Reed College

Date: Dec 07 2005
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
I'm an out-of-state student and never visited Reed before I enrolled, but I definitely made the right choice. As far as academics goes, I could not imagine any place better for me. In a lot of ways, it's my idea of what a college should be like. I'm a psych major and I love the psych professors. All professors here go by their first names, so right now I'm taking intro pysch from Dan, Enriqueta, and Steve.

The teaching ability in general of the professors here is unbelievable. Dan's lectures are the type that members of the general public would pay to hear because he's engaging and you learn so much in a way that sticks with you. Professors spend a lot of time on individual students because class sizes are very small. My Humanities conference leader spends twenty minutes with us in an individual meeting after each paper we turn in, just chatting and discussing the paper.

The academics here are serious and focused on making you an educated person. Education for the sake of education is very strong here and there is little emphasis on grades. People here joke about being "socially awkward" but really it's more the case that many Reedies tend to be more introverted and initially more shy than average, not that they are actually socially awkward. Reedies also joke ironically about all the philosophical discussions that supposedly take place…but the fact is, they happen and it's cool. And there's something great about a group of kids who are not worried about appearing uncool by discussing something like the physics of an attempt to dig a hole to China.

Still, Reed isn't for everybody and it isn't perfect. Socially, it's pretty quiet during the week, with some large parties on the weekends. As someone who doesn't drink, I'm sometimes uncomfortable with the heavy emphasis on drinking present on the weekends. Also, while the drug use isn't excessive, it's still more than I am comfortable with. In general, while I identify as liberal, I come from a much more conservative background than most people here, and I don't approve of the casual hookups and sex that are sometimes taken for granted here. If I have any real complaint about the general student population it would be that some Reedies seem to take on a facade of jadedness (towards religion, education, politics, etc.) that can be rather irritating at times.

However, those are concerns that are present in any college I would go to (except maybe Bob Jones University?), and overall, Reed is as close to my idea of a dream school as I'm ever going to get. I love my classes and my professors and I have a group of friends that aren't into the drinking and drugs, so for me, Reed is the place I need to be.

It's not for everyone and many students transfer after their first year, but if the match is right, it's a great place to be. And you will definitely definitely definitely without a doubt get a first rate education.