| Location: | Northwest |
| Setting: | Large City Setting |
| Type: | Private |
| Size: | Small (Under 2,000 Undergrad) |
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a highly selective four-year residential college with a campus located in Portland's residential Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness preserve at its center. Reed is distinctively known for its mandatory freshman Humanities program, as the only private undergraduate college with a nuclear reactor supporting its science programs, and for the unusually high percentage of graduates who go on to earn PhDs and other postgraduate degrees.
The Reed Institute (the legal name of the college) was founded in 1908, and Reed College held its first classes in 1911. Reed is named for Oregon pioneers Simeon Gannett Reed and Amanda Reed. Simeon was an entrepreneur in trade on the Columbia River; in his will he suggested that his wife could "devote some portion of my estate to benevolent objects, or to the cultivation, illustration, or development of the fine arts in the city of Portland, or to some other suitable purpose, which shall be of permanent value and contribute to the beauty of the city and to the intelligence, prosperity, and happiness of the inhabitants." The first president of Reed (1910–1919) was William Trufant Foster, a former professor at Bates College and Bowdoin College in Maine.
Contrary to popular belief, the college did not grow out of student revolts and experimentation, but out of a desire to provide a "more flexible, individualized approach to a rigorous liberal arts education." Founded explicitly in reaction to the "prevailing model of East Coast, Ivy League education," the college's lack of varsity athletics, fraternities, and exclusive social clubs — as well as its coeducational, nonsectarian, and egalitarian status — gave way to an intensely academic and intellectual college whose purpose was to devote itself to "the life of the mind."
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| Percent of Students International: | 4% |
| On-Campus Housing Available: | Yes |
| Percent of Students Living On-Campus: | 62% |
| Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: | No |
| Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) | Expenses | ||
Published Tuition and Fees: |
$ 32,590 | ||
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 32,360 | ||
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 230 | ||
| Financial Aid | Avg. Amount Received | % of Students Receiving Aid | |
Federal Grants: |
$ 4,006 | 16% | |
State and Local Grants: |
$ 2,539 | 2% | |
Institutional Grants: |
$ 21,548 | 49% | |
Student Loans: |
$ 2,663 | 49% | |
Any Aid: |
51% |
| Acceptance Rate: | 45% (Highly Selective) |
| Test Scores | |
| SAT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting SAT Scores: | 95% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Verbal: 660, Math: 620 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Verbal: 760, Math: 710 |
| ACT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting ACT Scores: | 28% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Composite: 29, Verbal: 28, Math: 25 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Composite: 32, Verbal: 33, Math: 30 |
| Application Fee: | $ 40.00 |
| Formal Demonstration of Competencies: | Not Required |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent: | Not Required |
| High School GPA: | Recommended |
| High School Rank: | Recommended |
| High School Record: | Required |
| Recommendations: | Required |
| TOEFL: | Required |
| Test Scores: | Required |
College Advice
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Question:
Reed College requirements?
Not really "requirements," but I lacked a better word.
Anyway. I know there aren't really set GPA's one has to get for most colleges, but I was wondering what is usual/recommended for Reed (Portland, Oregon.) And maybe SAT scores too. That sort of stuff would be helpful to know.
Thanks in advance.
17 months ago
Best Answer
Average GPA: 3.90
Average SAT: 1352
Average ACT: 30
The average SAT was taken from the old test, in which 1600 was the top score. So you could approximate what the average score will be this year by dividing 1352 by 2, and multiplying that by 3.
Estimate: average SAT 2028
Having said that, Reed admissions are not always "by the numbers." They really go out of their way to find students with both the ability and the drive to succeed there.
I recommend checking out the discussion board on http://www.collegeconfidential.com
Those boards will be pretty active soon, and that's the best site for students seeking admission to highly selective liberal arts colleges. You can chat with other aspiring Reed students, compare stats (if you're into that), and generally get a good feel for what the Reed admission process will be like.
I wish you every success -- Reed is an absolutely fantastic place.
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Question:
Advice for visiting a school?
I am a high school senoir in Kansas and am thinking about going to Reed College near Portland, Oregon. It looks really cool online and in the mail they sent me, but of course you never know until you visit.
Since Oregon is really far away I am on unfamiliear ground. Do you know when the best time to visit would be? Is there any general information I should know? Do you think the university would be willing to drive me from the airport to their college? If anyone has any information about travelling alone, travelling to Oregon, or visiting a faraway college, it would be much appreciated.
24 months ago
Best Answer
Reed is a fantastic college. It is also highly selective, so your SATs better be great if you hope to be admitted.
Generally, when visiting a college, one contacts the office of admissions. They'll help you make arrangements, and may also allow you to room with a current student during your visit. Although summertime is the traditional time for visits, it is smart to visit during the school year so you can really get a feel for the campus. If you want to visit during the school year, make sure you don't time your visit during a break or holiday. The admissions office will apprise you of the dates of breaks.
Admissions officers generally do not pick up prospective students from the airport, but they will tell you what a cab costs, or tell you about an airport shuttle that goes to campus.
Best wishes to you, and I hope you get in!
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Why would one choose Reed over any of the the other hundreds of liberal arts schools out there?
29 months ago
Best Answer
Great school! I think one of the best things about Reed is the attitude of the students and professors towards education. We're not here for the diploma, but rather the education that goes with it. From what I saw visting schools last year, that's fairly unusual. We don't see our grades unless we ask (we still get plenty of feedback, though), so there's no competition around grades. Also, since there's no graduate school, we're not completing with grad students for the attention of our professors. After every paper we turn in for hum 110 (the required freshmen class - see the Reed website for details), we have a 1-on-1 meeting with our prof to discuss the paper (I know this sounds intimidating, but it's not). Overall, we take our academics quite seriously, but we still find time to have fun. For example, we're planning to make liquid nitrogen ice cream on Thursday.
I few weeks ago I attended a workshop on underwater basket weaving. If you look up underwater basket weaving on Wikipedia, you'll see that it is done by submerging the basket materials in a bucket of water. At Reed, we jump in the swiming pool.
Sorry if that wasn't very coherent or comprehensive, but you should definelty keep Reed on your list.
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