How We Can Help...

Colleges are looking for students who demonstrate intellectual curiosity, leadership, maturity, and insight. Every student has an amazing story to tell, but they often lack the perspective to express themselves clearly. Our Senior Essentials (20 Hrs) or Essay Plus (14 Hrs) packages might be right for your student if you are on a budget, or have a rising senior with a clearly defined major and a list of possible colleges. Our encouragement and years of experience inspire them to feel more confident in developing compelling essays and in sharing their unique voices and experiences.

Senior Essentials (20 hours):

This package is focused on the most important parts of the college application. We review, discuss, and edit the student’s college list. We brainstorm, discuss, and edit the UC Personal Insight Questions (PIQ’s) and the Common Application essay, and create a supplemental essay organizer with all the essay prompts and due dates. If we have hours left, we draft and edit the supplemental essays.

For seniors on a budget or who join us in the spring of junior year. 20 hours generally allows us to refine an initial college list and guide students through the UC and Common App college essay brainstorming, drafting, and editing process during the summer and fall, so they can have exceptional essays finished early in their senior year. If time allows, we can also draft Supplemental essays and/or review applications before submission.

Essay Plus Package (14 hours):

This package is the most cost-effective way to tackle the UC Personal Insight Questions (PIQ’s) or Common Application essay and get some college list advice as well.

We start with a transcript and a review of the college list to identify goals and objectives. Next, we tweak the list to ensure it's balanced. Then, we have a brainstorming session to review the eight UC PIQs (if applicable) or the six Common Application Essay prompts. We discuss possible responses for each essay and then choose the strongest options. Then, we discuss the structure and organization. Later, the student drafts an essay, and at the next meeting, we spend the hour-long session editing and revising it. We repeat this process a few more times. Then, we run the essay through Grammarly for final suggestions and edits. If the student is applying to both the UC’s and other colleges, we weave together two of the student’s UC essays into a Common Application Personal Statement. Occasionally, we reverse the process if a student comes to us with a strong draft of a Common Application essay.

One-on-one Zoom or In-person sessions allow students to share their ideas and get personal feedback and guidance in a supportive manner. Creating standout essays often takes multiple revision sessions. Together, we discuss ways to clarify and strengthen them.