Reed College Top Questions

I was (and still am) on a first name basis with all my professors. It is my impression that Reed students study every minute of every day. I sure did. Class participation (and attendance) is virtually required. There is nowhere to hide in a Reed class, and students who don't do the reading or try to get by with bullshit are usually spotted very quickly. I took a class where we read the professor's forthcoming book. Our job was the become the professor and present each chapter to the class, while the professor attacked the structure of the argument. It was a fantastic course. Reed prepares students to be critical thinkers, some of us go on to grad school, others don't.

Professors know my name because I speak often in class. Students study very often... and procrastinate very often. Classes are conference based, and therefore cannot function without student participation. Students are generally not competitive because most professor, beside in math and chem etc, don't write grades on tests or essays. You have to specifically request your grades from the registrar to see them. Reed is geared toward learning for its own sake. All freshman have to take a humanities class in which we study ancient Greek and Roman cultures through literature, philosophy, art, and history. That stuff is so not useful in the "real world," but you become so cultured!!!

Academics are Reed's strength. Professors are so casual, they regularly spend time with students before and after class, helping with questions, projects, etc. I have always been able to get the time and attention I needed from my profs. They're great. Reed's education is geared for intellectuals. There's no other way to describe it. It prepares students for going on to grad school, and being leaders in their fields. The professors are world class. Reedies are expected to think big thoughts, to question accepted beliefs, and to prepare for further exploration into the major questions of the day. Graduates go on to become researchers and professors at the top of the field. My favorite classes have been "Social Psychology, Linguistics, and Cognitive Processes." The curriculum in these classes is unmatched, and Reed's conference style requires students to read and analyze the material thoroughly. As a result, the classes are intense intellectual activities, and engage you completely. Basically, if you don't participate, you're not there. So, people participate.

All my professors know my name My favorite classes have all been the very challenging ones that pertained to constructing theories, logic, and all linguistics classes but one have been geared to my interests. My least favorite class was a very elementary class that was poorly structured. My only complaint about it was that it claimed to be about linguistics and failed to be so. We study all the time. We furtively procrastinate on the internet because we are scared to not actually study. Reed students are vocal and do talk, but keep in mind, we are all undergrads and people, so our knowledge is limited and we are scared of embarrasing ourselves. Reedies avoid talking about their classes if they are not doing work for them, but all conversations take an intellectual bent. Of course we are competitive, its just that we are competing to build the best models, not to break each other.

Students spend a lot of time obsessing over work, and the most succesful students are the ones who stop complaining about hte work they have and sit down to do it. My biggest complaint about reed has to do with the grading system. I wanted to come to Reed because i was tired of the grade-grubbing competitive atmosphere of the college-prep high school I attended. I loved the idea that students are motivated at Reed by their academic curiosity and pride rather than the numerical grade they are given. Reed doesn't give you your grade report, a c or above is a satisfactory, and anything below is unsatisfactory or failing. That's what you find out from your midterm and semester reports. Professors also give you great comments. But, if you want to know your specific grades you have to ask your advisor. Now that I'm a senior, and applying to programs I need to know my grades. Looking back now, it seems odd to me that we don't receive our grades and don't quite know what the Reed gradings scale is like. I'm thankful that students are rarely competitive, and i think that a lot of that has to do with the grading system. But somehow i still wish we had better access to our grades. Reed is 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} geared towards education for its own sake rather than producing degrees to move into jobs. I love most of my classes. I know my professors really well due to the small size of conference classes. The Russian department is small, but held up by some of the most well-versed and talented professors I've had in my experience at Reed: Lena Lencek and Zhenya Bernstein. The Russian literature classes are incredibly in depth, I've learned to analyze texts at a level I couldn't imagine when I was in high school. I spend a lot of time discussing Russian lit. with other majors and non-majors outside of class. Other classes i've discussed the material outside of class, but usually it's filled with complaints about the class from other students as well. Being a Russian major has another great advantage- i was able to spend a (what turned out to be an incredibly intense but enriching) year in St. Petersburg, Russia experiencing an immersion in the Russian language and first-hand experience with the culture i've spent so much time studying. The thesis experience has been both exhilarating and crushing. It's a highly stressful project, because it is one I care so much about. Some days I have amazing breakthroughs in my research and i'm just PUMPED about what i'm writing. Other days i feel lost, or over my head in what i'm doing, but luckily my thesis advisor is able to provide me with direction and support at those times.

Academics will be most of your life at Reed. And you have to do it because you love learning and you love what you are studying because being career driven won't be enough to get you through. Love is really the only thing that will get you through it, it's a murderous amount of work. Students aren't very competitive, and everyone talks about class outside of class. Hum 110 is a great common knowledge area between students since everyone takes it... Professors are usually pretty good, though about half of the bio teachers don't do so well in larger lectures but are better one on one. Students study all the time. I might study more than sleep actually...

hell yes professors know your name. my favorite class: so far, my art history class that took us to Florence (on reed's dime!), and my freshman hum 110 conference for the great class dynamic and the best professor i have ever had (in spite of subject matter i dislike). least favorite class: spanish 212, first semester of hum 210 this year because of a bad class dynamic and one of the worst teachers i've ever had (in spite of subject matter i liked, that class was like banging my head against a wall for an hour and 20 minutes. instead of a conference, it was like playing 21 questions with the even less funny woody allen of early modern european history). how often students study: if you possess a strong work ethic, minimum 5 hours a day, often past 2 AM. if not, only slightly less or you're screwed. not studying is not an option. not studying enough is also not an option. the workload and academic expectations are enormous--prepare for the onslaught or you WILL be crushed. no, really. class participation: in conference-style classes (the format of most courses at reed), class participation is very common. the idea is that everyone is there to learn from one another, and that's not possible without class participation. intellectual conversation outside of class: yes yes yes. and sometimes too much. i enjoy a good philosophical jaunt or discussion of 19th century russian lit as much as the next person. but there was a period of time last year when if i so much as heard the word "foucault" leave your mouth, you had to be thrown out of my room immediately. to this day, my room remains a "foucault-free zone." i need some humor with my serious academia. plus, i'm just really tired of foucault. competitiveness: kind of--no student actually sees their grades on anything unless they request to see them, an option the majority of students don't exercise until it's time to apply for grad school. my experience with competitiveness has more to do with my own intellectual standards for myself. the only real competitive streak regarding work is who has more of it and who is under the most pressure. my major/department: the art department. you probably should look elsewhere if you want to be a studio art major, but i really like most of the staff, the facilities are decent considering the size of the school, and projects are often more complex than basic technical training. i made a large scale installation entirely out of lollipops for my intro studio final. the art history department has some great teachers but can be a mixed bag. the emphasis is on the theoretical, which i like, but this often limits the areas of focus available to study. i would love to study near eastern art for my non-western credit, but the non-western professor specializes in china, china, and ore china. my intro art history class wasn't spectacular for the same reason: i couldn't care less about ancient greek vase painting. socializing with teachers: yes it is common here, depending on the teacher. i've had a dinners at professors' houses, and sometimes hang out with professors when i see them around. that kind of relationship of equals--as in, i am not having lunch with an authority figure so much as an interesting friend who doesn't talk down to me--is what makes the faculty great. in a way, picking a major is like joining a department. but i have encountered teachers intent on maintaining their personal distance as professionals--and i think that misses the point. academic requirements: intense. students generally only take 4 classes at a time because so much work is involved. kind of a bummer that you can't dabble in as many fields as at other schools. in order to take on a heavier course load, you have to go through a petition process. graduation requirements consist of distributional and departmental reqs, neither of which are actually all that outrageous, though i still fear taking a science course here (tough on science majors, tougher on non-science majors, and brutal on art majors). the standards of excellence, though, are incredibly high. academic rigor and serious scholarship are not taken lightly--do not come to reed if you do not want to or cannot handle intense intellectual discourse. educational emphasis: 110{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} on learning for the sake of learning. though reed sends out more grad students and phd-earners than almost any other liberal arts college in the nation, if that tells you anything.

The classes are traditionally very small, which means that conferences can be very intimate. The conference style classes work out so that a lot is required from each student. The quality of these classes is determined by the quality and effort of the students predominantly, as well as the way in which the conference leader (sometimes a professor, sometimes a student) directs the class. So they can be spectacular, but it doesn't always work out that way. The sciences at Reed operate differently and I don't really understand how, but everyone at Reed takes a conference at some point, even if it's only in Intro Humanities. As for the Math department, it's very traditional; proof-based and rigorous. I wanted to be a math major when I was choosing schools so that was a big part of the reason I decided to go here and I have yet to regret being a part of this department. Education at Reed is geared towards learning for its own sake; this is one stereotype that is very true. The students are a mixed bunch, however. There are plenty who ARE geared toward a specific career, but these people generally have some sort of belief that the theoretical liberal arts tradition will help more in their careers than just technical training.

The average class size at Reed is as small as it is because there are some classes with a handful of students. Though promotional materials rave about small classes and conference style learning, Reed has plenty of large lecture classes. Granted, these classes of 100-200 students might be considered small at other schools, but they are a far cry from the 13 students many of us expect to find.

Whether or not professors know your name depends entirely on the student and the professor, some do, some don't. It is frankly up to the student, though reed, yes, provides the opportunity for personal student-professor relationships. Education at reed is definitely just geared towards education for it's own sake and not towards getting a regular, non-academic job (at least in most major areas).

Students say they study a lot, but they also procrastinate a lot. Nonetheless, they love to brag about how much work they have and be really dramatic about it. Student's aren't competitive when it comes to grades though, since we aren't given grades unless we ask for them. Professors will know your name and class participation is a given. The education in many at Reed is not geared toward getting a job (unless in academia), since it's heavily theory-oriented.

OF COURSE the profs know your name, it was more a problem of hiding from them if you had turned in a paper late, rather than them knowing who you were. I loved Modern Japan (history) and Senior Symposium (humanities). Students aren't really competitive, but there is positive peer pressure to work hard and be on your game. Students have intellectual conversations in class/out of class, in the coffee line, on the night bus, at the Beer Garden at Renn Fayre, in their sleep. Hum 110 is the most unique. The subject matter is pretty straightforward: Greeks, Romans, Early Christians; Literature, History, Philosophy, Art History, but the way the class is structured makes it unique. all freshmen take the same lecture and then have small conference classes. All the Hum papers for all freshmen have the same due date, everyone is reading the same thing, everyone has the same exam. It's a really really high quality, demanding humanities class, but also hardcore academic bootcamp, and a bonding experience for the class. Requirements and classes are definitely geared toward learning for it's won sake, rather than getting a job.

Professors know their students. Students have intellectual conversations outside of class. Education at Reed is largely for its own sake.

The professors are uniformly excellent. You would be hard pushed to come across a staff more dedicated to their students. The professors who taught me all made the effort to learn my name and gladly offered their time outside of class to provide support and have further discussions. The facilities available to the students are excellent. the curriculum is not for the faint hearted. You will be pushed close to your limits. If you do not get an innate enjoyment from learning then stay away for your own safety. For those willing to put the work in it a totally engaging and fulfilling time.

Oh how education at Reed is geared toward learning for its own sake! Some would say too much, though I think those are the people who might want to consider going to school somewhere else. We are not a pre-professional institution, though we might be considered a pre-professorial institution. Reed's curriculum is generally theory-driven, which isn't for everyone; some people begin to feel like they're not learning anything useful. I, on the other hand, find that mastering the theory in your field is incredibly rewarding and prepares you to confront a wider range of issues than you might otherwise have been able to understand. And of course it prepares you for those intellectual conversations that Reedies most certainly do have outside of class. Because, I think, most of us genuinely care about our fields and genuinely believe that what we're studying is important, the ideas we're working with naturally come up in our personal conversations. We don't leave our work at the door, it's part of who we are. My professors do know my name and I do spend time with some of them outside of class. I have met here some of the wisest people I know, and some of those conversations with professors outside of class have been life-changing, honestly, because some of the smartest people in the world, essentially, have paid attention to my work and my life and offered their wisdom. They've helped me become better, not just at my academic work, but at understanding and owning my potential in all realms of my life.

Reed is nerd heaven. You will almost always find another weirdo with whom you can babble about semiotics or organic chemistry. Professors (at least the good ones) demand that your brain be stretched, and if it hasn't been than you've missed the point. The college tries to form you into a working machine, and an analytical automaton. This has happened to me, and I have to admire the people who've resisted it and still manage. There are downsides to this which I've seen in myself, like a loss of creativity and a tendency towards pragmatism. But the academics are one place where Reed really lives up to its reputation.

Relations between students and faculty are pretty informal and close. Everyone (including the professors) are on a first name basis. We'll have class outside on the grass. People will drink or hang out with some of their professors. Hugging a professor is not unheard of. Reed faculty is generally extremely friendly. Before being hired, they have a lunch with students who determine whether or not they're personable. It's an important aspect of Reed academics, because of the conference-style classes we have. I'm not sure what my -favorite- class is, but I really enjoy the French program here. I just started taking it this year, and I've already learned a lot. Other students have said that the language programs here are really amazing, and I'd have to agree. Class participation is a must. Most classes, even the intro ones with large lectures, have smaller conference/lab components with professors (no TAs!). Reed encourages students to learn how to verbalize and present ideas and defend them. It's not hard at all to find intellectual conversations outside of class. Especially during freshman year when everyone is taking Humanities 110, there's something in common to talk about. Seeing how students don't know their grades usually, Reed isn't very competitive. It's pretty taboo to talk about grades or brag about how you did. People compete with themselves to do their best, really. Reed's academic requirements are fairly flexible, except for Hum 110. There are a series of 'groups' which include different departments. Students have to fulfill a certain number of credits in each group. For example, one group has math and foreign languages in it. So to fulfill that group requirement, a student can either take math or a foreign language. Depending on the major (sciences are the toughest), there are other requirements in your department and division. Reed is definitely geared towards learning for its own sake. Not that Reedies have problems after graduating; many go to grad school to continue their education. But the scope of a Reed education isn't very vocational.

All of my professors know my name. We exchange friendly emails from time to time. I can't really pick my favorite class because I'm in a lot of intro classes right now, which means I'm just getting a taste of everything. I really enjoy them though. Students study ALL THE TIME. On weekends, weekdays. Seriously. But it's fun. It's okay. You get used to that life style. The conferences are small, which makes for a lot of student participation. Students always have intellectual conversations outside of class. We think it's fun to do crossword puzzles together and talk about politics, now that the election is approaching. Some students are competitive, but mainly with themselves. We're always pushing ourselves to do better. The education is geared towards learning for learning's sake. We LOVE learning.

Professors know my name, and I know their name. I am very pleased with the amounts of intellectual conversations outside of class.

Every one of my teachers knows my name. The classes themselves are small and conference style, and even the big science class lecturers come to conference or lab to talk to the students, answer questions, and get to know them. If I could change one thing I would make the academic system much more flexible. The requirements for classes and the required curriculum is a bit outdated and conservative. My favorite class is my Spanish film and Literature class concerning Mexican identity. While there is a lot of reading, movies outside of class, and intense in-class participation required, the material is really interesting, and I feel like I'm gaining a lot. My least favorite class right now is Political Behavior. It's an introduction class, but I feel like the school has made it into a general Political Science intro, because I haven't really seen any aspect of the behavior, only basic information on numbers, comparisons, and research papers. I'm able to talk to my professor outside of class if I run into them around campus and feel entirely comfortable, which is nice. The students aren't super competitive like at other schools; it's more like we're intensely focused on what we have to do to be a good student in relation to ourselves instead of as a comparison. At some points it feels like Reed is focused only on learning for its own sake, but I also feel that when you talk about it, teachers can really help you talk about your future.