Reed College
Location: Portland, OR (urban, large city)
Size: 1,483 students
Avg percent need-met: 100%
Acceptance rate: 39%
Middle 50% ACT: 30-34 **Reed is currently piloting a test blind program**
Middle 50% SAT: 1320-1520 **Reed is currently piloting a test blind program**
Reed is an academically rigorous school, defined by its passion for learning. Though studying is ubiquitous, the culture is largely noncompetitive. Professors are brilliant, intellectual discussion is constant, free thinking is supported and encouraged. Housed in the city of Portland, Reed embodies the city's reputation for quirkiness and liberalism, fostering a fun, welcoming environment - students tend to be a bit geeky.
Popular majors / known for: Psychology, English, Biology, Linguistics, Economics
Academic approach: Liberal arts. It is known for being particularly intellectual, with "high standards of scholarly practice, creative thinking, and engaged citizenship."
Emphasizes learning as “a common adventure of students and teachers”
Most classes are small and conference-style and discussion-heavy
Although Reed grades students on a standard 4 point scale, students aren’t given their grades unless by request. Instead, students have qualitative discussions with their professors about their performance in the course.
Senior thesis and oral defense required for graduation
Campus traditions:
CANYON DAY - Reed’s oldest tradition is devoted to the 28-acre watershed that runs through campus. On Canyon Day, the community gathers to pull weeds, plant native flora, and otherwise work to protect and restore this critical part of Portland's Crystal Springs Creek.
Renn Fayre is an annual 3-day celebration in the spring semester. Though once a traditional Renaissance fair, now the event is marked by a weekend of festivities and live music. To kick off the event, the seniors march to the registrar’s office to celebrate turning in their theses.
Check out campus photos here!
Quirky Aspects
Reed's home city, Portland, is notoriously quirky itself
The Doyle Owl: it’s an unofficial tradition for dorms to steal a concrete statue of an owl during ‘dorm wars.’ After the theft, dorms show off the owl in elaborate ways - it’s been frozen in ice, hung off a bridge, and set on fire.
Every January, Reed holds the week-long Paideia, in which students teach hands-on workshops to the Reed community. Past workshops have included the art of lucid dreaming, “Welcome to Twin Peaks,” pseudoarchaeology, tap dancing, and an attempt to make a really, really big stick of chalk.
Check out some unusual themed housing options here
Student orgs include: a flute troupe (named Absoflutely), an Aerial Acrobatics Troupe, the Avian Appreciation Club (a bird and naturalist org), Blue Heron Collective (radical direct action politics), mushroom hunting, Cheese Club, Defenders of the Universe, and the Sunny Day Sorbet/Ice Cream Society
Application Details
RD deadline: January 15th
Early Action deadline: November 15th
Supplemental essays: Yes
Application fee: $0
On Common App: Yes
CSS profile: Required, due January 15th
Interviews: Considered
School also featured in: Similar to Highly Selective - Brown, International Students, Urban LACs, LGBTQIA+ Affirming, West Coast schools