Reed College Top Questions

To students, I would advise you to really research the colleges, what programs, majors, and courses they offer. Look at the extracurriculars and the environment of the college towns. Think about what you're passionate about and how the schools you're looking at can meet your needs. Do some soul searching and think about who you are and where you most likely see yourself. Talk to alumni and/or current students to get a real feel of a school from someone who has experienced it first hand. Get more than one opinion. Don't be intimidated by an academically rigorous school because you're afraid you won't be able to handle it. If you love learning, your passion will drive you to achieve the success you're capable of. To parents, be invested in your children's college search. Your involvement is important to them. But don't try to jam your ideas of what would be good for them down their throats. Don't threaten to take away financial support if they don't want to study what you think they should study. Be encouraging, be supportive, and be inquistive. Trust them to acheive great things!

Don't trust reviews like this.

Visit the schools on your list and attend some classes if possible. If the school allows you to spend a night on campus with a dorm host, I strongly suggest you do this.

First apply, then go and look at the colleges. If you go before you apply and get it they really do look just the same after awhile.

Classes, teachers, and the campus are important. However, the people who you will be spending the most time with, and the people who will shape your education even more than your professors, are your fellow students. A visit to the campus is incredibly important just so you can see what people talk about inside and outside of class. Is it how the football team will do on Saturday? Is it the next job opportunity? Is it gossip about friends? I visited several schools before choosing. I made my final choice almost entirely based on the fact that, during my visit, students talked mostly about intellectual pursuits and what went on in class. It wasn't out of an obligation or a requirement for class, but out of sheer love of the material. I never looked back. It can get a little old talking shop all the time, but I knew that this was what I wanted. I've learned more here, and had a much better time than if I'd attended a school where the philosophy and interests of the student body had contradicted mine. These are the people that GET me, and the people I can learn with.

The most important thing to decide is not where to go, but who you want to be. A lover? A learner? An academic? A party fiend? All of the above? Anything is possible and every type of person can find an institution that suits them. Know yourself first. Then the college search is, if not exactly easy, at least a lot less overwhelming. Good luck.

THe two most important things to deciding colleges would have to be early research, and the college visit. When I first read about my second choice college in the Fiske guide to colleges, I thought 'this is it! This is where I want to spend the next 4 years of my life.' And then I read what would become my first choice's entry, and thought...now wait a second...I can't go to two colleges. Recommendations from students or counselors helped, but once I visited the latter, I knew it was the right choice for me. I got along with everybody I met, I had great discussions and made friends I still talk to today. There had been other college trips I had had fun on, and met great people, but this was the first college visit where I felt like a stuednt, like I was an equal with everybody else there. Of course, had I felt the same at the second college, I would have had a whole new problem deciding, but as is, the visit was less compelling, and I choose my college even over a 10000 dollar difference in scholarship/financial aid.