Okay, let me address some of the points made here about Reed…
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The graduation rate for international students is usually over 90% (i.e, students who finish within 4 years), and has often reached 100%. So, no, it is not a big risk, and if you have international experiences, you can find support from international students very easily whenever you feel down.
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Drugs exist but most people do not do it (at least not with any semblance of regularity), ‘anarchism, socialism, radicalism’ kind of mentality exists among only certain groups of students, not all; a lot of us are normally liberal. A lot of Reedies are apathetic to social causes and are mostly interested in ideas…
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It is incredibly useful to live in a city so close to the airport if you plan to travel internationally. It is also fun to live like a non-LAC student and commute to school if you want (25% of the school does it), but you can also have the LAC student experience.
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It does not rain that much. I came here for the rain and I must tell you that I am disappointed. The spring semester is particularly filled with sunny skies and pleasant weather.
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Reed is a normal school, god. I have been comparing syllabi with friends at other schools, how they do things, etc, and I honestly don’t know why people think we are some kind of mecca of intellectualism or something… It’s literally the same material. It’s only hard if you try to do everything almost perfectly… because that is, unfortunately, the only way you will get an A. I sincerely feel that people spend more time complaining or smoking than actually doing work.
There are, no doubt, things we do a little bit more intensely than other schools. In intro languages, it isn’t shocking if the professor made you read a page or two of Camus or of Kafka… just for fun and giggles … or if they made you write a journal in the language from the second semester. Or if they just start throwing Flaubert and Maupassant at you in the second-year class. Or if they hold Russian classes everyday, even for second year (at Pomona, they struggle to justify 3-4 day language classes). We try to get to the same place other schools are going to a bit faster.
I honestly don’t know what happens in other schools, but I don’t see how it could possibly be very so much more intense. I think it’s only hard if
a) you study things you just aren’t interested in
b) you do drugs regularly, then you will probably fail
c) you are a grade grubber and try to get As in all of your classes, because then you have no friends… lol
d) you had poor acad. preparation from high school
e) you are a physics major (half-joking here)