“Reed College, founded in 1908 in Portland, Oregon, is one of the most intellectually rigorous and academically demanding liberal arts colleges in Amer”
Reed College, founded in 1908 in Portland, Oregon, is one of the most intellectually rigorous and academically demanding liberal arts colleges in America. With approximately 1,500 undergraduates and a 24% acceptance rate, Reed is defined by its Honor Principle — a trust-based system with no formal rules, no grades posted publicly, and an expectation that students will govern themselves with integrity. Every Reed student completes a mandatory senior thesis, a yearlong original research project that is the capstone of the Reed experience and the reason the college produces more Ph.D.s per capita than almost any other college in America.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceEarly Decision I
Binding
Early Decision II
Binding
Regular Decision
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$69,350
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
Reed offers 40+ majors across humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts, with particular strengths in physics, biology, chemistry, English, and philosophy. The mandatory Humanities 110 course, taken by all first-years, is a year-long intensive study of foundational texts from ancient civilizations. Every senior completes a thesis — a yearlong original research project defended before a faculty committee. The 9:1 student-faculty ratio and conference-style classes (modeled after Oxford tutorials) ensure intense intellectual engagement. Reed's nuclear research reactor, operated by students, is the only one in the country staffed by undergraduates.
4 years
Reed physics students have direct access to the Reed Research Reactor — the only undergraduate-operated nuclear reactor in the world — and the program consistently sends a high share of graduates to top PhD programs.
4 years
One of the top per-capita producers of philosophy PhDs in the U.S.; small, rigorous, discussion-based, and grounded in the Humanities 110 common first-year curriculum.
1 years
Every Reed graduate completes a year-long, book-length original senior thesis with an assigned faculty adviser and an oral defense — a tradition since the college's founding.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $69,350
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
