College Essay Guidance – The Playbook

DISCOVER YOUR STORY

1-ON-1 GUIDANCE FOR WRITING WOW-WORTHY COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAYS

What makes you unique?

That’s the all-important question admissions officers will be seeking to answer as they review your application. Will you be seen as someone who will fade into the background, or as someone whose unique experiences and perspectives will enrich the life of the campus? Will your essay linger in the minds of admissions officers, or will it be quickly forgotten, lost among thousands of other essays by students with similar grades, extracurricular activities, and test scores?

Our 1-on-1 college essay coaching guides you through a proven, step-by-step framework for crafting compelling college application essays, from the first draft all the way to the final polish.

STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO:

Appeal to Their Target Audience

The first, and arguably most important, step in crafting a compelling essay isn’t to brainstorm or write a first draft—it’s to understand the people who will be reading and evaluating your essays. What topics and themes do they favor, and what subjects should you avoid?

Choose the Right Message

Finding a suitable topic isn’t about picking a message; it’s about picking the right message for the universities and programs you’re targeting. Admissions officers look for students whose academic backgrounds and aspirations are a good match for their school. We’ll make sure you choose a subject that not only showcases your talents but also resonates with the specific colleges and fields of study on your list.

Demonstrate Character

Six A.P. classes. A super-score of 1470. Three years of Model United Nations, varsity soccer, and band. But what does your application say about your core qualities? Your personal statement is your opportunity to prove that you are so much more than just grades and scores. We’ll teach you how to use your essay to demonstrate that you have important traits like compassion and resilience.

STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM:

Expert 1-on-1 writing and editing guidance from a highly experienced admissions advisor.

Unlimited time (no restrictions on the number of hours we spend helping you hone your personal statement).

Help with all stages of writing, from the brainstorming process to the finishing touches of the final draft.

“Thank you so much. I had no idea what to do for my Common App or supplements and kept writing drafts that I wasn’t happy with. You helped me understand what admissions officers look for when they read students’ personal statements and how I had a unique story to tell. I’m positive my essays helped me get into Brown, and I feel much more confident in my writing ability now than I did before. Thank you!”

Allison Winograd
Brookline High School
Brookline, MA

1-ON-1 COLLEGE ESSAY GUIDANCE OPTIONS

Personal Statement Guidance

$1,800 per essay

Supplemental Essay Guidance

$800 per essay

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How much weight do application essays have? In other words, are personal statements actually important, or are they essentially secondary factors without much influence on admissions decisions?

Picture yourself an admissions officer at a prestigious university. It’s mid-February, and for the last six weeks you have been utterly entombed with work. Each day, with the help of a venti Caffe Americano, you review upwards of 200 students, all of whom—let’s be honest—blend into one another with stellar grades, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, and test scores. You would never admit this fact to anyone, but if you see yet another straight-A student with a 34 on the ACT, two years of varsity swimming, and a history of volunteering at Fading Horizons nursing home, you may just lose it. The work you do is important, and you take your responsibility as a shaper of the future of the college seriously, but come on! How many times do you have to read an essay in which a student simply recites his or her achievements in a blatant attempt to come across as intelligent and well-rounded?

Increasingly, admissions officers cite the essay as the number one way that students can distinguish themselves from other applicants. Here’s a quote from Martha C. Merrill, a Harvard graduate and former Dean of Admissions: “The truth is that while no essay will make an unqualified student acceptable, a good essay can help a qualified applicant stand out from the competition. A good essay just might be what turns a ‘maybe’ into a ‘yes.’”

Don’t high school English classes, especially A.P. English, teach students how to write their application essays?

High school English teachers impart many important skills, from methods for analyzing works of literature to techniques for writing a cohesive five-paragraph essay. However, crafting a distinctive personal statement is very different from writing a five-paragraph essay for school. Composing a memorable college application essay combines elements of persuasive, creative, and autobiographical writing since students are, in effect, telling a story about themselves to persuade the admissions committee to admit them to the university. We teach students how to discover the story that will most resonate with application readers, and then we lead them through a proven, step-by-step framework for writing a personal statement that will give them a true competitive edge.

Do you write students’ essays for them?

No, absolutely not. We don’t do students work for them. It’s vital that students compose their own essays and that their personal statements come across as authentic. We motivate students, inspire them, and help them discover what makes them unique, and then we guide them through every step of the writing process, offering specific feedback and suggestions.

Since your advisors are guiding multiple students, isn’t there a danger that their essays will wind up seeming the same?

We teach all students the same writing techniques—techniques like building tension, using vivid language, and connecting with readers on an emotional level. However, the personal statements that students produce are by no means interchangeable. Quite the opposite. They’re as unique and different from one another as the students themselves.

What are the qualifications of your writers and advisors?

All of our advisors have sterling academic credentials and a deep reservoir of experience mentoring students through the college admissions process. But more importantly, all are dedicated educators whose enthusiasm and commitment to students is evident from the very first session.

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