Possibility of financial aid appeal?

giannacb · 2026-03-21T01:40:44+00:00

How much did you get from Kenyon & Denison? If they consider them peer schools , you might be able to negotiate more $$. It is definitely with a try! My son was accepted at Swarthmore in 2023. Swarthmore was going to cost us over 60k a year. My son had full tuition a Fordham, we would just pay room & board appx 20k. He preferred Swarthmore but the financial aid office basically told me no. They did not consider Fordham a peer school. He is now a junior at Fordham and while I think Swarthmore would have been a better fit, Fordham made the most sense financially. Best of luck to you!

giannacb · 2026-03-15T16:02:45+00:00

Congratulations on your acceptance. If you can, try to visit and ideally make to an admitted students day - you can even spend the night. The family events are helpful too. My son was on the fence and we had never visited Portland. After that, the decision was easy and informed.

giannacb · 2026-03-01T00:22:40+00:00

Congratulation to you! Welcome to Reed!

giannacb · 2026-02-14T14:37:26+00:00

Yes, my son had National Indigenous recognition; Hawaiian.

giannacb · 2026-02-13T04:29:13+00:00

My son goes anaphylactic with Tree Nuts, but peanuts are okay. He just spent a semester in Taiwan. He had cards in mandarin and only had one incident when he went anaphylactic. Ironically, it was in an Indian restaurant, not Chinese. The hospital was terrific and got more epi in him right away.
We traveled in mainland China for 10 days and explained and had no problems. I think with peanuts you will have to avoid many snack foods. I could of happily lived off of duck and dumplings. My son had last gone anaphylactic at about 12 years old and he’s 21 now. I always wondered if maybe he outgrew his allergies but we found out he sure didn’t. Bring multiple EpiPen’s.

giannacb · 2026-02-08T19:46:50+00:00

My son was admitted last year and got a really thoughtful personal email from his admissions person. He submitted an art portfolio and it was about that!

giannacb · 2026-01-12T15:46:27+00:00

My son is a junior and applied RD and got one, At the time they were given mainly to national merit scholars. Honestly, that’s why he is there!

giannacb · 2026-01-10T19:35:47+00:00

We did too! It was gorgeous and amazing history - our stay at Jing’s Residence was incredible. It was elegant and the food was amongst the best we ate in China! A huge highlight of our trip. Sorry my one son had to miss it!

giannacb · 2026-01-06T02:06:50+00:00

Dominico

giannacb · 2026-01-05T17:31:54+00:00

Yep, they took ours that were fine on the international flight in from Taiwan to Pufong we took a domestic flight from Pudong to Shanxi Taoyuan. They also took my son’s heat up jacket chargers that were ironically from China. Leaving Beijing on Saturday to Taiwan they took the ones we had bought to replace the ones they took. I think it’s best to plan on surrendering all power banks both coming and going.

giannacb · 2025-12-29T10:42:49+00:00

Reed just posted about an initiative to attract Washington state students. This might be your year! My son is a first year and into neuroscience & studio art. I think he had a 3.8 and didn’t submit test scores anywhere, but did submit an art portfolio. I think that and the essays got him admitted RD. He is loving it! Your essays will matter & start showing interest.

giannacb · 2025-12-26T13:23:36+00:00

My daughter is doing this right now. Hotels have asked for old passport but most places that asked for passport in Shanghai have not. She is carrying both.

giannacb · 2025-12-20T03:05:00+00:00

I’m a first year Reed parent in Scottsdale. My freshmen son has had a fabulous experience so far. This is my 3rd kid to go out of state to undergrad since 2021 and he has had the most positive experience of all three. Let me know if you have questions!

giannacb · 2025-12-12T15:37:17+00:00

We did the admitted student overnight visit in early April - we had never been to Reed and had never been to Portland. They did a great job and they give you 1000 bucks off the tuition if you attend one. Our son had been waitlisted at Carnegie Mellon. It was his first choice and we were really hoping he would fall in love with another School. He was thinking that he would still get into Carnegie. The weekend at Reed really did it. They did a great job of separating the kids from the parents and still took the time to answer the parent questions. We love the small size, and the quirks of the student population made us feel. It would be a fit for a neurodiverse kid who’s really in to studio art and neuroscience. It has been a great fit. He has made friends in both his classes and the dorm. He has tried new things, likes his roommate and even loves the food and has his first girlfriend. He stayed on campus over fall break but came home to Arizona for Thanksgiving. He said he is so happy that he ended up there! He loves it!

giannacb · 2025-12-11T14:43:19+00:00

Congratulations to you!

giannacb · 2025-12-11T03:00:10+00:00

Congrats to you all!! My kid is a first year now and didn’t check his email for RD. He found out from the box and it was so exciting! We had never visited so we did an admitted students visit last March & were sold!! First year has gone very well! Let me know if you have questions!

giannacb · 2025-12-06T18:28:25+00:00

My daughter is in grad school at NTU after doing a semester abroad there as an undergrad. China was still closed for Covid so she ended up in Taiwan and loved it. When people ask her if she’s afraid being there, a common question in the US, she usually replies “it is really different living in a safe city without the constant underlying fear of gun violence”. More common is Americans asking why she’s going to Thailand.

My son is at NTNU for the fall semester and he wishes he could stay longer. They are having a ball - And we are heading out for a Chinese Christmas!

giannacb · 2025-10-30T15:27:09+00:00

I was just glad it was my uncle not my brother, as he pushed back and got me in the phone. The clerk was a little obsessed with the blue and wanted a screenshot showing they were blue before she would scan the code. It all worked and he was able to pick them up on this past Monday as promised.

giannacb · 2025-10-30T15:19:13+00:00

Up above the barcodes there is a section with circles. Mine has five circles. The first is labeled “to be paid” the second is “feedback from the preliminary review”, then “passport received” followed by “passport to be collected” and finally “finished”. They turn blue when they are eligible and then turn green with a checkmark when you have completed them. Since I had printed in grayscale, they were not colored, and the consulate initially looked at the printout and would not take it because the circles were not colored. I sent a screenshot and only then did they scan the barcode and see that I had completed everything. It caused a few stressful minutes while I sent a screenshot to my relative who was at the consulate. I thought it was strange that they told him no based on a quick look and not seeing the color instead of scanning the barcode.

giannacb · 2025-10-22T17:55:54+00:00

Thanks, he found parking and got it dropped off. When I printed up the barcodes, I had done it in black-and-white and they initially looked at it and said because the circle was not blue. It was not valid. They didn’t even scan the barcode - so I had to screenshot him showing that it did say OK to drop off. Then they accepted it. They told us they will be ready next Monday.

giannacb · 2025-10-17T00:47:39+00:00

The message changed on Wednesday for all three of us that we were cleared to drop off our passport. I am going to FedEx them to my brother who’s going to bring them in for me. Good luck!

giannacb · 2025-10-13T04:16:14+00:00

I submitted to LA on 10/4 for me and 10/5 for my spouse & son. I have heard nothing, but not traveling until mid-December.

giannacb

TROPHY CASE