surface tension video

Reed College Admissions Dept.

Since it’s come up several times recently, I decided to write an email to the admissions department at Reed, my alma mater. Here’s what they had to say (original email, from me, first):

Kate Chapman wrote:
Hi,

My name is Kate Chapman and I graduated from Reed in the winter of 2002. I am currently running an Educational Mentoring business in Seattle with my partner, Joh Howard, and I wondered if I could get some information from you regarding Reed’s current admissions standards. In general, my company works with really bright students, mostly at the local private schools, who show incredible potential that isn’t being tapped for one reason or another. I’m sure that Reed’s standards have changed considerably since I first applied, but I have been surprised recently by the number of students (and parents) who dismiss my suggestion to look at Reed outright, because they “don’t have the grades”. I have always advocated Reed’s admissions policies in part because I feel that Reed has historically been more willing than many other schools to look beyond standard metrics such as GPA and SAT scores. I certainly don’t want to misrepresent the situation to my clients, but on the other hand, I wouldn’t want my students (or Reed) to miss out on a great match because of these kinds of assumptions. Can you share with me something of your admissions policies and/or ideas about what kinds of students you are looking for these days? Otherwise, I would be happy to come in and talk with someone next time I am able to make the trip to Portland.

thanks in advance for your time,
Kate

Admission Office wrote:
Kate,

I’d say that you’re pretty spot on in terms of Reed still looking for more than just perfect grades and scores. We definitely look for strong academic performance, but we also look for potential, and those two things can be demonstrated in any number of ways. I’ve attached a copy of the Fall 2008 profile. That will give you an idea of the types of numbers our matriculants have. Do stop in to see me the next time you’re in town. Alternately, you can give me a call at your leisure [though, in the next few weeks, Tuesdays and Fridays work best].

Alea Adigweme ‘06
Assistant Dean of Admission
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202
www.reed.edu
503-517-7459
1-800-547-4750

I’ll be visiting them in the next month or so, if anyone has any specific questions they’d like me to ask.

-Kate

The Venue

This Friday, at 7pm in The Bush School’s Benaroya Hall will be the latest installment of “The Venue”.

from the Bush School newsletter:

“The Venue” is a popular community-wide event that allows students to express their musical talents outside the classroom. This student-run event features a great mix of live performances.

new “community” section

We are starting a second Joh&Kate blog to share with parents and students and other teachers. Some of the educational research stuff that you may or may not be interested in will be posted there, but we encourage you to check it out (and/or, we may continue cross-posting, depending on how difficult it is). You’ll need a username and password to see that one, so if you want access, send Kate a message and she’ll make you an account.

enjoy!

-Kate

p.s. blog is here: clients.johandkate.com

student tech guidelines:

If you have a google account, we strongly recommend using googledocs for any projects you may want to work on during a session. Though google has its troubles, using this service cuts down on cross-platform issues (switching from Mac to PC, or from one version of Word to another). Also, if you make a habit of storing copies of things on googledocs, it can save you having to repeat all kinds of work if you have a problem with your computer at home, or if you forget to bring something to school. If you plan to work on a paper during a session, it’s extremely helpful if you can share it with us ahead of time. To do this, either email it to us, or upload it to googledocs and hit “share”. (If you don’t have a google account, but would like one, we are more than happy to help you sign up.)

As soon as you signed up with Joh&Kate, you were given access to this students-only section of johandkate.com. This section will include a personal web page where we can store information for you (usually research and other notes generated during our session), and which you can access from any computer. (You will only be able to edit the page while in session with one of our teachers.) In addition, we use these protected pages to share resource links, and to allow students to contact each other. If you forget your login information, email Kate and she’ll resend your information as soon as possible.

We are more than happy to talk to you about any of this in person—these are simply basic guidelines to get you started on your own.

internet requests

Hi all.

Just a general announcement/question about internet habits. We’re putting together the official Joh&Kate website (isn’t it just right that the student section was ready first?) and want to know if any students have input (or even actually read this). Drop Kate a message or put a comment here if you have any thoughts/want to offer Joh and Kate testimonials once we actually launch the site.

thanks!
Kate

Welcome!