Student Profile
Bathrobertson
- Class: Senior
- Major: Psychology
- Gender: M
- High School: Montgomery Bell Academy
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
Reed is an anachronism. Students know their professors first names, read Plato and Augustine, and write a senior thesis. A small liberal arts college it is. Sometimes it seems to small, but I can't imagine myself anywhere else. The people here are amazing, and I love them. Nowhere else will you see signs that say "SOON IT WILL BE RENN FAYRE AND I WILL KISS ALL OF YOU", and nowhere else will those signs fill your entire being with anticipation. However, if I were a different person, I would probably be miserable here. Reed is not an easy place to go to, and a lot of people drop out or transfer before their junior year. It's not for everybody. Some people leave because the academics are too hard for them, and some people leave because the students that I think are so amazing seem like condescending, intellectual ***s with no grasp on the real world. And still other people leave because they'd rather be climbing mountains in Alaska. So, beware before you apply. As for the world directly outside of Reed, that's pretty awesome too. Unlike most small liberal arts colleges, Reed is not in the middle of nowhere. Portland, Oregon, is the greatest city in the world and one of the weirdest too, but most students (especially the freshmen), don't take advantage of it. Reed tends to create a "bubble", out of which it is seemingly hard to escape but is actually quite easy if you try. I recommend going to the Hotcake House at least once before you leave.
Academic Life
General overview: Academics at Reed are stellar. Be prepared to work your***off; it'll be worth it. Your professor will know your name (unless he's old and senile, like Joe Bob), and you will know his or her first name/nickname (e.g., Joe Bob). Class participation is mandatory. If you don't like talking about your schoolwork outside of class, don't come here. If reading isn't your thing, don't bother applying (unless you're a math or science major) because you will hate it here. My experience: I've struggled here, and I considered myself a smart guy in high school. I've been on academic probation once and official warning twice. I've failed a class, and I still consider myself a smart guy. If I weren't a Psych major, I would have flunked out by now. People give Psych majors a hard time because they have "less work" than other majors, which is somewhat true: Psychology journal articles generally have fewer pages of reading and some of the profs assign shorter papers, but there's just as much time and critical thinking involved. A lot of the *** Psych majors get from other students is a result of academic ***-measuring, which happens A LOT at Reed. "Oh, you have 200 pages of reading to do? Well I have 300 pages of reading AND a 17-page paper due on Friday!" I have it better off though, because the Psych department has the most helpful professors on campus. I highly recommend taking "Thinking" with Dan Reisberg before he retires. The math department is also rad. I was almost a math major, and my favorite class ever continues to be Intro to Number Theory with Jamie Pommersheim. If you're into math, take a class with Jamie before you leave here. He's awesome.
Student Body
Reedies are the most intelligent, most awkward, and consistently atypical people I've ever met. There is no "Reedie prototype." We're different, and motivated by one thing: learning. Learning about the world, learning about each other, learning about ourselves. There's really not much more I can say.
The Best Things
the people
The Worst Things
The combination of constant rain and constant reading
