Reed College

Reed College Academics

Legends abound as to the amount and the difficulty of the work at Reed. Some have used the metaphor of boot camp. Those less militaristic and more existential have offered the myth of Sisyphus. Don’t be afraid, though, of the hyperbole. There’s no doubt that the academics are hard, that expectations are high, and that people take thinking seriously. At the same time, you’re aren’t thrown in the deep end and expected to know everything on the first day of class. Above all, you need to be interested in and engaged by learning. With that in mind, you’ll find the challenges and satisfaction of studying at Reed to be as amazing as anything you might imagine.

Reed values the classical model of a liberal arts education, based on a requirement structure meant to ensure both breadth and depth in each student’s program of study. Tradition also reigns within the college’s department structure, with very few “interdisciplinary” or topical majors offered. The professors at Reed feel seriously that students need a grounding in their chosen major, with a comprehensive introduction to the various methods and theories of that discipline, past and present. This preparation gives you a solid foundation for the challenges you’ll face and the independence you’ll be given in upperdivision coursework. Such focused introductions don’t breed singularity of thought, however. Instead, they provide the basis for seriously considering similarities and differences in the various ways scholars both ask and answer questions. With this preparation, it’s no wonder that Reed graduates have such a fantastic track record for success in graduate school.

Classes, Professors, and Evaluations

One of the greatest parts of learning at Reed comes in the small, conference-based classroom environment that predominates on campus. Conferences at Reed average fifteen students, and all are taught by members of the faculty. You’re expected to be as active, involved and engaged as anyone around the table, including the professor. For starters, you can abandon the high school foolishness of hand raising. All students, shy and extroverted alike, develop their skills as conference participants during their time at Reed. Each meeting offers its own vibrancy and originality, and above all, you are learning how to think in harmony with others, how to ask questions and articulate your ideas. Faculty at Reed are called by their first names, and this openness exemplifies the interest and support they offer students. You have a faculty member as an academic advisor from the day you step on campus, and you can easily change advisors if your interests shift or you develop a connection with another professor. Every professor hosts many office hours each week, and e-mails receive quick yet thoughtful replies, sometimes even at two in the morning.

Because letter or number grades are not noted on your assignments, faculty evaluate your work with extensive and detailed comments. The criticism is as plentiful as it is constructive. You’re called to task on the strength and logic of your arguments, on the evidence you used or might have used. And you’re also given encouragement to further your strengths and develop your own original questions, in the classroom, library, and laboratory.

When I started at Reed, I figured I would check my grades at the end of first semester, just to get a sense of how I was doing. When the time came, though, I had no interest in asking. My whole sense of not only how I learned, but why I was in school, what it meant to be successful, had begun to change. After four years, I can’t imagine what it would be like to know your grades while in school, to be in an environment where people talked about or even worse were competitive about them.

Humanities 110

The summer before you arrive at Reed, the alumni association sends you a copy of Richmond Lattimore’s verse translation of Homer’s Iliad. With this text, new Reedies begin the shared and enduring experience of the required year-long introductory humanities course that focuses on ancient Greece in the first semester, and Imperial Rome and the rise of Christendom in the second. Course material consists mostly of primary sources in all classical fields, including art, with a minimum of secondary sources. Hum 110, as the course is known, has two distinct components. First, three times a week, the entire first-year class comes together for a lecture from one of the twenty or so faculty members drawn from a variety of departments who are teaching the course. You hear well-researched and thoughtprovoking talks that cover a given text or combination of works, offering useful contextual information as well as arguments on how you might develop your own interpretations. Second, each student is a member of a small, thirteen- or fourteen-student conference, led by one of the professors in the course. Conferences can vary in character depending on the home discipline of the professor, who might be a philosopher, political scientist, or art historian, yet all share the same syllabus and paper deadlines. In Hum 110, you learn as much about the classical humanities as you do about writing well, receiving academic feedback on your work, and participating in the conference environment.

Group Requirements

Part of attending Reed means having a broad interest in ideas and learning, and the curricular group requirements provide structure for ensuring breadth in each student’s education. A total of ten of the thirty units required for graduation are given to these requirements; most semester-long courses are valued at one unit. Two units must be taken from one department within each of four groups: literature, arts, philosophy, and religion; history, the social sciences, and psychology; laboratory courses in physics, chemistry, or biology; and, mathematics or a foreign language. In addition, students must also complete two more units in any single department outside the students major department. Though there is no specific order or timeline for taking these requirements, most students concentrate on them during their first two years at Reed, the advantage being that you gain exposure to a variety of different fields before choosing a major at the end of sophomore year.

Studying Off Campus

Close to thirty established foreign and domestic exchange programs allow Reedies the opportunity to study away from campus for either a semester or a full year. All of the programs are arranged in coordination with the faculty to support an aspect of the college’s academic program. For instance, if you’re studying Islam in the religion department, you might choose to take a semester intensively studying Arabic at the Al Akhawayn University in Morroco. Some programs offer more general opportunities for your exchange program, such as a year at Wadham College, Oxford, or at Ireland’s Trinity College. Because each program has a direct tie with Reed, students are assured that they will have a meaningful experience, and years of established relationships give Reedies access to the fullest privileges at partner institutions. In addition, the International Programs Office will work with students to craft any number of additional opportunities that suit a student’s particular interests. Unlike the established programs, however, those that you devise on your own are not covered by the college’s financial aid packages. Because of the general curricular requirements that each student needs to complete, fitting a study abroad year into your time at Reed can take some planning, so it’s worthwhile beginning to develop your plan for an exchange early on in your time at Reed. Many Reedies also choose to take time off to travel rather than participating in an official program, and the college is very flexible in granting leaves of absence. While a very different sort of experience, an independent adventure can often provide for some refreshing time away from the routines of a traditional academic semester.

The Junior Qualifying Examination

Before students can begin their senior year, they must pass a junior qualifying examination proctored by their major department. The “qual,” as it’s known, can vary widely in format from department to department, yet all are designed to test students’ initial mastery of the skills and methods of their chosen field. The exams don’t generally target a specific body of information that you need to cram into your brain in order to get through the test. Mostly, they are concerned with seeing if you’ve begun to get a handle on the way scholars in your department do research and communicate their findings, and the various methods and traditions that inform their work. Some departments, such as history and English, require specific Junior Seminar courses that play a role in preparing students for the exam. In all cases, the faculty of each department meets to discuss students’ performance on their exams, as well as their work in the courses they’ve had up to this point. With solid focus and preparation, the vast majority of students pass their qual outright the first time they take the exam. Some receive what is called a conditional pass; in this case, you need to meet a specific stipulation, such as retaking a particular section of the exam or taking a class in a particular area. For students, the qual serves as a good time to think about your particular interests in your major, and look toward a topic you might like to explore in your senior thesis.

The Senior Thesis

Your thesis is a defining experience of your time at Reed. Along with two or three other classes in your senior year, you are given the opportunity to embark on a sustained and original piece of scholarship on a topic of your choice in your major. You have an advisor specifically for your thesis, and you’re given the independence to shape your inquiry in a manner you find most engaging. Depending on your field, you usually complete one of three types of theses: experimental, research-analytical, or creative. Generally, those in the sciences take the experimental route; they get lab space for the year where they can base their work. If you’re writing in literature, the humanities, or social sciences, you get a thesis desk in the library. Studio space in the art building or access to the theater or dance studio is given to those who do a creative thesis in the arts.

Wherever your thesis project lands you, the space inevitably becomes a home away from home, with decorations, stashes of food, reminders to call your family, and an accumulation of coffee cups that helps as a material reminder of your progress. There are also funds available if your project requires travel away from campus, such as visiting an archive, doing fieldwork, or using lab equipment that’s not available at Reed.

Thesis means getting your hands dirty as a scholar, and Reedies produce amazing work that expresses their passion for thinking, for developing their ideas, and sharing them with others. Many a latenight conversation revolves around how everything in the world can be explained through your topic; the brilliance of this is that you present your case as eagerly as you listen to your friends explain theirs. Thesis gives you frustration and revelation and challenge, and ultimately, an unmatched experience for seeing how much you are able to accomplish through the cumulative education you’ve received in your time at Reed.

All theses are due to the college registrar by three o’clock on the last day of the semester, an event that is marked by Thesis Parade, an extraordinary celebration in which the community fetes all the seniors who have completed their projects. In the spring semester, the annual weekend-long Renaissance (Renn) Fayre celebration follows this ritual event. Later, during exam week, all students present their work for oral examination by a panel or four or five faculty members, including their thesis advisor. Tradition dictates that students bring plentiful refreshments for their orals board, and respond to two hours of faculty questioning. Orals mark the final completion of your thesis, confirmed with a handshake and congratulations from your advisor.

Serious Science

Reed is the only undergraduate college with a nuclear reactor, one of the many resources that support the college’s extraordinary science program. The 250 kW TRIGA research reactor is the only one in the world that is primarily operated by students (science majors as well as students of English and religion, among other departments), all of whom are licensed by the nuclear regulatory commission. Reed’s reactor also has more licensed female operators than all other research reactors combined.

Paideia

The Greek word for learning, Paideia also names the ten days before the start of spring semester at Reed, a time when students organize and teach a diverse program of classes and seminars on pretty much anything. Some of the hundreds of recent course offerings include: Tree- Sitting 101, Underwater Basket Weaving, Notebook Binding, Inside the Animal Mind, Bad Faulkner, Ben and Jerry’s Appreciation, Introduction to Photoshop, Catapult Construction Competition, and Japanese Monster Movies.