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	Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Reed vs. USNews	12		02/04 10:33am
	Reed - what do they want	9		01/26 08:47pm

Does anybody have information on Reed College, in Portland, Oregon? If so please reply, I would greatly appreciate the information.

By Farrelli01 (Farrelli01) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 09:31 pm: Edit

If anyone has the time to analyze my chances for getting into Reed I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks, Pete

GPA - 3.45 (unweighted)
90% AP and Honors Courses

ACT: 32
SAT: Taking this fall.

AP Scores
3 - AP US History
3 - AP Comparitive Politics

EC's
9th Grade
Northwestern Summer Session (Debate)
Freshman "B" Soccer
Junior Varsity Track
U15 Classic Two Travel Soccer (District Champs)

10th Grade
Working at Leonardo's Pizza (employed for a year now)
U16 Classic Two Travel Soccer
Volunteer at AIDS Home
Worked on State Senator David Hann's campaign
Junior Varsity Cross Country

11th Grade
Working at Leonardo's Pizza
U17 Classic Two Travel Soccer (District Champs)
Nursing home volunteer
Junior Varsity Cross Country
Working locally to help Howard Dean's campaign
Recieved scuba diving certification.
Summer class at Normandale Community College (personal interest)

I also have played guitar for 3 years, banjo for 1 year, and the mandolin for 6 months.

Any help in analyzing my chances/improvements would be greatly appreciated.

By Jpizzle (Jpizzle) on Monday, October 06, 2003 - 12:01 am: Edit

Jackalopemonger and Farelli01:

Reed College is a small (~1300 undergrads) liberal arts college, very much along the lines of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington or Skidmore College in NY, in that emphasis is placed on intellectual and academic enrichment rather than on overall competitiveness or grades. In fact, grades are reported only by request of the student. It is a VERY good school, but a little less well known, due in part to its location. I find this to be a blessing, however.

If you really want to know more about Reed, I'd suggest you stop by their website or drop them a line and ask for an informational packet. It's actually quite a 'reed'.

Farrelli01: Academically, you have as good a chance as any applicant who has performed decently in school (which is by no means low). The real weight of your application lies in your personal statements and talents.

By Wutdeh (Wutdeh) on Sunday, November 16, 2003 - 05:19 am: Edit

I live in a suburb of Portland, and my friend's dad is a part time prof. there. All I can say when I visited and listened to other information about Reed is that Reedies are people who are outside the box. They are a very ant-religious school; so if that is something you are looking for at college you might look elsewhere. It's an intellectual place, but I think it fits a specific type of person. If you aren't into drugs and all that stuff, and aren't a liberal it's probably not a good place to go.

I considered it, but decided against it based on a visit to the campus and knowing someone who went there a smart kid and is now a drug-addicted maniac (this from his brother).

Still, Reed students have a high acceptance rate to other colleges.

By Wiltonzxs (Wiltonzxs) on Saturday, November 22, 2003 - 10:02 am: Edit

um, i have a sister who got president scholarship from mount holyoke but she choose reed, its indeed an intellectual place, and have the highest acceptance rate in medical, bussiness and law school, i just dont know why reed refuse to fill the usnews college survey, but there must be a reason. its not well known actually, and wutdeh mentioned a drug-addicted boy in reed, i was quite shocked, i think its place where is a small and harmonious, and strongly seeking for knowledge and progress. your record its not bad, GPA a bit low, but the most important thing is you as an individual person who can contribute speicalty to reed community( ps,and recom) good luck

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Saturday, November 22, 2003 - 08:53 pm: Edit

Reed refuses to fill out the survey because they do not feel that the survey is relevant to how a school educates its students, when the quality of the admitted student is what is being measured, not the quality of the education.
Reed may be in the ten best schools for one student, but in the bottom 50 for a nother, everyone should judge for themselves, not use a magazine who changes the numbers just enough every year to sell it's product, as the last word on "best colleges"

Reed is very well known among academia, not so well known as other schools whose graduate schools get much acclaim. Harvard etal are well known not necessarily for their undergraduate programs, but for their graduate schools.
Reed is just as well known among those who are also familar with Swarthmore, Carleton and Amherst.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/0009.thompson.html

I wouldn't worry about drinking or drugs at Reed. Students there are not going to force or encourage anyone who doesn't want to use substances, and there are plenty of options for entertainment that don't require being high.
They also are not anti religion, but they do tend to question everything, something that may try even the strongest belief. Intellect is their Holy Grail and if it is yours too- it sounds like a fit even if your scores and stats are a little lower than their average

By Kad (Kad) on Friday, December 05, 2003 - 07:57 am: Edit

*nods*

A couple more days for a decision...

A lot of students that go to Reed hate it and love it at the same time. The workload can be pretty tough, but most of the students enjoy that sort of thing. It isn't for everyone but there are elements of a utopia in there for some.

There are a couple negatives: pretension in the student body, many 'trustafarians', and the extreme liberallness that seems to be counter-intuitive to their 'having an open mind' ethos.

At the same time, there are many positives: many very cool and very intelligent students, fairly diverse socioeconomically if you look (many kids on large aid), and most importantly, an intellectual environment where you will grow and learn unlike most other schools.

I gotta get to school now. Seeya.

Oh, and I have never even visited the campus. The above I've ascertained from the pestering/stalking members of the Reedie Livejournal community. Haha. Bye.

By Culovv (Culovv) on Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 03:13 am: Edit

Wow, now im completely discouraged because i still havent even started my common app essays. Im still pondering the idea of appying ED II... I mean i would LOVE to go to reed, and i know i can handle the work, but i never thought i would end up at a LAC. Dont get me wrong, Reed offers more than many of the large schools that i am also applying to, but a class of only 300 people seems too much like HS.

The second thing is the whole financial situation. This is a hypothetical situation: If i apply ED and am admitted, but i cant handle the tuition, what can i do?

By Chuck (Chuck) on Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 01:30 pm: Edit

Don't be discouraged about not having started your essays. Sure it's always nice to have spent considerable amounts of time in advance on your essays, but just because you haven't started doesn't mean that you won't get in. Waiting until two days before the application was due to start my essays wasn't the smartest thing I have ever done, but apparently it didn't hurt me too much. If you start right now you will have started a week sooner than myself, and I'm sure that you can write two good essays by the end of the month. Just put some thought into them, especially the "why Reed" essay. All of this should, of course, be read with the understanding that my essays were not "really great essays" (or even close to my best) and that they were likely not the deciding factor in admitting me.

Culovv, where else are you applying? I know that I initially thought that I would end up at a UC, but upon realizing that I would be sitting in some lectures the size of an entire graduating class from Reed, I decided that it wasn't for me (I've grown sick of large classes after spending the last three years in a class of over 800).

Personally, I have no complaints about Reed's financial aid, but that was also my primary concern when I applied ED. However, the admissions office said that if a student is admitted ED and demonstrates that he/she cannot afford to go, then he/she will not be required to attend Reed. I don't know how difficult it is to get this done, however.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 01:52 pm: Edit

My daughter applied RD to Reed because we were concerned about aid and she wasn't absolutely sure if that was where she wanted to be, but the RD package was very generous and the aid office is quick to accomodate changes in circumstances.
I agree that if you are a URM with decent scores and stats you have a very good chance of acceptance, Diversity has always been a priority but even more so now with their newish president Colin Diver who was at the forefront of desegregation in Boston's schools.

Just be aware that the work load is not exagerated,
A school can also be too small as easily as too big. Fewer professors to choose from, fewer majors, and Reed is definitely a "bubble".
However it is a very good school and you will be well prepared for grad school.

By Kad (Kad) on Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 01:53 pm: Edit

If your grades and test scores are up there, Reed can't afford to reject you unless you're obviously not a fit for the school.

But if you're a borderline student as Cuulov might be, your essays probably matter much more. I've even read in an article that Reed reads your essays before looking at anything else.

Additionally, I e-mailed an admissions officer at Reed, asking about the relative importance on the various components of an application and I received the following reply.

"You make a good point in your email when you point out that there is no 'definite' or standardized ranking of importance for the various components of an application. In fact, I'm inclined to say that the order of importance will vary a lot among applicants; different items have different importance to different students.

The most solid information I can give you is this: In Reed's 'Common Data Set', we report the 'relative importance' of various factors in the admission process. In this report, 'class rank', 'recommendations' and 'standardized test scores' are all considered 'important', while 'secondary school report' and 'essay' are both listed as 'very important'."

The Common Data Set can be accessed http://web.reed.edu/ir/ReedCDS200203.html

Hope that helps.

By Culovv (Culovv) on Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 05:41 pm: Edit

Chuck: I am pretty much just applying to a few UC's, Reed, and a couple schools with no application fee on the common app. All my high schools classes have a max of 25 students, which is not surprising since the whole senior class consists of only 150 people. Most of the college classes I have taken have 50+ people. I actually enjoy the sense of anonymity that I get, although most of the professors usually know my name by the first week of class. I know that I am probably enjoying the change in setting (from an all boys catholic prep school to a coed CC) instead of the class size, but I cant really tell.


Emeraldkity4: I dont believe that the workload is going to bother me too much. I am currently taking 7 classes, and have way too much free time... most of which is spent reading physics books. Next semester Im going to take 9 classes so i can cut down on the free time and hopefully be remotely prepared for college. Would you happen to know how many hours of work i should be expecting per day? I want to major in neurobiology with a minor in physics, but i dont see the neurobiology major available at reed. Thats fine though, I would settle for a major in biology and minor in physics since i plan on going to grad school anyway.

Kad: I think im gonna go to the bookstore in few minutes so i can start on my essay. I dont really know how to write the "Why Reed?" essay because i want to go to reed for the same reasons as everyone else. When i retake my sat in january i am hoping for a score around 1450. How were your SAT II's? Mine are 700/730/760.

Sorry for all the questions, but im sure that you can all relate to the anxiety that im currently going through.


thanks,


culovv

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 01:52 am: Edit

Youll probably be fine, My daughter also had 7 classes I think 5th yr Spanish, honors english, history, drama, honors biology, math, and honors art. She also worked about 20 hours a week so her time was very organized, she had I think about 3 hours of homework a day.
At Reed probably double that homework time for half the classes. Hum110 for example is the required freshman english class with about 18 required books a term.
However I don't think they read them all cover to cover.
U Chicago you read them,

http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/Hum110/ListOfBooks.Fall.03.html

By Culovv (Culovv) on Wednesday, December 24, 2003 - 05:39 pm: Edit

6 hours a day seems reasonable. I wish that there werent all these "required" courses. Ive read all those books once or twice within the last 2 years (required hs reading) and i hated every single one of them. I enjoy reading, but i dont like being forced to read. Do you know how many humanities courses one MUST take at reed? Are there different classes to choose from to fill the requirements?

By Jnyuwa (Jnyuwa) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 05:08 pm: Edit

This is an newspaper article on Reed and how some professor got screwed. It's a bad story about the oligarchy, the powers that be at Reed. Not a good thing. But it should pretty much give you an idea about Reed. And by the way I am going to be a junior there in the fall of 2004. I must have some balls.

http://www.wweek.com/html/cover102997.html

By Kad (Kad) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 07:27 pm: Edit

Where are you transferring from, Jnyuwa? That article was pretty awful.

First thing to note is that the article was published on Oct. 29, 1997. Danon retired in 2000.

Also, I could not find a SINGLE source documenting this case outside of Willamette Week on Google. Maybe just because it is such an old article, though. Still seems pretty unusual.

Lastly, the following two letters were sent to this 'newspaper' after the article was published:

"SCREWED" SKEWED

I just read your article on the sexual harassment suit by former Reed professor Frédéric Canovas ["Screwed," WW, Oct. 29, 1997] with a mixture of irritation and vague amusement. As a recent grad of Reed, I found your portrayal of the school um...a little skewed, if not downright inaccurate in some cases. First of all, you imply that one reason students leave Reed is the lack of fraternities and football teams. Excuse me? I've known a lot of people who have left Reed because of academic pressure, personal problems, expensive tuition or the regrettably homogeneous student body, but not one of them was disappointed about the lack of organized sports or beer-drenched hazing at Reed. Second, yes, only 67 percent of freshmen graduate in five years, but that number is not the drop-out rate. Some students take more than five years, but they finish.

I also take issue with the context you choose to put this sexual harassment case in. You imply that the free-wheeling atmosphere of the student body and Samuel Danon's (alleged) treatment of Dr. Canovas are both products of a laissez-faire attitude on the part of the administration. You make it sound as if anything goes at Reed, but you fail to mention the Honor Principle, which states that no one in the Reed community can cause anyone else "unnecessary discomfiture." The freedom given to the students at Reed does not extend to infringing on the rights or personal space of others, as Dr. Danon is accused of doing. I find it unfortunate that WWeek equates intellectual and personal freedom with "breeding self-absorbed arrogance" and condoning inappropriate behavior.

Finally, I find it a sad commentary on American culture that Reed is criticized for not offering marketing, and called "increasingly anachronistic" for teaching the classics in literature, philosophy and art. I would be willing to bet my graduate stipend that, thanks to the crummy American education system, few of the freshmen at the university where I attend grad school could tell the difference between Plato and Socrates, but most could probably name all four Spice Girls. And this is the future of America?

Kathy Reeves, Cambridge, MA


THE NEW ELITE

At the core of their article about the alleged sexual harassment of Frédéric Canovas by Reed French professor Samuel Danon, Maureen O'Hagan and Elizabeth Manning provide an important and troubling exposé of a specific case ["Screwed," WW, Oct. 29, 1997]. Canovas presents graphic detail of repeated sexual harassment, and of shifty administrative maneuvering which led to his dismissal. And the silence of Reed and Danon, though probably a legal necessity, does nothing to weaken his complaint. Clearly, there is an important issue of institutional discrimination here.

What I strongly object to, however, is the rhetoric and format of the article which extend the particulars of Canovas' case to a reactionary hatchet job of Reed and its place in Portland, and more troublingly, the importance of a liberal arts education in today's "global marketplace." The article is laced with Harper's-style factoids and specious lines of reasoning which look down upon the supposed Reed lifestyle and ethos with a disapproving air. Is it relevant to Canovas' story that an underage Reed student had wine with his Commons meal, that students reportedly drop acid at Renn Fayre, or that Reed does not (God forbid!) offer courses in marketing or computer programming? Locals have known these things about Reed for years (the Atheism motto is at least 40 years old, and who really takes communism seriously anymore anyway?). In other times--those regrettable Sixties perhaps--such facts might be accepted as the eccentricities of a free-thinking environment. In these heady days of high dividends and a safer, cleaner Portland, however, there seems to be some serious deviance going down at Reed College. The implication of the article is that Danon's actions, and the administration's lack of action, are part of a larger pattern of arrogance, disrespect and economic irrelevance at Reed.

What O'Hagan and Manning overlook, or neglect to say, is that an institution like Reed, and the "anachronistic" education it provides, offers young, intelligent students a chance to explore nonconformity, and perhaps to develop thoughtful, complex individual viewpoints. Unlike its more "relevant" counterpart, corporate darling the University of Phoenix, Reed doesn't prepare a student to take a grey-suited place on the fast track of technology and corporate affluence, but rather provides a background in history and philosophy to critique eloquently the excesses of these latest gods of capitalism and conservatism. Perhaps the authors would have us replace those musty Plato, Sophocles and Marx with Gates, Turner and Knight. You could learn a lot from a billionaire.

Reed, of course, has its shortcomings, and the Canovas case is a serious charge. But the prudish and paternal attitude and crude format (mug shot of Danon, sinister monolith of Reed) with which the story is reported undermine WW's claims to being a news alternative. There are some interesting stories here--the mutual antipathy and stereotypes between Reed and mainstream Portland, and the role of a liberal arts education in these materialistic times--but the WW authors handle these issues with a simplistic boosterism I would expect from The Oregonian or Channel 8 news. The new Portland elite needs its voice too, I suppose.

Jude P. Webre, Southeast Ankeny Street

---

By Jnyuwa (Jnyuwa) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 09:41 pm: Edit

I am transferring from California State University in Chico, CA. Tired of the party scene here and want the next two years of my remaining college life to be baptismal by fire. Gat what it takes and gat some time on my hands.

By Phishphan (Phishphan) on Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - 12:38 am: Edit

I really really want to attend REED. I think i can fit in well - i procrasinate US hitsory by writing a paper on the influence of the nature of capitalism on society. Can you guys analyze my statistics???

i would apply early decision.

My reccomendations will be like the fire and brimstone sermon of that one minister. I am a pretty effective writer so I feel my essays will be above the norm.

** note im a junior so most of my EC will go up to 4 and 3 years.

Ap Euro 5 (A both semesters)
Ap Bio 3 (B both semesters)
World His SAT II 740!!
Bio Sat II 660 (not usin it)
PSAT 1250 (will go up to 1300-1400)

enrolled in 8 classes, all honors cept mathematics

president/founder Model UN 3 yrs
president/founder Amnesty Intl 1 yr
front page editor of newspaper 1 yr, staff 1 yr
liteary mag photo editor and staff 3 yr
acedemic league captian 3 yr

march of dimes chain reaction youth council AND legislative chair 1 yr +

volunteer 20 hours at library
volunteer 40 hours at boys/girls club

participated on 1 month wilderness work crew in summer --through Student Conservation Association

Hugh O brien Youth leadership award
writing journalism award 10th grade
rookie of the year acedemic league
MVP JV Academic League

class rank is like 45/368 (top 12%)
on honor rolls
3.8 ish GPA weighted i think

By Jnyuwa (Jnyuwa) on Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - 12:47 am: Edit

I think you have a very good chance of getting into Reed. But just a word of caution though, as much as admissions officers are looking for a strong candidate, they are also looking to getting to know a flesh and blood human, not the subjects of some glorious odes.

By Howdydoody (Howdydoody) on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 06:23 pm: Edit

Anyone want to comment on this school?

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 02:31 pm: Edit

Gat what it takes and gat some time on my hands.

Incidentally Jeremy, Mr Rasking at Princeton Review is interested in you desisting your misrepresenting yourself on livejournal as an employee

Perhaps you mean well and as you say just have a lot of time on your hands, but since you apparently have changed schools from Bowdoin to Chico and now interested in attending Reed, you might put some of that spare time to use in researching the school before you transfer.

By Kad (Kad) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 09:04 pm: Edit

"Reed sets another record for freshman applications. For the second consecutive year applications have broken a record. This year's total of 2,480 for an incoming class of 335 represents an 8.6% increase over last year and a 43% increase in three years."

Up from 2,282.

I'm visiting from Wednesday night to Sunday morning. Any tips on things to check out while I'm there?

By Shopmom (Shopmom) on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - 06:02 pm: Edit

Per their Admissions office, Reed decisions will be mailed Friday.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 - 09:06 pm: Edit

I'm visiting from Wednesday night to Sunday morning. Any tips on things to check out while I'm there?


I love the nickel arcade
http://web.pdx.edu/~nac/pdxdirtcheap/