<p>During orientation week, my son attended a presentation on planning for study abroad, and also discussed the possibility with his advisor. Basically, what he learned is that Reed’s requirements - especially the qual exams in junior year - make it more tricky to study abroad at Reed during the academic year than at other colleges. You really have to go in with an academic plan from day 1, and stick to it, in order to fit in all of the Reed requirements and still graduate on time. My son also has a particular area of interest that he’d like to pursue if he studied abroad, which wouldn’t be met by any of the existing Reed study abroad options - his advisor made it clear that doing a non-Reed program would be more difficult and that there was a likelihood that he’d not get full credit for a non-Reed program (This is actually a common issue at MOST colleges, not just Reed) My son’s decided that he’s probably going to opt for a summer study abroad or summer research program option instead, as he feels he’d rather have more flexibility in his schedule and take advantage of all that Reed has to offer as much as possible. </p>
<p>Reed has put together some suggested “study plan” sheets to help students plan their four year curriculum if they want to fit in study abroad - I’d recommend checking them out. Here’s the link, the study plans are about halfway down the page: [REED</a> COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ipo/cip.html]REED”>http://www.reed.edu/ipo/cip.html)</p>
<p>By the way, Emerald, I chuckled about your “no time for personal reading” comment. That’s one of my son’s biggest complaints about Reed so far. :)</p>