Reed College Admission
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The Facts

Reed College is a highly progressive, liberal arts school that caters to motivated, nonconformist and extremely intelligent students. It is located in the beautiful natural city of Portland, Oregon, which offers plenty of activities for students to partake in. Most of the responsibility falls on the students to ensure their academic success; an example of this is that students aren’t given their grades unless they specifically ask for them; however, professors do give students extensive feedback. The student to faculty ratio is 10:1, and most of the classes are discussion based; the students who get the most out of the experience come to class well-read, prepared, and ready to participate.

Students say it is often difficult to complete the required divisional, departmental, and major-required courses. Many of the 22 majors offered at Reed are very strong, especially the life sciences program. Some of the most popular majors include English, biology, psychology, history and anthropology.

The entering class of 2004 had an average SAT score ranging from 1270 to 1460 and an average cumulative ACT score ranging from 28 to 32. Over 88% of the class of 2004 were ranked among the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average GPA of 3.8.

Students remark that the atmosphere is highly competitive and can get the best of some students. Only 46% of students graduate in four years, and 72% graduate in six years. The facilities at Reed are also some of the best in the country, with a particular emphasis on their new laboratory building that has state of the art scientific equipment for the students’ use.

The Social Scene

The liberal learning environment is both a curse and a blessing at Reed. It helps to expand the minds and intellects of all students who attend; however, the academic pressure can overtake many students, causing them to succumb to the lure of the readily available mind-altering substances often used by many students throughout the campus. While Reed is by no means a “party school,” many students do smoke pot and use other substances to ‘relax.’

Reed is very politically active school, and many students take part in various political causes. Students often joke that the most popular weekend activity is protesting. Students also like to collaborate with their peers on various creative projects and engage in lengthy intellectual discussions.

There is no Greek life at Reed, so the “party scene” is fairly non-existent; however, students definitely find their own unique ways to party. The guys and girls are primarily smart, "hippie," potheads who love nothing more than a long intellectual discussion over Pad Thai. Yummy.

What’s Good

“I think everyone who is toiling away at some huge state-funded institution is missing out big time. We get such a unique, incredible experience here.”

“It’s nice to have these discussion-based classes. It helps you to build your skills of rhetoric and debate."

“Everyone here is so chill. No one gets wound up as tightly as they might at other liberal arts schools on the East Coast.”

What’s Bad

“If you are shy, the discussion-based classes are pretty difficult to get a good grade in. Participation is valued above all things here.

“People tend to be really intellectually snobby. They think they are the be-all, end-all of theory and criticism.”

“The drug culture here is too intense. People get easily sidetracked by its allure and don’t end up taking advantage of this place.”

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