Reed College 2025-26 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Reed College 2025-26 Application Essay Question Explanations 

The Requirements:  1 essay of 200 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Oddball

For one week at the end of January, Reed students upend the traditional classroom hierarchy and teach classes about any topic they love, academic or otherwise. This week is known as Paideia after the Greek term signifying “education” – the complete education of mind, body and spirit. What would you teach that would contribute to the Reed community? (200 words minimum, 500 words maximum)

What are you good at? It’s time to show your stuff. Take a look at this year’s paideia courses to get a sense of how broad the offerings are. Reach beyond the traditional academic areas toward skills or interests you may have cultivated on your own time, like Bonsai cultivation, rock climbing, Maori mythology, or speedrunning Final Fantasy XIV. Then, think about why your special interest would matter to the larger Reed community. Would you teach a class on the politics of the modern heroine in YA fiction to underscore how much (or how little) portrayals of women have changed over the years? Would your course on marine life include a section on conservation and waste management? There is no right or wrong answer here, so write about the subject that interests you the most!