Reed College

What is the history of Reed College?

Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, founded through the estate of Amanda Reed, who died in 1904. Her bequest established a college named for her husband, Simeon Reed. Reed opened to students in 1911 as a nonsectarian institution.

Its identity developed around a broad liberal arts curriculum, small discussion-based classes, and substantial independent work. The required first-year humanities course and senior thesis remain central features. For prospective students, that history matters less as a tradition to admire than as a description of the work they would be expected to do: sustained reading, discussion, research, and writing across disciplines.

What are the faculties and departments at Reed College?

Reed organizes its undergraduate academics into divisions and departments rather than a collection of separate professional schools. Its divisions cover the arts, humanities, literature and languages, mathematics and natural sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary studies.

Students can pursue majors such as biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, English, history, mathematics, philosophy, physics, psychology, and studio art. Interdisciplinary options extend into fields including neuroscience and mathematics-computer science. Reed primarily awards the Bachelor of Arts; its academic focus is not a broad menu of vocational or professional degrees.

The curriculum combines a first-year humanities course, distribution requirements, work in a major, a junior qualifying examination, and a senior thesis. In some sciences, the thesis may involve laboratory research; in other fields, it may take the form of archival, creative, or theoretical work. The reported student-to-faculty ratio is 8 to 1, though that institution-wide measure does not mean every class has eight students.

What is the location of Reed College?

Reed College is in southeast Portland, Oregon, in a residential setting rather than downtown. Its campus includes academic buildings, residence halls, and Reed Canyon, a natural area that also serves as a setting for ecological work and community events.

Portland gives students access to employers, arts organizations, public transportation, and off-campus services, but travel time depends on the destination and transit schedule. Students considering off-campus work or housing should check the commute for a specific address. Portland International Airport is the principal airport serving the city.

What is the mission and vision of Reed College?

Reed describes its educational purpose in terms of intellectual inquiry, academic rigor, and learning across the liberal arts and sciences. Its curriculum puts that philosophy into practice through discussion courses, close work with faculty, and independent research culminating in a thesis.

The college is nonsectarian. Its stated priorities describe what Reed intends to provide, not a guarantee of a particular student experience. Applicants deciding whether the approach fits them should consider how comfortable they are with extensive reading, writing, and self-directed work.