Workload at Reed?

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm a junior in high school hoping to apply to Reed in the next couple of months but I am unsure about the workload to expect. I'm in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at my school--the work is difficult so I'm guessing I'll be able to handle the work at Reed. But I don't know if it might be too much? Does that make any sense? I really love learning and I'm good at handling stress so Reed doesn't seem too intimidating.</p>

<p>Is anyone here a Reed student, and has been in the IB program by any chance? I would really like to hear about how you found the work at Reed to be after IB.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>

<p>A goodly part of managing the Reed workload is learning to manage the difference between college and high school in how scheduled events are organized.</p>

<p>There’s a basic reality to keep in mind: there are 168 hours in the week (24x7).</p>

<p>In high school you may be in class 6 or 7 hours a day, then have your organized extracurriculars (sports, clubs, theater, debate, other activities), perhaps at the school – say 40 to 50 hours per week. You then have “homework,” etc., to do on your own during the remaining ca. 120 hours, mainly away from your school.</p>

<p>In college, you are likely to be in class only 3 or 4 hours per day (perhaps more if you have labs) – say 15 to 20 hours in class per week at maximum. This means that you have about 150 hours left over.</p>

<p>You can manage Reed’s heavy reading/writing requirements if you manage your time well. I once calculated that the reading in my freshman year – basically Hum 110 – averaged 400-450 pages per week (I took Hum 110, Chemistry, and Calculus in first semester, and added Quant. Analysis in chem as a 4th course in second semester).</p>

<p>I realized from the start that the only way I was going to manage this workload was to use my daytime hours effectively. Use the time between classes to study (to “work”). I headed to the library, back to the dorm, or to some place where I could think. During the day I seldom just hung out. Think of yourself as having a basic “40 hour work week” during daytimes, including class, reading, research, writing, etc. If you can manage that, then you probably have to find another 15-20 hours per week to do the work that’s required at Reed. This usually means some weekend and evening work. And when there are paper deadlines looming, it may mean more – including occasional all-nighters, not a solitary enterprise I can assure you.</p>

<p>Now your experience may differ. I knew some who didn’t need nearly as much time as I did to comprehend the reading; or they didn’t require multiple drafts of a paper to get it right. And you really do come to realize that some readings need attention to every word, and some not so much.</p>

<p>But if you use your daytime Monday-Friday hours effectively, you have plenty of time to manage the Reed workload. And if you follow my math here and you “work” an average of 60 hours per week, you still have ~100 left over in your 168 hour week. What do you do with that? Well there’s sleep, of course. But there’s also plenty of time for recreation of all kinds. Hanging out, parties, sports, clubs, politics, what have you.</p>

<p>The overwhelming majority of Reedies handle the load well enough. And a good deal of what I have referred to as “work” was truly a pleasure to do – even if demanding and time-consuming. And even though this work is solitary in the sense that nobody else can read or learn for you (just as nobody else can do your eating or breathing or exercise for you), learning at Reed is very much a social phenomenon. Everybody’s doing it. Pretty much everybody wants to talk about it. And even when you’re doing an all-nighter, you’re likely to have company – somebody to comiserate with.</p>

<p>I’m a Reed alumni and you’ll be fine. I probably studied 6 hours a day. One thing that I learned was that I couldn’t have 4 demanding classes in the same semester, only 1 or 2. For instance, even though I wasn’t a physics major Introductory Physics took a lot of time so when I was taking it I gave it a lot of attention and I didn’t give as much time to my other courses which were less time consuming. When my girlfriend took physics she was also taking some upper division history courses and was a history major so she couldn’t devote the time to Physics that it needed and didn’t get a good grade in it. My worst semester grade wise was the one semester I only took 3 courses. I attribute it to I got out of the habit of studying, it turned out I was better off having a busy schedule.</p>

<p>I’ve heard it said many times that some kids who got easy A’s in HS can have a hard time adjusting to the Reed workload. Our D (just graduated from Reed) had to work hard in HS, and found Reed to be stressful at times (yes, some all-nighters), but manageable. She had enough time to hang out with friends, too.</p>

<p>Thanks for your responses. </p>

<p>You have made the studying sound a lot more manageable than the Reed brochures/web site made it seem. </p>

<p>I can’t wait to visit the school, it sounds absolutely amazing!</p>