Reed College Top Questions

Great school

Starting answI graduated from Reed in the mid-1990s. For some, the college is great. I found it strange, insular and depressing, although academically rigorous. My experience was mixed. Reed occupies a very particular niche -- one that, unfortunately, wasn't right for me. I've been reading the Reed College alumni magazine for years. The alumni notes are underwhelming (especially when compared with those of Oberlin, Swarthmore, Harvard.). Ask a Reedie to name a famous Reedie, I promise the person will be hard-pressed to come up with an answer other than Steve Jobs. But Mr. Jobs doesn't count -- he dropped out after 6 months. Quite a few Reed graduates pursue PhDs and become successful academics. Others go into alternative medicine, or computer programming, or library science, or beer-making. These are fine vocations but there is a lack of spectrum. It is is not a place known for graduates who also start businesses or invent things or go into politics or lead large organizations or stand out socially in other ways. Of course, there are many that do, but far fewer than one would expect given the quality of the education. In my opinion, this is problematic: if you have the privilege to obtain an elite education, do something that leaves a mark on the world, or at least try -- there's simply too much emphasis on how "intellectual" Reed is! Purely my bias. This situation owes itself as much to the pool of self-selected students as to the marketing and culture historically promulgated by the administration. That said, Reed does promote serious engagement in ideas and has a very demanding curriculum. Grades are de-emphasized, which outsiders sometimes confuse with the notion that there are no grades at all. While the school doesn't disseminate report cards, students DO receive grades which appear on official transcripts. With the exception of a single A-, I received a B in every class I took. And I worked my butt off. The prioritization of scholarship over grades is laudatory, but Reed is too self-congratulatory about this, and about how iconoclastic and liberal and free-thinking it believes itself to be. There's a pervasive, studied, non-ironic, self-indulgent, counter-culture miasma. Sometimes it's all a bit much. Reed prides itself on being "different," but it's not a place where someone who's different from the Reed norm can easily feel comfortable. In this way, it's not very tolerant of diversity. There was no shortage of pot, alcohol, and hard drugs (especially during Renn Fayre). Reed provided a safe atmosphere for me to try some of this. There was also lots of admiring talk about drugs that few people ever experienced (in awed and mystical tones, some referred to "Bromo" -- strong and scary, mind-altering stuff that a Reed student had apparently invented in a chemistry lab). On campus, there wasn't much conversation about contemporary issues or much linkage with the wider Portland community -- the place is incredibly inward-looking. Fortunately, campus is pretty to look at - green, ivy-covered, even stately. Unfortunately, it's also a bit run down. I walked through the grounds a couple years ago and saw more broken basement windows, cobwebs, peeling paint, and litter than I would have expected. There have been spates of student suicides during Reed's history. I don't know whether this is a bigger problem than at other liberal-arts colleges, but it's hard not to wonder about the influence of perpetual cloudiness, near-constant drizzle, low skies, prolonged winter darkness, recreational drugs, interminable pressure to study, insularity, and the number of socially awkward kids who enroll. I got a great education at Reed. I suspect I would have been happier, however, and received an equally good education if I had attended a more conventional school where there was a bit more sunshine. There are many fine schools with better opportunities for a more balanced life (any of the Ivy Leagues; most of the highly-ranked US News and World Report liberal arts colleges; and even lots of big state schools, many of which have liberal arts programs that try to capture the feel of life in a small college -- if this is what one wants). Lots of alumni love Reed. Perhaps the place has changed. Many, though not all, of these observations reflect personal experience, opinion, values, predilections, and the nature of my adolescence. While I had happy times, adventures, and great friends at Reed, somehow these just don't figure as prominently in my memory as how forlorn and angst-ridden I felt. I have gone on to have a wonderful family, and a fulfilling and successful career. But most telling about my attitude is that I would not encourage any of my own children to attend Reed -- or even visit it.ering!

Reed is an incredibly good school academically, which is what unifies everyone on the campus. The coursework is extremely rigorous and most of the week is devoted to school. Because there are so many smart and neurotic people at Reed, the social environment can be very polarizing. Each person at this school is an individual with strong opinions, which can create conflict. This small and intense atmosphere can get claustrophobic, but as the years go on the small size can pay off.The social and academic tension is alleviated at the end of the year in one of the biggest private parties in America, Renn Fayre, in which students indulge and a campus-wide party for 3 days. You eventually come to know almost everyone, which can be great if they're your friends. The majority of students are liberal and wealthy, making political conversations a bit boring. This often leads to people picking up eccentric causes such as the campaign for gender-neutral bathrooms. Many people choose to live off-campus, in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, because of limited student housing and cultural preference. The neighborhood around Reed is wealthy and somewhat quiet.

Good academics, plush amenities in the good dorms, beautiful campus, immature and socially unaware kids

Best thing about Reed: the terrifying work/the brilliant people/the beautiful and supportive environment (three-way ties are allowed, right?)! One thing I'd change: I grew up in a predominantly African-American community, so the change to Portland was weeeeird. I mean, I love me some white people too...but dang! Portland and Reed could both do with a diversity tune-up. Size issues: Reed is the PERFECT size. Almost all most classes are itsy-bitsy (especially now that I've made the move into upper-division stuff), but I still meet new people all the time. Yay! Where I spend my time: this question is soooo easy. I divide my time between the Library and the Theatre. And I couldn't be happier about it! Unusual: where to begin? There are tonstonstons of things that are genuinely weird about Reed. Doyle Owl, Renn Fayre, late-night conversations, the Student Union's couch swing or couch seesaw, the beautiful Canyon down the center, the nutria (eek!) in the Canyon (nutria are giant water rats, fyi), RKSK stim table, the thesis tower, and everything. Seriously, there's so much...

One of the best things about Reed is Portland. The perfect city, I think.

Reed is an anachronism. Students know their professors first names, read Plato and Augustine, and write a senior thesis. A small liberal arts college it is. Sometimes it seems to small, but I can't imagine myself anywhere else. The people here are amazing, and I love them. Nowhere else will you see signs that say "SOON IT WILL BE RENN FAYRE AND I WILL KISS ALL OF YOU", and nowhere else will those signs fill your entire being with anticipation. However, if I were a different person, I would probably be miserable here. Reed is not an easy place to go to, and a lot of people drop out or transfer before their junior year. It's not for everybody. Some people leave because the academics are too hard for them, and some people leave because the students that I think are so amazing seem like condescending, intellectual assholes with no grasp on the real world. And still other people leave because they'd rather be climbing mountains in Alaska. So, beware before you apply. As for the world directly outside of Reed, that's pretty awesome too. Unlike most small liberal arts colleges, Reed is not in the middle of nowhere. Portland, Oregon, is the greatest city in the world and one of the weirdest too, but most students (especially the freshmen), don't take advantage of it. Reed tends to create a "bubble", out of which it is seemingly hard to escape but is actually quite easy if you try. I recommend going to the Hotcake House at least once before you leave.

The best thing about Reed is the conference-style classes. Ten to sixteen people in a room together, all of whom have read the material, all of whom have understood it, all of whom have a passionate opinion about it and want to talk. Ideally, anyway. The professors are angels. They love their subjects and they respect their students. They're some of the smartest people I've ever met. We also have an honor code. Professors give closed-book take-home final exams. I love the feeling of being trusted instead of coerced. There are no fraternities, sororities, or intercollegiate sports teams, which is a big plus in my book. On the bad side, there's a pathetic lack of racial diversity. The way I see it, we're competing with the Ivy League in academic rigor and with Berkeley in dirty-hippieness. We acquit ourselves well on both counts.

One of the biggest and most important components of life at Reed is the honor principle, a code of life followed by the reed community both consciously and unconsciously. At its core the honor principle is the rational ideal of: "do no harm". The result of this community-wide pact is a sort of transcendence of rules: why have rules when everyone has agreed to be nice to everyone else? The down-side of this is most visible in the current drug culture at Reed: social norms differ from actual government law. The community is perhaps at times too tolerant of deviant behavior. The upside: weirdness is tolerated at all levels; people are accepting of whoever you want to be. There is a lot of room to be creative and not be held back by silly rules.

I love campus, its beautiful and there's always things to do. One thing i would change though, is that people become crazy once they notice they are away from home and completely independent.