Admissions

Reed is a place to come if you love learning, if you want to be pushed out of your comfort zone, if you want teachers to be watching you and challenging you with every assignment, if you want to be around unique individuals who also love to learn, and if you are willing to work hard to have all this.

Visit! Reed has a great prospective student program that includes visiting multiple classes, staying the night in the dorms, eating lunch students, and opportunities to use the gym and other facilities. Find someone cool and tag along for a day or two beyond your visit- most staff don't mind and it will give you a chance to enjoy the weekend.

Students who come to Reed work hard, but love it. They love learning for the sake of learning. Reed is wild and quirky at times, but in the middle of a semester, everyone is working, even on the weekends. We do it by choice, because we love it. Don't come to Reed if you're a grade chaser; come to Reed if you love to learn.

Be willing to work a lot. Be willing to try new things. Almost everyone on campus is interesting, so talk to them. You'll learn something cool, which should be enough of a motivator for you. If it isn't, you probably won't fit in well - Reed is a school for people who love to learn.

Visit. Interview. These face-to-face encounters are important not only because Reed considers genuine interest very important for admissions, but also because Reed is not for everyone. The environment is unsual. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.

Put a lot of work into your Why Reed essay, for that will be a big factor. They want to know that you are genuinely interested in their school.

There's a lot to do here socially and it's easy to get distracted from academics, so you really have to stay focused and motivated to do well.