Frequently Asked Questions

  • No. This is the most important thing to understand about how I work. My job is helping your student figure out what to say and why it matters: finding the story, shaping the theme, and giving honest feedback on every draft. The writing is theirs. Always. An essay written by someone else won’t sound like your student, and admissions readers notice. If you’re looking for a ghostwriter, a different service will make you happier.

  • Junior year, ideally. A few short sessions in the spring can get your student to a rough draft of the personal statement, or a PIQ or two, well before summer, when senior year starts competing for their attention. Families who sign up by April 30 pay 20% less, because starting early is better for your student. Signing up early doesn’t mean working all spring. I’ll pace the work to your student.

  • It’s an hour, and it’s free. Before we meet, send me something your student has written and I’ll read it closely: what they can already do, what their writing doesn’t do yet, and the first three things we’d work on. On the call, we’ll go through that, I’ll show you real work from past students (shared with their permission), and we’ll talk about whether we’re a good fit. Your student is welcome to join, but doesn’t have to.

  • No, and anyone who does is misleading you. What I can promise is this: at the end, I’ll ask whether your student’s essays sound like the person you’ve raised for 17 years. My goal is for you to say yes. If we get there, your student’s real self reached the admissions office, whatever the decision.

  • Yes. I price them by the prompt, and the price depends on the school and on whether we’re building an essay together or I’m reviewing one your student wrote. Many prompts repeat across schools, so part of the work is a strategy that reuses what we’ve already built. We’ll go through your student’s list in the consultation, and I’ll send an itemized quote. You choose which ones we do together. Purchasing Supplemental Essay support is not required!

  • Students who think they have no story have usually been comparing themselves with an imaginary ideal applicant. What they actually have is a real life, with real things they care about. Nobody has asked them the right questions yet. I’m not looking for the most impressive story. I’m looking for the most honest one. Those are different searches, and the honest one almost always turns up something worth writing about.

  • After our consultation, you can buy a package directly from the site, by credit card or bank transfer. Supplements are invoiced once we’ve agreed which ones , if any, we’ll do.