Looking for personalized, tailored writing tutoring that will help your learner with their college admissions essay no matter what stage they’re at in the process?

I’ve helped over 1000 students through the college application essay process and as a result I'm very familiar with all of the pitfalls and blocks along the way.  

Over my 20+ years of working with teen writers, I’ve developed proven activities and low-key exercises that help students wherever they are at.

When you book a one-on-one tutoring session with me, we’ll start off by spending a few minutes getting an idea of where your learner is at, what kind of experience they have with writing personal essays, and what their biggest worries or blocks are to completing a good finished product.

Once I understand where they are in the process, we’ll get right to work.  

Are they confused about what kind of essay to write or don’t have much experience writing or even reading personal essays?  

We’ll start by exploring some high-interest essays written by professional writers and actual students, discussing the qualities of good writing along the way.

Are they feeling uninspired or stuck on what to write?  

We’ll do some timed, low-key freewrites on high-interest prompts designed to get students reflecting on past experiences in fun and interesting ways.

Do they need accountability to push through a rough draft?  

We’ll schedule some bonus body-doubling sessions where we can each work on our own projects in a zoom chat.

Are they needing more instruction on how to improve a rough draft?  

I’ll pull from my library of concrete, practical exercises inspired by mentor texts by professional writers. Step by step, learners will work through the different aspects of effective writing: how to show rather than tell with details and description; how to organize a personal essay in a clear, unique, and compelling way; how to have meaning in an essay and show that meaning through the story; how to grab a reader and keep their attention throughout; how to write an interesting sentence for an important moment in the essay; and how to tell a great story.  

These student-tested exercises are low-key and low pressure but they are also highly effective in teaching students how to improve their writing.  Best of all, they’re fun!  I’m always surprised at how quickly a class passes when students are exploring writing and figuring out what they want to say to the world.

The best part of this process is that students won’t just have a great essay when we’re done, they’ll have a better understanding of the qualities of good writing and the confidence to tackle challenging writing projects with their new-found skills.