<p>I'd love to go to Reed, but I know I won't qualify for any aid. So I've got to be able to work at least 20 hours a week to pay for school (including weekends). I know academics at Reed are very demanding, and I'm wondering if it's realistic for me to be able to work while going to school.</p>
<p>As a sidenote, I do freelance web development and graphic design, so I work from home (or, as the case would be in college, dorm). So it doesn't have to be like 3 hours a day in a block, or whatever, just time added up.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any insight that would help me know if this is plausible (and if my major would make a difference, I'm planning to major in Philosophy or Classics).</p>
<p>Those receiving Reed financial aid (about half of students) are required to work 5 to 10 hours per week as part of their aid. Students report, on average, completing 75% of their required reading (meaning that relatively few have enough time to do all the required reading). My guess is that it would depend on how fast you generally read, and if you're fast enough, you would have time left over for extra work, though it would cut into other non-study time. Your major choices are indeed reading-intensive!</p>
<p>Just as an aside, not all Reed financial aid recipients are required to work. Presidential Scholars receive additional grants to cover loan and work study amounts.</p>
<p>it also depends on how many credits you plan to take each semester. If you take only 3 credits/semester then you would have plenty of free time. But if you take 4.5 credits/semester and/or some classes which have lab sessions then you would have very little time left.</p>
<p>Your also should know how well you manage your time. A friend of mine takes 4.5 credits/semester, takes another course to become a certified nuclear reactor operator, and still she can work for about 10+ hours/week. maybe she's just superwoman (^_^)</p>
<p>To clarify, Reed doesn't refer to "credits" but instead to "units," which are equivalent to 4 semester credits or 6 quarter credits (in quarter system).</p>
<p>So a student taking 4 units is taking the equivalent of 16 credit-hours under the semester system.</p>
<p>On the initial question about work: a few hours per week is managable (I did it), especially if it's on-campus. I wouldn't plan on more than 10 no matter what.</p>
<p>30 units to graduate, equivalent again to 120 semester credit hours at most colleges or 180 quarter credit hours at those on the quarter system.</p>
<p>Soooo, 30/8=3.75 units per semester on average. Equivalent to 15 semester credit hours per semester.</p>
<p>I have a question about Reed's AP credits -- do they allow you to apply AP credits to their general distribution requirements and to get into a higher level class, or do the AP credits mainly count as "electives." I'm sure this is on their website somewhere, but just thought either Vossron or Mackinaw could comment from their knowledge.</p>
<ul>
<li>Approval of AP credit varies from department to department; however, all those granting credit require scores of 4 or 5.</li>
<li>Credit for AP tests will apply toward the 30 units of academic credit needed for graduation, but cannot be used to meet any other Reed College requirement.</li>
<li>Students are generally awarded one unit of credit for each AP exam.</li>
<li>No student may receive more than a total credit of eight units by means of AP or other exams.
[/quote]
</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that the max is eight, not two as I previously wrote.</p>
<p>Reading more carefully, it gets a bit complicated. Credit can be granted by individual departments, but advanced placement is generally not granted by AP test, except for a few cases outside the major. Advanced placement can be granted by department placement exams, and there are a few cases of credit being given for the AP exam or a class, but not both.</p>
<p>For example, a 4 or 5 on the chemisty AP test grants credit for Chem 101 for non-chem majors.</p>
<p>I think one needs to read the fine print at the link for specific department info.</p>
<p>Back in my day, the SAT "achievement tests" (later called SAT II tests) could sometimes be used for this purpose. I recall that as I was about to graduate (!) I learned that my score on the Spanish achievement test during high school could have been used to exempt me from language study at Reed. In other words, I would have satisfied this distribution requirement, and perhaps been given "credit" toward my overall degree requirements (total units required) as well. In any case, I studied Russian and German there, so I wasn't interested in exemption from the language requirement. So nothing was lost from the late arrival of that advice (which may well have been in the catalog, for all I know).</p>