<p>The Reed website ostensibly implies that if you transfer in as a junior, then you will be required to stay on for another semester or year after your class has graduated. Am I misinterpreting the site, or is this generally the case?</p>
<p>If you're talking about this: </p>
<p>"If you plan to transfer to Reed as a junior (with 15 or more Reed units), it is important to understand the structure of the junior year here. All juniors take the junior qualifying exam (described in the general requirements section) in the second semester of that year. It is very difficult to transfer in as a junior and sit for the exam after only one semester of Reed College work. Therefore, if applying as a junior, keep in mind that an additional semester or two might be needed to prepare fully for advanced work in your department."</p>
<p>Then it's pretty clear. You have to pass the qual for your major. To be likely to pass your qual, you may have to take extra classes at Reed. That's because the coursework leading up to the qual can be pretty rigorous, and if you haven't transfered with that, you may not be prepared/may not pass it. </p>
<p>It doesn't say that you're <em>required</em> to. What it's explaining is that passing quals is difficult, and that if you transfer in as a Junior, you may not be able to do so on the first sitting. If you have to retake, then that will delay graduation -- you're not a senior until you pass quals. My impression is that your ability to pass the qual for your major will depend in part on what your major is -- some quals are notoriously harder than others -- and in part on the rigorousness of the coursework you've had. If you haven't had enough classes within your major before attending Reed, or if they haven't covered enough material, you would be at a disadvantage. Some people don't start taking major coursework until well into Junior year at some schools.</p>
<p>I did read the site; I'm aware that it doesn't <emphasis> officially </emphasis> require a student to stay for another semester or so. It seems to be tacitly understood, however, that if a student were to enroll in their junior year then their studies would be delayed. They seem to be asserting that a transfer's classwork at their previous institution can in no way prepare them for the qualifying exam. Personally, I don't think I would have a problem with the exam. I'm cocky I know, but then again so is the assumption that studies at other universities couldn't prepare you for Reed's exam. What I wanted to know (and thought I had addressed in my question) is whether it has been the experience of other transfer students that they had to complete an additional year. I would like to go back home to the U.K. to get my PhD and explaining the American system there to admissions is hard enough not to mention why it took me five years to complete a four year degree. I'm sorry if I seem a little abrasive, but you were a little condescending i.e. "it's pretty clear."</p>
<p>If I'm condescending, then you're (as you admit) a little cocky. :-) Here's the thing. The quals aren't some national test and vary by department. My understanding is that in some cases they include exams, orals, and a research component. They're created by Reed professors, covering material taught in Reed classes. Because of this, quals are going to biased towards materials taught at Reed, in the way it's taught at Reed, with the institutional biases of Reed. (For example, Reed expects that all upperclassmen have the benefit of the common literary and process "vocabulary" of HUM110.) Some quals also have an oral component, and you won't have the benefit of existing relationships with your examiners, the common class experience, which may be a negative on some level. If you haven't had classes in the subject at Reed, it's possible there will be gaps in your knowlege of your major that will result in your failing the qual, which would again, force that whole extra semester/extra year thing. I think what they're trying to do is be up front about that. If it were easy to transfer as a junior and pass quals, they wouldn't feel the need to comment.</p>
<p>My understanding is that some departments are very up front that juniors seeking to pass the departmental qual need to have taken classes X, Y, and Z, and without the specific classes will be unlikely to pass. (I seem to remember a student friend being told by her advisor that she was not prepared for the qual because she had delayed taking a particular course within the major, and someone else posting to LJ about having failed the qual the first time through because they had been light on major courses.) In some cases, it may mean that you flat out have to take courses X, Y and Z <em>at Reed</em> in order to be allowed to take the qual. Departments can and do set limits on what courses can be taken outside, and some departments seem to require that particular major coursework has to be taken at Reed, and not via transfer or outside credits. In an instance like that, you'd be unable to take the qual until you took the required courses, even if it duplicated coursework you already had -- again, that would end up delaying becoming a senior. </p>
<p>Again, it would depend on your major. Honestly, if you're considering it, I would contact someone within your proposed major department and email them for a while about the coursework you've had and where you would be in your studies when you transfered. As I mentioned earlier, it depends on the major, to some extent. I know the Chem qual is notoriously difficult, and Psych has a reputation (perhaps undeserved) of being easier than some. As an example, the Poly Sci qual is largely a paper and mini oral defense (<a href="http://academic.reed.edu/poli_sci/resources/juniorqualhandbook.pdf)%5B/url%5D">http://academic.reed.edu/poli_sci/resources/juniorqualhandbook.pdf)</a>. The Physics qual, on the other hand, is "a systematic and integrative review of material presented during the first two years, a warm-up for the graduate qualifying exam. A closed-note, written, four-hour exam of 26 problems testing eight broad areas of physics, it is given in early February." Not having had your Physics major coursework at Reed might seriously impair your ability to pass, because it's a test on the first two years of <em>Reed</em> physics coursework.</p>
<p>Thank You. I probably will end up contacting an official in my department. I'm a philosophy major who has covered most of the prominemnt philosophers in depth, which is why I'm not particularly worried about the exam. It would be nice to know what the exam is like though. Staying on another year wouldn't be so bad, as I wish I could study more at Reed. I don't understand why they do not have spring transfers. It would resolve a lot of complications as I could complete the humanities requirement and get a year of studies under my belt before taking the qualifying exam.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don't see specific info about the Philosophy qual anywhere. Oh, but it appears that most departments will let you see past quals, if it's an exam format -- so you could also ask about that. (See for example, Anthro: "In the recent past, most of these qualifying examinations have consisted of questions that arose in the courses taken in fulfillment of the departmental requirements. We have put together a file of past Junior Qualifying Examinations so that you may consult those in advance. It is always appropriate to ask to see earlier examinations. ") </p>
<p>WEll, it wouldn't work to transfer for Spring for any year other than sophomore, so that's probably why -- it's too much trouble to allow it only for one specific year or amount of transfer credits. Freshmen transfers would miss half of HUM110, Juniors would arrive in the middle of qual season, and seniors would have to thesis spring-fall, which is awkward unless you're doing it as part of the 3rd year spring/4th year fall.</p>