Why Us?
Research shows that much is left to be desired by students when writing at school.
Mo et al. (2014) explain how, historically, the typical elementary school classroom only provides 30 minutes of writing instruction per day. As students move through schooling at the middle and secondary levels, they interact with the art of writing less and less, with most of the writing they do in school intended solely to meet standardized district assessment requirements (NCWASC, 2003). Although district-mandated assessments ensure students meet district-level requirements, they don’t ensure that students feel confident and prepared to embark on more personal and creative writing. We often hear our students share sentiments such as “I haven’t really been asked to write about myself before” or “I am not good at writing,” so we approach them with care and intentionality, helping them identify and elevate their strengths as writers. We do more than simply help a student prepare their college essays; we equip them with writing strategies and approaches that help them express themselves uniquely and authentically, taking note of how, in addition to writing phenomenal essays, they develop a sincere sense of self-confidence in their capabilities.
We keep our coach-to-student ratios small for more personalized student support.
According to the American School Counselor Association, the recommended student-to-school counselor ratio is 250-to-1, whereas the national average ratio is 376-to-1 (ASCA, 2026). We have a sincere love and appreciation for all that our school counselors do to ensure students are college and career ready upon leaving high school, while recognizing the demands placed on school counselors when tasked with supporting such large caseloads. We work diligently to address and close this high-ratio gap, offering personalized college consulting and essay coaching services to ensure students are fully tended to when making one of the grandest decisions of their lives to date. Keeping our coach-to-student ratio exponentially smaller, with a maximum ratio of 20: 1, allows us to provide more in-depth support and minimize stress felt by both students and families as they navigate the college-going process.
Our coaching framework is well-researched and builds students’ confidence.
We prioritize creating writing and coaching experiences that empower and uplift students’ identities, stories, and diverse cultures. We get to know our students far beyond their resumes and academic accolades by drawing on our founder’s framework of “starting with the self” in our coaching practices (Kent, 2022). We don’t oversimplify the personal statement by asking students to simply write about a challenge they overcame or a meaningful moment they have experienced. Rather, we work with students to unearth their inner writer by engaging them in writing activities that first ask them to consider who they are and what makes them stand out before they begin writing. By taking such an approach, we work with students to create “pathways that would otherwise go unexplored,” and we cultivate “spaces in which writing reflects who someone is, just as much as it reflects a specified purpose” (Kent, 2022, p. 50). Our writing coaches orient their practices around these ideologies, ensuring that our students know their college essays genuinely represent who they are.
“Chelsea was very flexible with timings, and she was also very good at explaining what worked when writing an essay and what didn’t. I learned how to properly write an essay, including a rough draft, and what to include when writing a college essay, such as my goals and interests.”
-Sharang R., student