Reed College Top Questions

"Say Anything"? Oh my god, the survey caught the reference before I even submitted the page!

Reed is a crazy, incredibly intense place. It is not right for a lot of people. A lot of people leave -- because they can't handle the workload, because they can't handle the pressure, because they slept with too many people and can't handle the social atmosphere anymore -- but the ones who stay are the ones who think it's worth it. The ones who stay are the kind of people who can bury themselves in academia for days on end and love it. If you don't like learning, this is not the right place for you. But if you've ever found a subject that made you spend sixteen hours straight reading articles and journals and trying to find a new slant, a new angle that will make, say, Shakespeare seem new again, then come to Reed. And try not to quote Derrida too much, because Derrida was a snotty, pretentious asshole, and we have enough people like that.

If I could tell Reed as a whole any one thing, I would tell them to learn RESPECT. I know they all should have learned it in elementary school, but somewhere along the line, that vital part of education dropped out. It needs to make a big comeback.

Get off campus when you can. Reed's awesome but the highly compressed brainpower makes your head hurt after awhile. Frequent excursions remind you that the real world exists and help you to appreciate campus more when you get back. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Reed, by which I mean that even if I'm hating the work or the stress or the bullshitting intelligentsia, I fucking love the place. There's a swingset. And cold late-night walks to the seven-eleven. And people to get into fun pretentious arguments with about music. There are pot-smokin' hippies (myself included) on the roof. Every once in a while there's a random naked person. Everyone's invincible and awkward and young and smart and insecure. There's always intelligent conversation if you want it. It's not heaven, it's not all I expected, but it's a good place. I've never yet regretted coming.

If I could say one thing to convince prospective students not to come to Reed, then I think my candor would be worth it. It would save a lot of students potential headache, heartache, and addiction problems. So please, if you are a parent of a prospective student, urge your son or daughter not to matriculate at Reed.

Reed makes no sense. It's sort of pretend.

Reed contains many eccentricities that are not immediately appealing to the average person. However, I feel that for the right students (those with a great passion for something, those who like to have fun, those who care about human interaction, those who are willing to struggle against a rising tide of homework and then RESPONSIBLY *wink* drink the stress away at the end of the week) it is a challenging and rewarding place to study.

Reed is really awesome. I would not like to go anywhere else. I just wish I didn't have to fulfill the science requirement.

Reed has a beautiful campus! Every spring, the cherry, dogwood, and magnolia trees bloom in a dramatic show of color. We have no corporate fast food chains, and the campus food service uses locally available food suppliers often. It has a healthy menu. Reed requires all students to take a year of Humanities studies that include the classics of Ancient Greece and Rome, and the Old and New Testament. An alternative humanities based on Chinese culture and history is available as well.

Awesome. a lot of free food, discussion...work. Love.

The social life is really lacking and stifling because of the Reed Bubble. Really think hard if you want to learn anything practical because so much of Reed is about theory. Unless Reed becomes more diverse in the future, if you're a minority of any sort, I'd reconsider.

Renn Fayre happens at the end of the year. It is a time of great madness and trippiness and possible bad decisions. No one should miss it.

My biggest complaint about Reed is it's Career Services opportunities. They offer you specific options in certain cities that they know about, but if you're like me and want to go home to Knoxville, Tennessee with an internship, they don't have much for you. They will help you edit your resume, offer you what they've got, and then tell you to use your own resources and social networking. In the end, I had to do most of the work myself.

Atheism! Communism! Free Love!

Reed can be a really hard place to make and maintain friends- but the ones that you do make will likely become really close to you as you carbon bond to each other for dear life over the years. It would be impossible to get through this school without at least one or two close friends to help you through the really tough times.

In my neuroscience lab, we are currently in the process of transplanting nigral stem cells into a subject with Parkinson's disease to assess the possibility of the disease's remission and even its cure. Just kidding.

If you know you will fit in here, then there is no better place in the world for you.