Whenever possible, students should begin several months before their first application deadline. Most students start working with us in the spring of junior year or during the summer before senior year.

Some begin earlier, particularly when they want broader support beyond essay development, such as planning extracurricular activities, developing independent projects, or strengthening the overall narrative of their application.

Starting early allows time for reflection, experimentation, multiple drafts, and meaningful revision. It also helps students avoid completing major essays while simultaneously managing senior-year coursework, extracurricular commitments, and application logistics.

Students who already have drafts or are working under a shorter deadline can still benefit from coaching. However, a compressed timeline limits the depth of the process and the amount of revision that is realistically possible.

There is no responsible way to determine that before understanding the student’s starting point and application plan.

Some students are already strong writers with a clear topic or working draft. Others need more time to identify the right story, develop their voice, and learn how to revise effectively. The number of sessions also depends on how many colleges the student is applying to and the volume of supplemental essays required. Some colleges require only one or two additional responses; others require as many as five.

The student’s ability to complete meaningful work between sessions also affects the timeline. For these reasons, we do not typically sell standardized packages. We recommend sessions based on the student’s actual needs rather than forcing every student into the same process.

Each session includes:

• One hour of live, one-on-one coaching

• One hour of offline review and written feedback by the tutor

The total cost for the combined two hours is $300.

The offline work is a critical part of the process. It allows the tutor to read the student’s draft carefully, evaluate it as a complete piece of writing, and prepare structured feedback before the next meeting.

This means live sessions can be used for substantive discussion, problem-solving, and revision rather than having the tutor encounter the student’s work for the first time during the meeting.

Standardized packages are convenient for the business, but they do not necessarily serve the student.

Students begin with different levels of writing ability, confidence, preparation, and application complexity. A fixed package may provide too little support for certain students. Similarly, it may require another family to purchase services their student does not need.

Our hourly model provides flexibility. Families pay for the support the student actually uses, while the tutor can adjust the process as the student progresses.

Early in the process, it is important the student and tutor meet together weekly to facilitate the writing process. As the students’ essays progress towards final drafts, the student and tutor often decide together that working asynchronously on a shared document makes more sense. The rate for offline editing is $150/hr.

The student must be prepared to work independently between meetings.

After each session, the tutor will provide clear direction and structured feedback. The student is responsible for developing ideas, completing drafts, and implementing revisions before the next meeting.

The tutor provides expertise, accountability, and detailed guidance. The student remains responsible for the thinking and writing. Students who consistently complete the assigned work generally make faster progress and use their sessions more effectively.

We will provide regular updates on the students’ progress to parents.

We strongly recommend that parents remain outside the coaching and writing process until the essays are close to completion.

Parents should not attend tutoring sessions and should generally avoid reviewing early drafts. The student needs to feel fully comfortable speaking openly with the tutor, exploring ideas, and writing without trying to anticipate a parent’s reaction.

A personal statement often requires students to reflect on their background, relationships, values, experiences, and aspirations. Too much parental involvement can cause the student to become cautious, self-conscious, or focused on writing what they believe adults want to hear.

Parents may review the essays once the drafts are nearly ready for submission. At that stage, their role should be to identify factual concerns or serious omissions - not to rewrite the student’s story or voice.

Strong personal statements must be personal. Admissions officers read tens of thousands of essays a year. They can identify inauthentic or ai-generated essays a mile away. Likewise, they can identify something that sounds and feels true.

Many students have never been asked to examine their experiences closely or explain what those experiences reveal about them. The tutor helps the student identify meaningful patterns, values, decisions, relationships, and moments of growth that may not be obvious at first.

This process produces stronger essays, but its value extends beyond admissions. Students often leave with a clearer understanding of who they are, what matters to them, and what they want from the next stage of their education.

No.

The student must remain the author of every essay. We help students generate ideas, evaluate topics, strengthen structure, clarify meaning, improve language, and revise more effectively. We do not ghostwrite essays or replace the student’s natural voice with an adult’s.

The finished work should be polished, but it should still sound unmistakably like the student who wrote it.

Yes.

We support students throughout the entire application process. Application requirements vary substantially by college, especially when it comes to supplemental essays, and the total workload can become significant when a student applies to a large number of schools.

We also help students consider how the various essays work together across any given application. Each response should add something new about the student, and the application should be viewed holistically (as an admissions officer would view it).

A major part of our role is making sure students consistently complete the work required to submit strong, complete applications.

The college application process involves far more than writing one personal statement. Students must manage multiple essays, supplemental prompts, recommendation letters, activity descriptions, deadlines, school-specific requirements, and final application reviews—often while balancing demanding coursework and extracurricular commitments.

We help students build a clear plan, establish deadlines, and stay accountable for completing each component. Depending on the scope of the engagement, this may include:

• Tracking personal statement and supplemental essay progress

• Assigning specific work between sessions

• Monitoring application and financial-aid deadlines

• Confirming that recommendation letters have been requested

• Helping students prepare information for recommenders

• Reviewing activity lists and short-answer responses

• Proofreading completed applications for clarity, consistency, and errors

• Conducting a final completeness review before submission

This structure reduces the burden on parents. Families do not need to repeatedly remind the student about essays, deadlines, or unfinished application tasks. We provide the external structure and accountability while keeping the student responsible for the actual work.

Parents will receive high-level progress updates, but the student’s coaching sessions and early essay drafts should remain private. This balance allows parents to know that the process is moving forward without interfering with the student’s writing or reflection.

Yes. We can help students build a balanced college list based on academic profile, interests, goals, preferences, and admissions competitiveness.

A strong list typically includes a thoughtful mix of:

• Likely or safer options

• Schools where the student is academically competitive

• Reach schools

• A limited number of highly ambitious or “dream” schools

Selectivity alone is not enough. We also consider factors such as academic programs, campus culture, geography, size, cost, career opportunities, and the type of environment in which the student is most likely to succeed.

Choosing a college is a major decision that can shape the next four years and influence a student’s professional network, opportunities, and personal development well beyond graduation. That is a substantial responsibility for a seventeen-year-old to manage without experienced guidance.

Our role is to help the student make informed decisions, avoid an unbalanced list, and apply to schools that are a good fit, both professionally and personally.