Reed College Top Questions

Though there are certainly plenty of pretentious budding philosophs, socially awkward geeks, vegan feminists, and people who always show up to class high, there are also Reedies who vote Republican, wear clothes from J. Crew, are unabashedly sexist, never set foot in the library, and play football on the quad (though probably poorly).

(see above), also, though, no because each individual reedie comes from a very different background, engages in different activities and range from the spectrum of being "normal" to "bookish" to "crazy/artsy/etc"

I think the school isn't as academically rigorous or intellectual as they make themselves out to be, although it is both academically rigorous and intellectual. The student body isn't as liberal as the stereotype suggests and the campus is pretty politically passive (the student government is exercising less and less power and fewer people care) and very white. The drug use, non-mainstream/weird/crazy stereotype is pretty accurate.

It would be hard to get through the Hiedegger while on serious drugs. There is some truth to the stereotypes, but not across the board. One might like philosphy and coffee while not being rich, snotty or drug addicted. But one might also be snotty and a heavy smoker without the coffee or philosophy. Nearly all Reedies are really smart, even with the "dumb" ones, dumb is realtive term.

The school is eccentric in certain ways, but this eccentricism seems to become the norm at Reed and therefore is no longer so eccentric. Not all ideas are accepted.

In most cases yes.

Certainly, some (many, even) Reedies exhibit these traits in some combination, though there remain many people with perfectly respectable social skills, along with a fairly conventional social structure that does include groups (not just "free-spirited" lone rangers), and many of us do manage to walk without falling down (very often) despite our burgeoning intellects.

they are more exaggerated than anything else. the student body is much more milquetoast than anyone would have you believe. at its best and worst, it is all of these things. most of the time, it's just too much caffeine, too little sleep, and not enough social interaction. the administration has been actively selecting for these traits- harder-working and better students, perhaps, but less spontaneous and more boring.

I would say that the amount of students at Reed who do drugs is no different than the amount on another campus. The only reason Reed has a reputation for drug use is because people are more open about it. I'm not sure about social ineptness, though. Reedies definitely aren't like most of the popular people you knew in high school, but they aren't socially inept. Reedies are friendly and are quite able to form relationships. And really, it's hard to classify Reedies by only a few types. Like any place, there's a pretty wide spread of personalities. Reedies are exceptionally hard working. Not all Reedies, as it's possible to skate by at Reed, but most. More people than you think are in the library on a Friday night (not necessarily working on a paper). Perhaps this is what people mean by socially awkward.

Yes. But not all of us are dirty. Most are nerdy. All are awkward. People probably don't know that we have fun too.