Reed College Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school?

Kelly

This boy I met before I came to Reed told me that all Reedies were "ugly, stuck-up, boring" and "druggie burn-outs". He was an idiot, obviously.

Ryan

Pink hair, tattoos, loves to debate the merits of Aristotle and Hannah Arendt over a NW microbrew, preferably in the basement of the Reed library at 3 a.m.

Morgan

-Never leave the library -Drugs are everywhere -Socially awkward -Intellectually curious -Arrogant -We're all athiest bastards -We're all dirty commies

Gina

We spend all our time in the library. We're dirty, dreadlock wearing, pot smoking hippies. We're insular and weird. We gossip. We're senselessly devoted to our academic disciplines. We're out of touch with the world.

Erin

Dirty, Drug using, intelligent, not athletic, Jewish, White, Wealthy, need a haircut.

Emmerson

Stoners, Alternative, Smart (VERY!)

Owen

That they are incredibly brilliant and also incredibly into drugs. basically, that Reedies study hard and party harder. They are hippies, they are the future of the intellectual elite and the future of the free drug culture. The motto 'communism atheism and free-love' can sometimes be taken literally.

Becky

Reed students are incredibly smart. Reed students smoke a ton of weed and use whatever other drug is most available. Students are socially awkward and inept. Nudity is accepted on the Reed Campus. Students exude pretention and look down on non-reedies.

Alice

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

Celia

One person I know described Reedies as "dizzingly fun and terrifyingly bright." Stereotypes include: vehemently liberal, at times pretentious & elite, intellectually curious, socially-minded, dogmatically unreligious. Reed is unfortunately (and inaccurately, in my opinion) associated with drugs -- but I don't think the prevalence of drug use is much greater than in other places. The college tends to stress health and safety in dealing with substance abuse rather than criminalization.

Alex

That we are too academic to have any social skills are that we are too drug-addled to have any academic skills.

Marion

We're a mix of hippies and hipsters. We work hard and play harder. We're a bunch of esoteric nerds.

Alex

stereotypes? um... geeky, bad in bed, ethnically homogeneous, socially incapable, egghead-smart, liberal, communist, atheist, rich, elitist, impractical, bubble-centric, 'honor'-able

Michael

Reed will drive you crazy Reedies use a lot of drugs Reedies are brilliant and poetic and creative Reed is too small Reed has an excellent poolhall

Ryan

1) Pot-smoking hippies 2) Trustafarians 3) Ridiculous workaholics

Jeremy

Reed students are the epitome of nerd. They are brilliant, very liberal, and put a lot of pressure on themselves to do well academically.

Madison

We're all druggies, hippies, and liberals.

Lauren

That we are really intelligent but super weird and do a lot of drugs.

Janna

Lazy, rich drug fiends! Dorks.

Brett

Students: pretentious, smart, awkward, white, rich, hippie, weird, liberal, atheist, on drugs

andrew

Awkward, unwashed, and somewhat slightly dazed, to smart for their own good, a little pretentious

Andy

Pretentious rich drug addicts who, if they don't kill themselves or suffer a mental break, go on to the grad schools of their choice.

Bonnie

So... hippies, druggies, hipsters, and weirdies, pretentious intellectuals, self-righteous vegan/activist types, the socially inept, and geeks.

Jamie

That we're all snotty, pretentious assholes who quote Derrida constantly.

Rachel

that there is more drug use here than at other liberal arts schools, that we are all crazy hippie liberals

Nell

Nerds, every one of us. Also, pretentious, elitist, aloof, entitled, rich. Oh! and the DRUGS! And of course, hardworking intellectuals, on the quest for truth, freedom, knowledge, etc.

Christina

It's said that we are intelligent pot-smoking outspoken radical crazy masochistic hippie nerds.

Rory

To Reedies (or kids who want to come here) - we do lots of drugs, are 'liberal', smell funny, don't like wearing shoes (or clothes sometimes), and study way too much To Portlanders - some think we are just obnoxious rich kids who are pretentious as hell, others are mildly amused and maybe impressed by the academics

Leslie

intellectual quirky nonreligious

Alex

They are debaters, focused on reason and logic and hate emotions. They smoke a lot of pot and do a lot of drugs. They are dirty and smelly and antisocial. They are anarchists and hippies with large trust funds. Above all they are very intelligent, however.

Andrew

Hipsters, drug addicts, super-motivated freaks, generally smart people, outdoorsy types, rude, pretentious snobs, independently minded folks.

Alex

To describe the students with a series of words: nerdy, academically oriented, outdoorsy, hippies, bikers.

Alex

Hippies, burnouts, stoners, commies, bros, and hipsters, essentially.

Lorie

Many of the stereotype of Reed College tend to sound something like "well, everyone at Reed is a pot-smoking hippie." Or "everyone there is a vegaterian, tree-hugging, liberal lefty." Another commonly held belief about Reed involves ubiquitous drug use and a relatively crazy environment with almost no rules.

Terry

hippies, eccentric individuals, intellectuals

Alex

Reedies have been classified as self-righteous intellectuals, stoners, smelly hippies, socially-inept brainiacs, and some of the most generally fascinating and atypical students in America. We are thought to be supremely liberal and quite proud of it. We have even been called hedonistic and downright irreverent.

Harper

1. Reedies do tons of drugs 2. Reedies don't have social lives and spend all their time in the library

Peter

That we're wicked smart, socially awkward and addicted to work

Devin

Reed students are socially awkward. They were all losers in high school. We are all addicted to cigarettes. There are many dirty hippies. The majority of everyone's time is spent in the library. People get publicly naked a lot. Everyone hooks up with everyone else. Gossip spreads like wildfire. Everyone is really smart. Everyone does drugs, and many of them.

Roy

Stereotypes of Reedies go something like this: - They are incredibly rich and privileged; - They have no respect for the establishment; - They are all geeks; - They think they know everything.

Dustin

Reed is stereotyped as a small, driven, "quirky" college. Reed students are stereotyped as unathletic, socially awkward, extremely intelligent, politically liberal, and skeptical undergraduates. Oh yes, we have an insufferable amount of hipsters

Lauren

Whenever my friends from home give me flack about Reed they ask about all the dirty hippie kids who take lots of drugs and eat bugs at Renn Fayre. They also hear about the crazy amount of work that we have here.

Andy

A lot of people worry about the drug culture here, or think that there are a lot of atheists and hippies.

Madeline

Reed is sometimes called "Weed College." People think that Reed students are crazy geniuses - brilliant and completely cracked out. People often also think that Reed students are all rich. Finally, Reed has a stereotype of being a big pressure-cooker and extremely stressful.

Blake

the stereotype of "weed college" is pretty prevalent--and they don't call it that for nothing. the fact is, drug culture plays a large role in our social lives. that said, partaking in the chemical bacchanalia really is a choice--no one is going to pressure you into doing drugs if you do not want to or aren't comfortable (for the most part). there's also a myth, perpetuated by the school's own prospectus, that reed is a place full of open-minded, liberated, intelligent, friendly students, that there aren't really cliques, that socializing here is easier for awkward nerds/dorks/freaks--and to some degree it is easier, but people here can be just as judgmental, exclusive, and bitchy as high school. cliques do exist here, and often in extremes (stoners, artsy hipsters, science nerds, ravers, etc.), and if you don't necessarily fall neatly into one of these groups, the middle ground can be hadr to navigate.

Jessie

That Reed is a very tough school academically that is diverse both in ideas and the race and gender of the students and faculty. That we're a bunch of nerds who party hard, do a lot of drugs, and are godless anarchist hippies. That we're very awkward people socially.

Royce

The stereotypical Reedie buys all his or her clothes second hand, and spends all the money he or she saves on cigarettes and coffee - the former are smoked outside the library and the latter consumed huddled in fetal position within it.

Chris

A lot of people in the portland community think reedies are upper-class rich kids. in the woodstock area, reedies have a more informal, reputation of being "crazy", artsy hippies (mainly because of renn fayre i think). Other stereotypes I've encountered are that we smoke a lot of pot (for the most part not true) and that we study a lot (for the most part very true).

April

The school is very academically rigorous, intellectual, and traditional in its academics. The student body is much less traditional; usually liberal (and self-righteous), supposedly there to "learn for the sake of learning," participate in heavy recreational drug use, are non-mainstream and a little weird and crazy.

Brett

Reedies are rich hippy drug addicts that are snotty and talk about Heidegger all day while smoking Camel unfiltereds and drinking coffee. They are all really smart.