College Stuff! (Not for Earthling, Thank God)

[thefourthvine]

The redoubtable Cousin Z, my oldest nephew, is -- oh god oh god -- going to college next fall. He applied to many schools and got into most of them, and now, through assiduous research, careful internal debate, and, very likely, a color-coded spreadsheet with many tabs, he's narrowed down his options to Reed and Whitman. And now he's trying to make that final choice.

Z had very good experiences visiting both schools, including talking with a Whitman admissions officer who described the school in Harry Potter house terms. He also went to an accepted-students reception for Reed where he went to hide in the kitchen because people, and then so many other guests (and also the host) had the same idea that it ended up being a reception-within-the-reception for people who hate receptions, all of them hiding in the kitchen and talking about how much they wished they weren't there.

Z is a very introverted person who is interested in applied math (his intended major), Doctor Who, social justice, Harry Potter, politics, Game of Thrones, and economics. His hobbies are reading fic, playing and writing music for his cello, and spending many hours at Starbucks with his study groups. (Also making color-coded spreadsheets.) He likes both Reed and Whitman because they're smaller schools where he felt comfortable on the campus, in large part because the students seemed like geeky introverts and giant weirdos, so pretty much his people.

It seems like either school could be a happy place for him. But this is Z, so he is in hardcore information-gathering mode. He could use more data. (Z could always use more data.) He needs to know the differences between the two! Find a way to make a choice! My question for you is: do you know anything about Reed or Whitman? Do you have any experiences to relate or any data Z can gather? It would help.

Thank you!

Comments

[dine]

Yeah, thakfully you've a few years yet before the earthling begins college hunting - hope you all enjoy the process when the time arrives

I've lived abt 12 blocks from Reed for over 20 years, but I must admit that my age has meant I dont hang out where Reedies tend to congregate. However, most everything I've heard is pretty positive - the campus is lovely and Portland offers everything a young geek might want.

a friend attended Whitman, and his memories were fond. as dafna said the colleges themselves have similarities, so one thing Z will want to consider is what he wants/needs from the surrounding community.

And not that it matters a whit, but my grandmother attended Reed in the 20s (math major) and afaik thoroughly enjoyed herself

[laurajv]

I would encourage very careful thought about what Z wants about the surrounding community, in fact. One of my sisters loved everything about her first college, a small, excellent school in the middle of nowhere....except that it was in the middle of nowhere. She transferred after 1 semester to my alma mater, a major research university in a medium-sized city, because she could not stand one more second of small-town life.

Another sibling started off at Johns Hopkins, and transferred after her first semester to a small, excellent school in the middle of nowhere because she loathed living in a major city.