About Us
“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you. Figure out what it is that you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer." —Barbara Kingsolver
The Art of the College Essay
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five paragraphs
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650 words
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the looming pressure of your own words
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the ticket to your dream school
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a recipe for fighting with your parents
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tears.
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not knowing how to use your writing voice—or if you even have one
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where on earth should you even start...
Why Writing the College Essay Feels So Hard
The college process today feels, to both students and parents, like a strange and twisted rite of passage. With competition higher than it’s ever been, a dizzying range of “help” from consultants to admissions officers to school counselors, and a rapidly shifting landscape in higher education, the pressure is intense, and the path forward often unclear.
Our Approach
With this in mind, we’ve developed a writing-process-specific approach—one that draws from the methods used in writers’ workshops, the same ones that have helped us overcome writer's block, draft books, and publish short stories in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, the American Academy of Poets, and elsewhere. We’ve taught writing-intensive courses at Stanford University and Bowdoin College and have edited work across disciplines.
We’ve spent years understanding exactly what kind of writing makes a college essay stand out.
The best college essays have this in common: they are not AI-generated pieces packed with adjectives, adverbs, and em dashes. Instead, they draw on and find connections across your life and experiences that may feel unexpected. Your love of [chess, painting, astrophysics] is linked surprisingly to the lemon tree growing in your backyard, or the way you patiently spend hours teaching your younger sibling how to roller-blade.
The more specific you can be, the more memorable and powerful you will become as a writer, and the more likely it is that an admissions officer will stop and say "wow, did you read that essay about..."
Great essays pay attention to the who (you), the why (your story’s purpose), and most importantly, the why should I care—the thing that makes your story unforgettable. It is as Toni Morrison wrote, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” The same holds true for college essays.
Who We Are
With MFAs in Creative Writing and Ph.Ds in Literature from some of the best universities in the country, we are unlike any other service being offered. First and foremost, we are people who actually know how to write. We tailor our voice for different publications, pitch ideas to editors, and revise our work obsessively. Writing is our job. And for us, the joy is helping you find your voice, shaping your own language, vocabulary, and experience into something that feels honest, clear, and uniquely yours.
Our wide range of interests means we connect with students from all kinds of backgrounds and writing experiences. Whether you consider yourself a STEM and numbers person planning to major in biochemical engineering or you prefer art history and the humanities, we know that good writing doesn’t come from being a “certain type” of student—it comes from persistence, process, and practice.
Where To Start
Our process is simple: browse our writers here, then start with a free 20-minute consultation to discuss your goals and see if we’re a good fit. During the consult and after reviewing a short writing sample, your writer will suggest a personalized plan and an estimate of hours based on where you are in the process.
Whether you're starting from scratch or finalizing a draft before early decision deadlines, we tailor our approach to match your writing style, timeline, and needs.
Typically, we recommend a combination of live Zoom sessions, where we work through your essay together line by line, and asynchronous editing, where we exchange drafts and feedback until your essay is clear, polished, and ready to submit. If you have additional questions please feel free to send an inquiry here and we will be in touch.