Saturday, July 15, 2006
How did I hear of Reed?
Reed is a tiny little liberal arts school with about 1350 students, and so naturally it would make sense that not a whole lot of people have heard of it. I've been asked the question many times: how did I hear of Reed?
Well, ever since I was little, I thought I was going to go to Berkeley. My mother went there for grad school, and since my dad went to Stanford, there was always a joking Stanford vs. Berkeley rivalry in the house. When I was a kid, those were the first schools I was exposed to by name (before Harvard or Yale, even), and I liked the sound of Berkeley better. I had a sweatshirt (in my favorite color at the time--lavender) with Cal's seal. By the time I got to early/mid high school I was well aware that I wasn't enough of a superstar academic to get into Stanford, but Berkeley was still an option, perhaps. Plus, in early high school, I thought I wanted to study biology (and guess what? I've changed my mind three or four times, and now I've come a full circle), and Berkeley seemed like a good place for that (although I suppose in reality I could study biology at a lot of different places). Plus, I always knew I wanted to go back to the West Coast because I had this notion that culturally the people were different, and it was something I would mesh with.
In high school I changed my self-conception and idea of who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life more times worth recording (this still changes constantly, but I've learned to accept it; life's exciting that way). By mid sophomore, early junior year, Berkeley looked less appealing for a number of reasons. First of all, it was huge. I used to think I wanted to go to a large school with lots of opportunities, but I began to think it might be nice to go somewhere very small--smaller than New Trier, even--where I could get more individualized attention and interaction with my professors. Also, at the time, I didn't feel like I could get into Berkeley either.
I began looking at schools, primary small liberal arts schools and West Coast schools. My dad mentioned Reed, because one of his friends from high school went there. I read the description of the school, and suddenly I found a school that sounded perfect. A visit to the campus confirmed this conviction.
The fact that it was in the part of the country I wanted to be in was really just an added bonus; what really drew me in was its social and intellectual atmosphere (which was a little different from anywhere else I visited). I could go on and on about this for ages; I actually wrote a rather long essay about it for my application. After I visited Reed, I became much less geographically focused, and much more atmosphere focused, trying to find other schools more like Reed academically. Throughout the rest of the college process I knew exactly where I wanted to be, and the thought that I might have to go anywhere else was very distressing.
I can be very decisive when I have a hunch that something feels like the right choice.
Well, ever since I was little, I thought I was going to go to Berkeley. My mother went there for grad school, and since my dad went to Stanford, there was always a joking Stanford vs. Berkeley rivalry in the house. When I was a kid, those were the first schools I was exposed to by name (before Harvard or Yale, even), and I liked the sound of Berkeley better. I had a sweatshirt (in my favorite color at the time--lavender) with Cal's seal. By the time I got to early/mid high school I was well aware that I wasn't enough of a superstar academic to get into Stanford, but Berkeley was still an option, perhaps. Plus, in early high school, I thought I wanted to study biology (and guess what? I've changed my mind three or four times, and now I've come a full circle), and Berkeley seemed like a good place for that (although I suppose in reality I could study biology at a lot of different places). Plus, I always knew I wanted to go back to the West Coast because I had this notion that culturally the people were different, and it was something I would mesh with.
In high school I changed my self-conception and idea of who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life more times worth recording (this still changes constantly, but I've learned to accept it; life's exciting that way). By mid sophomore, early junior year, Berkeley looked less appealing for a number of reasons. First of all, it was huge. I used to think I wanted to go to a large school with lots of opportunities, but I began to think it might be nice to go somewhere very small--smaller than New Trier, even--where I could get more individualized attention and interaction with my professors. Also, at the time, I didn't feel like I could get into Berkeley either.
I began looking at schools, primary small liberal arts schools and West Coast schools. My dad mentioned Reed, because one of his friends from high school went there. I read the description of the school, and suddenly I found a school that sounded perfect. A visit to the campus confirmed this conviction.
The fact that it was in the part of the country I wanted to be in was really just an added bonus; what really drew me in was its social and intellectual atmosphere (which was a little different from anywhere else I visited). I could go on and on about this for ages; I actually wrote a rather long essay about it for my application. After I visited Reed, I became much less geographically focused, and much more atmosphere focused, trying to find other schools more like Reed academically. Throughout the rest of the college process I knew exactly where I wanted to be, and the thought that I might have to go anywhere else was very distressing.
I can be very decisive when I have a hunch that something feels like the right choice.
