Frequently Asked Questions
I am located in West Orange, NJ. All brainstorming and review sessions are remote, which allows me to work with students in any part of the country! Our sessions will take place via Zoom, and I ask that students use Google Docs and then share the file with me for review and comments.
How many sessions will we need?
The student has full control of the process. I will make suggestions and recommendations about essays in order to guide the student, but all writing is done by the student.
When should I start working with you?
There is no "one size fits all" answer. For some students, writing comes easily. For others, it's an arduous process.
When I work with a student from the beginning, I typically give students some brainstorming exercises to complete before our first session. We spend that session getting to know each other and discussing the potential topics to see which are most promising. For our second session, I ask the student to actually start writing, be it a full draft or just a few sentences, about three topics; we then choose which one to develop into the personal statement essay.
By the time a student has a complete first draft, I usually have a good sense as to whether or not the student works well independently or needs to work more closely with me. In the former case, I will review essays during our sessions and add comments; the essays are then revised by the student between our sessions. Students who need more personal attention will write and revise under my guidance during our sessions.
How do you charge for your services?
How long is each session?
The amount of time we need per session will depend on several factors such as where we are in the process and how many essays we're working on. In general, the first session tends to run about an hour and a half, and most of the remaining sessions are an hour or less.
Will strong essays really improve my chances for admission?
While strong essays can certainly weigh in your favor, it is the application as a whole, plus subjective factors that vary from year to year and school to school, that determine whether or not a student is accepted, deferred, or declined. That said, weak essays can definitely work against you.
Where do you hold your sessions?
What is your role vs that of the student?
Prompts for the Common App are released in the spring. Supplemental essays are posted at different times by individual schools; some are released as late as the fall. The spring of or summer after junior year is the ideal time for us to start working together, with the goal of having the personal statement finished by the end of the summer.
How do you keep parents in the loop?
While I ask parents to give their children "space" for the essay process, I believe that clear and thorough communication between myself and my students' parents is essential. To that end, I send personalized email updates to parents after each session. I keep them up to date on where we are in the process and what we're working on, but I do not divulge any specific information about essay content.
Workshops require a minimum of 5 students. The charge is a flat fee per person.
Individual counseling and essay review are billed at an hourly rate in increments of 15 minutes. To encourage students to begin working on their essays sooner rather than later, my rates are lowest for those who begin working with me by June 30 after their junior year. My rates are highest for students who start working with me after September 1 of their senior year.