Reynolds was uncertain about his prospects as a professional pianist, and entered the University of Michigan to study engineering physics, in line with his father's expectations. During what would be his first stint at the University of Michigan, he stayed connected to music and the arts because of the "virtual melting pot of disciplinary aspirations that then engaged him." Thomas Mann's "Doctor Faustus" and James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" both left marks upon his perception of music and the arts. "I ... consumed "Portrait" hungrily, stayed in my dormitory room for weeks, feverish over the allure of its issues, not attending classes and only narrowly escaping academic disaster...". According to "Marquis Who's Who", Reynolds received a B.S.E. in physics from the institution in 1957.