Reed College Top Questions

Reed is 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} rich white people pretending not to be, 20{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} freegan hippies, 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} international students who just want an education and are confused by the weirdos around them, and the rest is everything else.

There's not really racism on campus, though there aren't many black or hispanic people at all. Most Reedies are militantly atheist, but there are student bodies on campus for religion. These are admittedly small. E.g., Instead of having a Catholic group and an Evangelical group, there's just one Christian group called Oh For Christ's Sake--you've got to admit, the name is pretty cool. LGBT perfectly acceptable on campus. I've not heard one controversy over this. Though, I'm told that the gay dating scene isn't what they hoped it would be. Reedies do tend to be white, upper-middle class (this place isn't cheap), but they're not insensitive about socio-economic problems. If anything, they're a bit ignorant, but not judgmental. The feminist movement is pretty strong here, and there are some problems on campus, surprisingly. However, it's not a big deal unless you decide to make it one. One girl who was in my dorm (she's left Reed, now), was very unhappy because people disliked her. She was, as they thought, the 'popular girl' from high school they'd gone to Reed to escape. If you're popular or preppy, you may want to reconsider. Also, if you have high moral standards that you expect other people to meet, Reed is not where you need to be. As I said, Reedies are very open about the things they do. There's nudity around campus. People do drugs and smoke and drink and fuck. There are homosexuals on campus. etc. If this bothers you, go elsewhere. Reed is extremely casual in dress. You can get away with wearing almost anything at Reed. No joke. If you want to dress up, no one will look at you funny. If you come in with muddy PJs and a torn shirt, you'll be fine as well. No, there are many tables of students in the dining hall and they're not characterized in any particular way. There really aren't cliques on campus. As I said before, you're likely to form a close group of friends within your dorm when you first get here. Most Reed students are actually from California. No lies. And most are pretty damn rich. Duh. Students are politically aware and active if they want to be. There's plenty of opportunity around campus to get involved in in politics or community service. Reed is mostly left, but not everyone has the same views. There's more variation that people probably give credit to. Reedies don't really talk about future salaries. It's not...as important to them as all the reading they have to do tonight, and the paper that's due in two days and the exam they have on Friday.

Students wear anything they want. Boys wear dresses, girls wear capes and fairy wings. Everything is accepted here. Everyone interacts with everyone because it is such a small school. Most kids here are liberal and very environmentally aware. We don't really talk about financial aid backgrounds openly here. The people that aren't on financial aid generally feel guilty about it and the students that are don't want to talk about their financial aid in fear of making the other kids feel guilty. We have a large white population, which is a problem. But I don't know how we'd solve that. Maybe by getting the name of the school more out there in less wealthy towns.

The student body is ostensibly fairly homozygous, but there are quite a few different groups of people represented if you really get to know the student body. The jock-type would certainly feel out of place if he or she attended Reed, and they would definitely look it. Students are from all over the country, and there are quite a few international students. Students are definitely leaning towards the left, and are very politically aware. There are many political activity groups that actively participate in political affairs at Reed and around Portland. I've never heard anyone speak about their financial future or brag about the background that they come from. Everyone at Reed seems to be focused on experiencing the now and learning, rather than anticipating how rich they will be in the future.

We are too white. When I got to Reed as a freshman I thought the campus had gotten more diverse in the past few years, but it turns out that "African American" and "African" are put into the same demographic pool. It's kind of pathetic. Almost all of the kids I know who aren't white are international students. I do also feel like a lot of the students are from pretty privileged backgrounds. The school is not cheap. The campus is extremely liberal. Though you might say that any liberal arts college is liberal, Reed is the most liberal. The closest thing we have to a frat is communist group RKSK (or Reed Kommunal Shit Kollectiv). I don't care for them too much, but they are a popular group on campus and host the stimulant table during Finals week. Though we are very liberal, most people I think are too busy with work to anything other than politically apathetic. We are trying to change that by bringing the New York Times to campus this semester.

I go in and out of participating in the Queer Alliance on campus. Students who are not comfortable with other people doing things (like drugs or drinking) they don't like would feel out of place here. Students wear a variety of things to class, from dress clothes to bathrobes to the same thing for many days. Most Reedies are from the Bay Area in California, or the West Coast in general. It seems like most students get a large amount of financial aid. A small handful of students are politically active, and the rest try to stay aware. They are predominantly left. Students don't generally talk about how much they will make, except maybe to make a joke about living in a cardboard box someday because their major won't make them a lot of money

The only kind of student who would feel out of place a Reed is an extremely conservative right wing christian. They might have some trouble finding people who relate to their beliefs. There are plenty of religious people, but I don't think they find that they are treated differently. As I said, Reedies love Reedies. As long as you're respectful of others beliefs, they will be respectful of yours. Students are unconventional some of the time and completely "normal" some of the time, so you can see someone going to class in jeans and a tee-shirt, or you can see someone going to class wearing a cape and a cowboy hat. There's no "groups" at Reed, there are definitely groups of friends, but there's nothing that defines them as "popular", "geeks" or "wierdos". We're all pretty much all of the above. Reedies are from all over. I've noticed a lot come from california, washington, and oregon...but in no way is that the majority. It's really fun seeing the Californians or any other people from a sunny state experience their first North West fall and winter. They just don't understand...but they learn to! And then they love it. Reedies are pretty much mostly far left, politically. Students are fairly politically aware, but sometimes they are too laden down with work to read the news. So we are left in the dark a lot of the time as far as the rest of the world goes.

reed is a very politically active campus, and is very liberal. there are no conservative students, to my knowledge, and i would know because they would stick out. it's not so much that reedies aren't accepting of conservatives (granted that they are well-researched and well-reasoning), but they just challenge each other constantly anyway, so a conservative student might feel bombarded, even though it would be done in the spirit of exploration. also, most reedies tend to be athiest or agnostic. there are a couple unitarians, but students with fervent religious beliefs are few and far between. reed is also predominantly caucasian, despite efforts from the administration to diversify. i've heard that when minority students transfer, they often cite drug use as one of the reasons. most students are from california, but washington and new york also have large representations at reed, and there are a good number of international students. there's a prompt for this question that asks "What do most students wear to class?" that's an interesting question to answer. some students roll out of bed and throw on a pair of jeans before they head to class (and others wear their pajamas). a lot of students shop at thrift stores, and a lot of other students shop at urban outfitters. living in a dorm i've noticed that many people don't shower daily, and emphasis isn't really placed on physical appearance. also, many students wear outrageous clothing daily, and many students have brightly colored hair.

Fairly limited diversity on campus. Religious students in particular would feel out of place. Most students wear ratty clothes to class, or else the same thing they wore yesterday. Hair is usually not brushed. High heels are rare. Most students come from well-off family. Mostly liberal students here. We do not talk about potential earnings.

Reed is a campus full of diverse liberal white people. I'm from the Southwest where I feel comfortable being in the white minority. Here, however, it's less like a stewing pot, or even a mixed dish, it's really like a bowl of white rice, with a tiny sprinkling of spices on top. I'm sure it's really great for the students who aren't white- because they're rarer and thus somehow more exciting. It's honestly exciting to talk to someone who doesn't look just like you, and so they get an automatic status upgrade. Unfortunately, however, the actual exchange and International students tend to group together and not mix with the rest of the students, because I suppose we look like a tough group to crack into. Reed would not be a particularly fun place to be as a staunch conservative, but I suppose that it's reputation would prevent most people fitting this description form even considering it. It's a good place to be reaffirmed politically if you're liberal- and even to expand the way you feel and think about things. It's a great place to be passionate about politics. Let's just say that Super Tuesday turns out WAY larger crowds than the SuperBowl.

If there were four tables of students in the dining hall, I probably could not distinguish them. There are no cliques at Reed. People wear all sorts of things to class. Some people like to dress in sports clothes, others are always dressed up. I have seen people wear fake tails, weird hats, robes, wings...nothing seems particularly out of place. It is difficult to typify Reed students at all. Reedies are from all over the world. I think there are quite a few from California, but there never seems to be a majority place of origin. I have no idea about which financial backgrounds are most prevalent; there is no way to know without asking everyone you come into contact with. Students are definitely politically aware and active, though, to varying degrees. The one caution is that Reed is a bubble. It is easy to become so focused on your studies that you miss out on other things. However, people make a great effort to be informed and opinionated about issues in the news. Reed is a rather liberal campus, but if you tried to ask someone if they were "predominantly left, right, or center" that person would probably take you to task on what you were specifically asking. People run the spectrum from liberal to conservative to against categorization, and they lean in different ways on different issues. No one talks about how much money they will earn someday, though. At least not within my earshot.

Reedies are extremely accepting. The majority of students are upper/middle-class non-religious liberal whites. At Reed, it is definitely 'uncool' to be prejudiced. Students do not talk about how much they'll earn one day. In fact, it seems to be a bigger trend to talk about random, quirky jobs, such as starting up a record store.

Oh yes, the blue people. The ones that run around naked and covered in paint. They frighten me.

Reedies are fairly diverse, despite the stereotypes I explained above. While we are hardly above cliquishness, the contrast between different social groups is much less pronounced than at other schools that I have visited. The only characteristic that I could say definitively is shared by the student body is an intense brilliance fueled by a passion for learning. Other than that, I really don't think I could do Reedies justice in a simple paragraph or two, so I will leave it to the reader to come and see for themselves.

If one stereotype holds true, it is that students are overwhelming liberal. In fact, I would say that it could be uncomfortable to be fully right wing and go to this school.