Reed is a great place to explore and grow up some before entering the “real world”. They don’t shelter you by any means, but you are exposed to all sorts of interesting people with diverse hobbies. Once at a friend’s house I met a Reedie who grew up with his dad in a teepee. This sort of experience isn’t that uncommon. In addition, there are all sorts of student groups building and fixing bikes, brewing beer, fire dancing, “buildering” (aka climbing buildings as well as outdoor trips), planning a Cascadian revolution, you name it. Students are incredible creative and frequently have the industriousness to get projects done. These include establishing comic book libraries, building amazing art projects, or providing free condoms and sex ed classes to every dorm every year. However, Reedies seem to focus on the campus and projects that will make the campus a better place. Political activism or much interest in bettering the community outside of Reed isn’t seen as much. However, the academics are great. You’ll be exposed to all sorts of new ideas in your classes that frequently actually change your outlook on the world. The one downside is that it’s tough to leave such a creative and interesting community after graduation.

Academics are TOUGH. In high school I was a smart student; AP, IB, national honors, etc. However, there have been classes at Reed where I studied as much as I could (5-6 hours a day for one class, every day) and steal feared not passing. However, there are a lot of support networks to help you out. There are almost always student tutors in the DoJo building to help you through tough problem sets. Profs are incredibly helpful. Plus, the difficulty ends up building community where groups of students frequently work together on nightly homework. I think anyone ends up liking what they spend the most time on because it sort of becomes a part of them. At Reed, this is your major. People frequently have a lot of pride in their major and the amount of work students in their department accomplish.

As I said, Reedies are very creative and industrious. They will spend days on projects to make campus better or more interesting. Plus there is a lot of funding for these projects available through Senate. However, there isn’t as much effort put into projects aimed at bettering the world outside of Reed’s “bubble”. There are political groups or groups for human rights but these groups are frequently not as well attended as the joke communist group aimed at distributing communal small bikes around campus or free stimulants in the library lobby during finals week. Another important point about the students is that we are all governed by the honor principle. It’s not a joke among Reedies. Profs trust you to take a closed book test anywhere on campus, including your dorm room, and know that you will not cheat. Students leave their laptops in the library while they grab a snack from commons all the time and stuff is rarely stolen.

Reed has a lot of traditions. The biggest student group is RKSK. It is a joke communist organization designed to liven up campus. At the beginning of each year, RKSK organizes a noise parade. Kids dress up in costumes and body paint. There are torches and frequently a float or two. Mostly, everyone brings pots and pans to bang together and make as much noise as possible as we parade through campus. Freshmen who have not heard of the event hear us come through and frequently grab up metal objects to bang together and join the parade. It culminates in students launching fireworks and a bon fire in the quad. RKSK also organizes a stimulant table in the library lobby. Students volunteer to run the table in 12-24 hour shifts. They have a huge range of interesting stimulants for the adventurous. However, most students are so pressured to get stuff done during finals week that they rely on the tried and true coffee and PB&J sandwiches.

Most dorms have a lot of community. My closest friends were my freshman year dormies. People leave their doors unlocked and spend most of their time in the common room. There are two to three parties every weekend and about every other weekend there is a large event on campus. There is a lot of intermingling and dating among the freshmen. This dies down a bit later as people become more involved with their studies. About a quarter of my friends are in long-term relationships and the others date 2 to 3 people a year.

That we're shy, avoid eye-contact, and always feel guilty for not doing more school work.

Some people are very social althrough we do probably have more introverts than normal. I think it’s true that everyone feels perpetually guilty for not doing more schoolwork. During finals week, a large group of kids never leave the library and yet seem really happy about it. It’s as if they finally feel like they’re doing enough studying.