Will I fit in at Reed?

SonicFan63
Sat, 01 Nov 2014 22:24:19 +0000

I did stay overnight, and judging from that, I felt as though I didn’t fit in well. The dorm host was extremely outgoing, but some of the things he said and his mannerisms made me feel as though I was somehow intellectually inferior, and was someone he didn’t want to make the effort to talk with or include. That’s not to say my experience was all bad - I had an amazing time talking with some other prospies as well as Reedies (they were freshmen I believe) - but my student host made me feel so painfully awkward and inferior that I began to question whether Reed was right for me.

Initially I felt as though it was exactly what I was looking for, but more recently began coming across mixed reviews, some saying it’s amazing and easy to fit in, others saying that it’s hard to fit in, and if you don’t, you will be excluded and your experience will be terrible. My fear is that, although on paper I will fit in perfectly, in actuality I will be an outcast, and have an unpleasant experience like my overnight stay.

I forgot to include it in my initial post, but something I noticed that worried me was that nobody, and I mean nobody, that I saw/met at Reed seemed socially awkward in the slightest. Based on my experience there, Reedies seemed extremely self-confident and social, and in turn it felt as though they couldn’t relate to me. Is this a generally fair description? Are Reedies generally socially awkward, or is that just something people write online? I’ve already said this, but the schools that I’m applying to are all amazing academically, so the social factor plays a huge role in my decision, as I don’t want to find myself where I don’t belong.