Reed College

While you are there, Reed is both heaven and hell. Heaven because you are surrounded by other people that love learning and the life of the mind. Hell because these are the people who surround you 24 hours a day, and you are pushing yourself harder than you ever have before. You are continually challenged. Reed becomes more and more like heaven the longer you are gone, and the more time you have to compare it to the rest of the world. I would not trade my Reed experience for anything in the world! Grad school is a breeze after Reed.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

I'm an out-of-state student and never visited Reed before I enrolled, but I definitely made the right choice. As far as academics goes, I could not imagine any place better for me. In a lot of ways, it's my idea of what a college should be like. I'm a psych major and I love the psych professors. All professors here go by their first names, so right now I'm taking intro pysch from Dan, Enriqueta, and Steve.

The teaching ability in general of the professors here is unbelievable. Dan's lectures are the type that members of the general public would pay to hear because he's engaging and you learn so much in a way that sticks with you. Professors spend a lot of time on individual students because class sizes are very small. My Humanities conference leader spends twenty minutes with us in an individual meeting after each paper we turn in, just chatting and discussing the paper.

The academics here are serious and focused on making you an educated person. Education for the sake of education is very strong here and there is little emphasis on grades. People here joke about being "socially awkward" but really it's more the case that many Reedies tend to be more introverted and initially more shy than average, not that they are actually socially awkward. Reedies also joke ironically about all the philosophical discussions that supposedly take place...but the fact is, they happen and it's cool. And there's something great about a group of kids who are not worried about appearing uncool by discussing something like the physics of an attempt to dig a hole to China.

Still, Reed isn't for everybody and it isn't perfect. Socially, it's pretty quiet during the week, with some large parties on the weekends. As someone who doesn't drink, I'm sometimes uncomfortable with the heavy emphasis on drinking present on the weekends. Also, while the drug use isn't excessive, it's still more than I am comfortable with. In general, while I identify as liberal, I come from a much more conservative background than most people here, and I don't approve of the casual hookups and sex that are sometimes taken for granted here. If I have any real complaint about the general student population it would be that some Reedies seem to take on a facade of jadedness (towards religion, education, politics, etc.) that can be rather irritating at times.

However, those are concerns that are present in any college I would go to (except maybe Bob Jones University?), and overall, Reed is as close to my idea of a dream school as I'm ever going to get. I love my classes and my professors and I have a group of friends that aren't into the drinking and drugs, so for me, Reed is the place I need to be.It's not for everyone and many students transfer after their first year, but if the match is right, it's a great place to be. And you will definitely definitely definitely without a doubt get a first rate education.

1st Year Female -- Class 2009

Education Quality: A+, Social Life: A-

Of course Reed is not for everyone. It is a small, insular, highly academic environment. For four years, I did little but learn. That is not what everyone is looking for in a college. It did instill in me a strong desire to learn, and a desire to learn for the sake of learning. I pushed myself hard and never stopped trying to learn a subject just because I thought I had learned enough to get an A. The faculty were great, and while fellow students could appear at times to be pretentious or arrogant, I found it was a matter of stress and insecurity. Without grades, students can become defensive of their intelligence at times, especially at a school like Reed, where it is such a priority. Going into graduate school, I found that Reed college was a plus on my application and I had no trouble getting in anywhere. The fact that there is no grade inflation does not reflect poorly on the student, all transcripts come with a disclaimer. Being at a large graduate school, I see a whole different environment for the undergraduates, and I am glad I went to Reed. As a liberal arts major in the sciences, I am grateful that I didn't have "dumbed down" classes at Reed. I think knowledge about many fields is an advantage in any field.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000