Terry
If there were four tables of students in the dining hall, I probably could not distinguish them. There are no cliques at Reed. People wear all sorts of things to class. Some people like to dress in sports clothes, others are always dressed up. I have seen people wear fake tails, weird hats, robes, wings...nothing seems particularly out of place. It is difficult to typify Reed students at all. Reedies are from all over the world. I think there are quite a few from California, but there never seems to be a majority place of origin. I have no idea about which financial backgrounds are most prevalent; there is no way to know without asking everyone you come into contact with. Students are definitely politically aware and active, though, to varying degrees. The one caution is that Reed is a bubble. It is easy to become so focused on your studies that you miss out on other things. However, people make a great effort to be informed and opinionated about issues in the news. Reed is a rather liberal campus, but if you tried to ask someone if they were "predominantly left, right, or center" that person would probably take you to task on what you were specifically asking. People run the spectrum from liberal to conservative to against categorization, and they lean in different ways on different issues. No one talks about how much money they will earn someday, though. At least not within my earshot.
Jennifer
Reedies are extremely accepting. The majority of students are upper/middle-class non-religious liberal whites. At Reed, it is definitely 'uncool' to be prejudiced. Students do not talk about how much they'll earn one day. In fact, it seems to be a bigger trend to talk about random, quirky jobs, such as starting up a record store.
Aline
Oh yes, the blue people. The ones that run around naked and covered in paint. They frighten me.
Wells
Reedies are fairly diverse, despite the stereotypes I explained above. While we are hardly above cliquishness, the contrast between different social groups is much less pronounced than at other schools that I have visited. The only characteristic that I could say definitively is shared by the student body is an intense brilliance fueled by a passion for learning. Other than that, I really don't think I could do Reedies justice in a simple paragraph or two, so I will leave it to the reader to come and see for themselves.
Jesse
If one stereotype holds true, it is that students are overwhelming liberal. In fact, I would say that it could be uncomfortable to be fully right wing and go to this school.