Reed College, Portland, Oregon
Founded in 1908, Reed College is one of the most academically rigorous and intellectually serious colleges in the country. But don’t take my word for it. Take a Reedie’s word for it: “Reed forced me to become intellectually serious, to care less about how I appear and more about how I act. I took my academics very seriously. The grade was not the point; it was about doing something I was proud of.” Jacob Carter, 2014. Or “In my time at Reed I have been exposed to an incredible quantity of brilliant, interesting, and diverse opinions, viewpoints, and lifestyles. They have worked to broaden my horizons and made me a happier and better-balanced person. Critical thinking (cliché, I know) has really become the cornerstone of all aspects of my life—plus an open mind.” Moriah Tobin, 2011.
At Reed you will take a year long humanities course, broad distribution requirements so that you know something about everything, and complete a senior thesis in your chosen major. Classes are small and encourage close interaction between faculty and students. The ratio between students and faculty is only 9:1 so you have to come to class prepared and you will get to know your professors well. Shared intellectual pursuit is a value at Reed so the relationship between you and your professor will be more collaborative than sage on a stage like it is at other schools.
Interdisciplinary study is important at Reed. Just as all freshmen take a year long, interdisciplinary humanities course, many other, more advanced courses also have an interdisciplinary theme to them as well. Multiple majors include an interdisciplinary element from Biochemistry & Molecular Biology to International and Comparative Policy Studies, from American Studies to Mathematics – Economics.
Students must complete a comprehensive exam before they are allowed to pursue their thesis senior year. This qualifying exam proves that the student has mastered not just the content, but the discipline’s various concepts and methods as well. Less focus is spent on acquisition of facts and more is spent on whether or not the student has mastered the inquiry demanded by the field and is ready to go on and do independent research within it. These exams are more analogous to Master’s exams, the thesis to a Master’s Thesis.
Your thesis is going to be one of the most challenging things you do at Reed. It’s going to require you to distill all of your learning down into a research question and then answer it. This is advanced work for college students. It has to be something you are passionate about but also something you are knowledgeable about. But, don’t take my word for it. Here are some examples:
Danielle Juncal, 2015 : Thesis: Japanese American Internment Poetry: Lawson Inada’s and Mitsuye Yamada’s Re-Mappings of Memory and Identity
What it’s about: Poetry written by Japanese Americans about the Japanese internment camp experience during World War II is a unique type of historical testimony. This poetry reconfigures the memory of their confinement as a creative source to redeem a new Japanese American subjectivity.
What it’s really about: Rewriting history with badass, intersectional feminism and jazz poetics.
Mark Angeles, 2015: Thesis: The Role of Cobalt, Rhodium, and Iridium Bis(imino)pyridine Catalysts in Degrading Chlorinated Ethylenes
What it’s about: Synthesizing certain types of organometallic catalysts to assist in degrading certain types of environmental pollutants.
What it’s really about: Lab. Lots and lots of time in lab.
Molly Case, 2012: Thesis: The Benefits of Implementing Sustainable Financial Models in Small Nonprofit Organizations
What it’s about: I constructed a sustainable financial model for SOIL, a small nonprofit based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that focuses on ecological sanitation toilets and hygiene education.
What it’s really about: How poop is going to save the world.
Reed exists with the honor principle at its core. Officially there is no definition of the honor principle, and it should not be confused with the version we may be familiar with from UVA which relates primarily, although not only to plagiarism and cheating, coming as it does with a single sanction. The honor principle is a concept that goes beyond the work of a classroom and it invites students to really contemplate what honor means to them personally. At its heart, the honor principle asks members of the community of Reed College to explore what it is to be good, how to live in community with one another, and what being a member in an academic community means. It’s an opportunity to take stock in how we treat each other, ourselves, and how we bring our morals and ethics to play in our learning and living. In other words, how can we live the most honorable lives possible to better ourselves and lift others at the same time?
So what is it like to be a Reedie? It’s a lot like being a grad student. Reed is home to the only undergraduate run reactor. About 40 students are licensed to run it and there are no prerequisites that would prevent you from doing so. Tuesdays you can catch the weekly Math Colloquia run by students or hit up the Psychology department on Thursdays for their weekly one. Be a part of the Reed Independent Performance Project in the Theater Department or engage in research in the Economics department with a professor there. Do research in Moscow through the Russian Department, study in Munich in German, learn Chinese in Fuzhao, or go to Galapagos. Studies are serious here and your curiosity is taken seriously as well.
There is something going on every day at Reed. It may be a music recital or a dance performance. But it could be a Symposium on Racial Identity or a lecture on the Rap Guide to Consciousness or an Introduction to Bernoulli’s Numbers from Pythagoras to the Present. Go to a meditation or hear a poetry reading. See a film or hear the orchestra perform. Or, go to a lecture on neuroscience. Get out and help the community by cleaning up the canyon, or take a master dance class. Support a friend’s senior thesis project by seeing their theater production. Even with all of Portland at your disposal, there’s no lack of activity on campus.
There is no Greek Life at Reed. Students live in housing that is organized quite differently than the average college. Dorms are not traditionally divided into freshman dorms, or coed, or single sex (although there is a Women’s Floor). At Reed you will live in a Theme Community your first year, and the themes include everything from Game Development to Mad Science, Music Appreciation to Substance Free. By your second year you can live in one of the Co-Ops which include the Farm House and the Garden House which are small communities that revolve around communal living, eating, and growing. Second year students can also avail themselves of the multiple language houses. French, German, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian are all supported in those communities. There is a house for students with disabilities, for students of color (a theme house), and a senior apartment house. Small, caged pets are allowed.
At Reed the Student Senate plays a very important role. They are the voice of the student body both on campus and with the faculty and administration. They are involved in policy making and also in improving the quality of life for students at Reed. One of the most active ways that Reedies engage in their community, the Student Senate is also in charge of overseeing aspects of student life as well. Related to the Student Senate is the Treasury whose job it is to fund clubs, pay for events, and and keep track of student organizations at Reed. There are a variety of other student leadership boards including the Honor Council, the Judicial Board, the Student Opportunity and Subsidiary Committee, and the Appointments Committee. Leadership is important at Reed because students are given agency and treated as equals by the faculty and administration.
So what is there to do when you’re not studying and being a leader? Plenty. From the arts to science there are clubs that support your academics if you want to focus there. But don’t stop with those. Try a book club, get into anime, try some improv, sew your own clothes, go mountaineering, discuss film or philosophy, play pool, join the newspaper, dance hip hop, get into open mic, play rugby, learn to make soap, do photography and learn to develop your pictures the old fashioned way, surf, join the creative writing magazine, read comics, or be part of the LBGTQ+ community. Broadcast your show on the radio or become a fire spinner. There is plenty to keep you engaged at Reed. And all of that is before you’ve hit up the Watzek Sports Center.
At Reed you have a PE requirement. I had this in college (I had 2 quarters of PE actually). It seems like the sort of thing that might make you run screaming from a school. But it’s actually kind of awesome. PE in college is pretty far from running laps in high school. At Reed, PE classes include things like Bouldering, Zen Meditation, multiple Yoga classes, Backcountry Navigation, Skiing, Kayaking, Capoeira, Snowboarding, Rock Climbing, Folk Dancing, Bike Clinic, Horseback Riding, Juggling, Fly Fishing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Self Defense, and Ballet. This is not your high school PE class where you have a pacer test that kills you for the week. Plus the chances that you will find something you love doing and you might continue doing for your whole life are pretty high.
Reed is not a sports school. But it is an outdoorsy school. If you want to play a sport, it’s going to be a club sport because that’s all they have. Don’t come here expecting a D1 football experience. There’s club soccer, basketball, and ultimate frisbee. But that’s mostly it. You can row here, play squash, and rugby as well. But the most popular things to do are the outdoor education programs. These take you out into nature on hikes, kayaking, climbing, backpacking, hiking, and taking advantage of what the northwest has to offer. Ultimately, that’s what the majority of the budget for sports seems to go into. The calendar averages about three trips per day in these areas so if you love being out in nature, that’s not going to be a problem at Reed.
Is Reed for you? Are you looking for a place to go where you can be with very smart, very dedicated people to talk about ideas with? Then yes. Do you look forward to being in a great city at a school where you can be a leader and where curiosity is lauded? Then yes. But if you want sports and Greek life and traditional lectures and to blend into the background? Then no, this is not your school.
Pros:
- Life of the mind is celebrated here
- Plenty of chances to do serious research
- Great opportunities for outdoor activities
- Unique living options
Cons:
- No Greek life
- No football/regular sports
- Small school (1400 students)
- Serious students only here so if you’re looking to hide, forget that