Six hundred fifty words to sound like exactly one person: your student. That's the whole assignment — and it's harder than it looks.
Admissions readers see thousands of beautifully banal, interchangeable essays every season. The one they remember sounds like a specific, real seventeen-year-old. My job is not to write your student's essay, and it is not to sand their voice into an adult's. It's to help them find the story only they can tell, and say it with clarity and control.
I've taught college writing and rhetoric for fifteen years, to more than two thousand students at UC San Diego, San Diego Mesa College, and Biola University. I hold an MFA in creative writing, taught in Brazil as a U.S. State Department Fulbright Scholar, and work as a professional editor for clients including Yale World Fellows, Smithsonian award honorees, and university faculty. I live in San Clemente; sessions are on Zoom or in person.
Every engagement starts with a story-mining brainstorm session. Most students don't have a writing problem — they have a selection problem. We solve that first.
Then drafts, with substantive written editorial feedback — the same caliber of editing my professional clients receive, tuned to keep the student's own voice at the center.
A final line-level pass before submission, so every sentence earns its place — in essays that still sound like the person who wrote them.
The main Common App essay, done right: brainstorm session, two full rounds of editorial feedback, and a final line-level edit.
$750
The personal statement plus activities-list wording and supplemental essays, with quick-question access through submission.
$1,800
The entire essay season handled — including all four UC Personal Insight Questions, supplements across the college list, and weekly check-ins through final deadlines.
$3,000
I take no more than eight students per application season. Nothing is outsourced; every draft is read by me. A 50% deposit reserves your student's place.
Two minutes to inquire; I personally read and answer every one within a business day. From there, a free 15-minute call to see if it's a fit.
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