UPDATE: Hello! Thanks for dropping by. I appreciate your interest. Unfortunately, I am at capacity for coaching students on their undergraduate admissions essays for the 2022-2023 application season. I will begin booking appointments for the 2023-2024 season in June 2023. Coaching sessions will begin in July.
Why Hire a Writing Coach?
Writing a college application essay can be intimidating. Students often land in one of two zones: Zone “There’s Nothing At All Interesting About Me I’m Done” or Zone “OHMYWORD Let Me Tell You Everything I Was Born In The Year…”
The truth is that everyone is unique, but no college application reader is out to learn the life story of every prospective student. So how does a student find the perfect balance on the all-or-nothing spectrum to craft a compelling essay that intrigues the reader? It takes a bit of work.
For the college essay, the essential task is to pinpoint the perfect narrative that shows the student’s passion in life while also revealing a high level of self-awareness to the casual college admissions reader.
Students don’t have to prove they are the most wonderful of applicants; they just have to prove their unique “wonderfulness” is a good fit for the colleges to which they apply. For most students, accomplishing this goal is the most intense writing experience of their high school career.
That’s where a college essay coach comes in. Having an objective reader help select the best essay topic, brainstorm narratives, identify analytical elements, and put everything together in the required word count gives students the support they need to write a superior essay.
I am here to help students write their best essays.
How It Works
I hate to begin with a caveat, but let’s first clear the air that college essay writing coaches are NOT there to write the essay for the student. That is not ethical, nor is it helpful since most colleges and universities use personal statements to get to know prospective students either in place of an interview or in preparation for an interview. The college essay has to be student-written, and it has to be an authentic representation of who that student is.
Where I come in as a coach is in helping students think through the prompts, identify their strongest approach, select narrative and analytical elements, organize ideas, edit for word count, and polish style and mechanics.
For the 2022 application season, I will offer individual coaching online using video conferencing via FaceTime, Google Meet, or Zoom and shared Google documents.
Services & Cost: Undergraduate Essay Coaching
Essay workshops. Get an overview of the college essay-writing process in a group setting. Workshops occur in both in-person and virtual formats. For more information on workshop content and schedule, visit the Workshops page.
Individual coaching includes an in-person or virtual brainstorming-and-planning session, two-plus rounds of feedback on content, structure, syntax, style, diction, and mechanics, and a final round of proofing. The fees are as follows:
- $100 for the ~650-word main personal statement essay
- $75 per essay for ~500-word supplemental or scholarship essays
- $50 per essay for ~250-word supplemental or scholarship essays
- $0.20/word per micro-essay/short-answer response (typically 25-150 words; pricing based on maximum word count)
If you are interested in college essay coaching, please email Norma Weekman at normaweekman@gmail.com.
Students wishing to schedule individual coaching should contact me as soon as possible to reserve their preferred schedule for feedback.
Payment methods: Payments for draft workshops and individual coaching may be made via Venmo or personal check.
NOTE: If you are already working with a private college admissions counselor, you likely do not need an essay coach. Your counselor probably includes essay coaching as part of their services. Individual essay coaching is most beneficial to students who know where they want to apply to college and are familiar with the process but would like to shore up the writing elements on their applications. If you think you need admissions counseling, which is beyond the scope of this essay coaching-only service, feel free to email me at normaweekman@gmail.com, and I will be happy to refer you to top-notch private admissions counselors.
College Essay Articles:
For information about resources and trends in college essay writing, check out the articles in the College Essays category of this website.
Always Learning HQ 