/psychology/pluralisticignorance/drugsalcohol.html%5B/url%5D">http://academic.reed.edu/psychology/pluralisticignorance/drugsalcohol.html</a></p>
<p>If yes, then I think you found the right data, and people can judge from what they see there.</p>
<p>50% below 3.1 GPA is the result of no grade inflation, and grad schools recognize this about such schools.</p>
<p>it's been awhile since I was researching the school, but thanks for the link^</p>
<p>So then most people on here seem to think that Reed is no more <em>extreme</em> (in the sense of the school's culture) than Brown or Wesleyan? If so, I may give it another look.</p>
<p>no of course reed is more extreme, based on reputation. these people don't go there, don't listen to them</p>
<p>Ok, well that's basically the idea that I got when I initially researched the school. Like I said, it's been awhile (several months) so I don't have links to support everything I've said. It is interesting though that so many don't see it as being any more liberal than Brown or Wesleyan. The general idea conveyed by many articles on the school is that it is practically the most left-leaning school in the nation.</p>
<p>are you kidding nspeds? georgetown is not exactly supposed to be the most rigorous school in the country either.</p>
<p>what is wrong with you</p>
<p>To whichever moderator deleted the argument, thank you. Now we can finally get back on topic.</p>
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are you kidding nspeds? georgetown is not exactly supposed to be the most rigorous school in the country either.
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<p>...and you know this how?</p>
<p>My apologies, brand_182.</p>