"Panic is setting in. Millions of students (and their parents) – both American and international – now face perhaps the scariest deadline of their young lives: applying for admission to U.S. universities. Don’t worry! I can coach you through the most stressful part: producing your Personal Essays.

In just three sessions, I can steer you through the entire process of writing your Common App essay or university-specific Supplemental Essays: from brainstorming a winning idea, to polishing your final draft. I created this unique toolkit of skills, strategies and storytelling from my career as an International Journalist.

I’ve recently coached nine students: five Americans, three Chinese and one Hungarian. For each, I helped identify their persuasive “core messages”; unearth “credible evidence” to prove they truly embody those messages; and wove it all into “humanizing” content that opens a window onto their authentic self.

Here’s how our three sessions unfold: 1) In the first, we brainstorm and strategize, then I write an outline – like a roadmap – for how to open your essay, then lead the reading Admissions Officer from beginning to end. 2) In the second, after you’ve written your first draft, I now critique it, showing how exactly you can improve it – such as, by filling holes. 3) In the third, with your revised draft in hand, we now polish it together.

It’s that easy. I guarantee that you (and your parents) will be satisfied: students I’ve coached have been admitted to undergrad and graduate programs at schools like Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Emory, University of Florida, Amherst College, University of Indiana, Rutgers University, Carnegie-Mellon University, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and many others." less...