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The Story of Me:  Writing an Effective College Essay

1-week workshop + 1 hour of private counseling    

$785

 

The essay matters!  In the college admissions process, the essay is one of the few ways to separate yourself from the pack.  But this essay is less like the dissertations you've learned to write in school, and more like a sales tool. 


An effective college essay is a personal statement--a brave and authentic portrait of who you are.  Writing a standout personal statement requires an awareness of:

 

  • your core values and belief system

  • the personal experiences that shaped them

  • how they will impact your future as a college student and beyond

 

Our semi-private workshop sessions will take you through a comprehensive and fun (yes, we really used the f word) process in which you will walk away with a killer essay.

 

Here's what we'll cover:

 

  • Understanding the audience

  • Understanding yourself

  • Mining personal experiences

  • Linking past experiences to current value systems

  • Writing in an authentic voice

  • Making your story compelling

  • Learning to write lean and mean

  • Rewriting, rewriting, and rewriting. (Sorry, guys, there's no other way.)

 

We guarantee that each student will leave the workshop with an admission-ready essay.  If not, we will work with him or her beyond the workshop to complete it. 

 

By appointment, after the workshop, we will meet individually with students and/or their parents to provide them with advice on how to navigate the next school year, and address any questions or concerns.

 

But there are lots of essay-writing workshops out there.  Why take ours?

 

Mining for Gold:  Choosing the Right Essay Topics

2-hour workshop 

$175

An effective college essay is a personal statement--a brave and authentic portrait of who you are.  Writing a standout personal statement requires an awareness of:

 

  • your core values and belief system

  • the personal experiences that shaped them

  • how they will impact your future as a college student and beyond

 

Most students have a heck of a time figuring out what to write about, and they're unfamiliar with the type of storytelling college admissions officers are looking for. 

 

In this two-hour workshop, we will:

 

  • explain what college admissions people are really looking for

  • use proprietary techniques to help students understand and articulate their individual core values and belief systems

  • help them unearth the personal experiences that shaped those beliefs

  • teach them how to stock a "pantry" with multiple viable ideas that they can pull off the shelf in developing any number of admissions essays

  • help them begin developing one of those ideas into an outline and opening paragraph

 

Each student will leave armed with an understanding of what an effective college admissions essay looks like, a head start on writing one, and a pantry full of other ideas to choose from in writing additional essays. 

 

But there are lots of essay-writing workshops out there.  Why take ours?

 

 

We are pleased to offer students two ways to get a jump on writing their essay(s) before college admission season kicks into high gear in the fall. 

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