Reed College Top Questions

Too fuckin' conservative! But good, nonetheless. The anthro department seems to be the most ethical department, some others are just locked away in their ivory towers. We are severely lacking in curriculum that isn't euro-centric, white, male, etc...

Reed is so academically traditional that it's a joke. Reed is more white that white bread. And then every February they have Black History Month where they play lip service to diversity, while requiring the freshmen to take Humanities 110, which is solely about the Greeks and Romans. Reed is 20 years behind on everything.

They are really intense. Everything is stressful and a prof can tell when you're bullshitting a mile away, same with other students. The professors are normally pretty friendly and accessible. I really like my Hum conference, surprisingly, because my professor is really smart. I really don't like my Religion class because we are studying things that sound interesting but are actually really boring. Definitely academics extends beyond the classroom.

All my profs know my name. My favorite class is probably Law and Economics. It's practical, applicable, and we have interesting discussions about papers and current events. People generally do the reading and have good things to say in class. Reed students have intellectual conversations outside of class, but my experience has been that these are more rare than they were at, say, my high school, because I don't see the same group of people that much. There's an ongoing debate in my hum class about whether Reed is about learning for its own sake and whether that's a good thing. My sense is that it is, but the underlying idea is that anything you do, you should do it well. And they expect you should do many things well (as shown by all the requirements).

Rigorous, rigorous, rigorous. Most professors do a great job of facilitating discussion and directing classes; class participation is an essential part of the academic atmosphere. Competition is virtually non-existent; cooperation, particularly common. Reed's de facto goal is learning for learning's sake...ironically, many Reed students are accepted into top graduate programs and employed at great positions in places across the world.

Academics at Reed are completely unparalleled. This is one of the most academically rigorous and challenging academic institutions you can attend in the country. Students are passionate and excited about their studies, investing most of their time in their work. Spending hours upon hours in the library is pretty commonplace and no one is ever considered a 'nerd' or a 'workaholic' at Reed. Professors are generally pretty awesome and office hours are fantastic. It is a small institution and so the professors can usually find time to meet with you. As far as the requirements and the core curriculum, Reed is actually very narrow and demanding. That is not to say you can't study what you want within a given department, but the number of departments overall are pretty low compared to major, much larger universities. My major complaint concerning Reed's curriculum is the lack of diversity across cultural, gender and ethnic lines. There is no African-American studies department, no Women studies, or Hispanic studies and the curriculum within the only required course, Humanities 110, is particularly euro-centric. Even with my criticisms in mind, Reed is unparalleled in its academic rigor in the programs that it DOES have and I'm pretty pleased with my studies here thus far.

Academics at Reed are very demanding and challenging, but the payoff is so, so worth the work. The feeling of being educated in the best way possible is something I never get over. I love my classes.

Every student is on a first name basis with professors. They are approachable, always willing to sit down with you (even on their lunch breaks outside eliot), and are highly motivated by their students. Reed does not impose strict research/publication requirements so the professors that get jobs at reed are the ones who love to teach and interact with their students. They are all brilliant people making sure that they pass down the knowledge they've learned at school to the next generation.

Academics are top notch. Facilities are unparalleled for an institution of this size. Undergraduates operate a research nuclear reactor. I myself have utilized 400 MHz NMR multiple times without the supervision of a faculty member. My lab alone possesses seven microscopes and three 100W burners for fluorescence microscopy. There is a confocal microscope down the hall, thermocyclers on every bench, and a fancy quantitative real-time PCR rig. In chemistry we've got a GC-MS, two infrared spectroscopes, the NMR, melting point apparati, rotovaps out the wazoo, more UV-Vis spectroscopes than I care to count, and much more. There are plenty of summer research opportunities for upperclassmen and even some underclassmen. The senior thesis is mandatory for all: in the sciences they expect us to conduct real research, obtain real data, present it professionally in written form (the Big T) and in an 3-hour oral examination. By the time you graduate, you're expected to know enough to contribute to your field i.e. you are expected to BE a biochemist or a historian, etc. I respect my thesis is advisor more than anyone I've ever met. He's one of my best friends.

The math department at Reed is truly excellent. Come to Reed if you want to struggle with the most beautiful ideas in mathematics. The curriculum is very rigorous. Expect to prove every theorem. Don't expect to get much practice computing things, or learning applications. You won't be prepared for a career in accounting, but no one comes to Reed for a career in anything. You come to Reed because you want to learn. With the exception of the economics department, which is currently experiencing growing pains, the entire academic experience is phenomenal. Expect to work harder than you've ever worked before, but also expect to be inspired by one-on-one talks with brilliant professors, have lucid conversations with other students, and read works of genius. The senior thesis is a pretty huge deal. Some students do theses that would be admissible at some graduate schools. Classes are generally small, though bigger than I expected. Twenty students would make a large class at Reed. As a result, students have great interactions with their professors.