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Good

essays

are

lightning

bugs

Floating, Flashing, gone. Indistinguishable and forgotten.

Great

essays

are

lightning

bolts

Brilliant, magestic, world shaping. Thunder echoes

We bottle lightning

that's why our results are so good

Most college consulting companies will flaunt that they have former admissions counselors to help you with your personal essays. We have real, nationally acclaimed, writers – not readers or editors.

Let’s talk about admissions counselors…they read a lot of college essays. 
A lot of garbage essays. 
They’re more in the business of saying no than designing a “yes.” Just like eating a lot of Hershey’s Kisses doesn’t make you a chocolatier, these aren’t experts on crafting a personal statement.  
Our essay coaches are professional writers, not judges, who teach you how to tell your story, not how not to.

what's a real writer?

If education is your thing (it’s ours too): our essay coaches also have degrees from the most competitive writing programs in the world – the screenwriting programs at USC (3%) and UCLA (3%). Hollywood, baby. We got in, so you can, too.

By real, we mean writers paid for their words. Not only have they been nationally recognized for their gifts, but are actively working as scribes.

Our essay coaches have written for:

  • Prime Ministers
  • Netflix
  • Warner Bros 
  • Emily Blunt
  • John Legend
  • Dwyane Johnson 
  • Foreign Consulates 
  • Mercedes Benz
  • HBO
  • Los Angeles Lakers 


Their writing has been featured in/on:

  • Television 
  • Billboards on Times Square
  • The Washington Post
  • NBC News 
  • TEDx
  • CBS
  • Newsweek
  • NBC
  • The Guardian
  • The Hollywood Reporter
Get Writing

How it works

We'll start with your personal statement – a 650-word essay that is the turkey in the Thanksgiving dinner of your college application.

We don’t write essays for our students. We give them the tools to craft their own:

  • Pinpointing Your Defining Experiences
  • Insight into Admissions Criteria
  • Imagery & Descriptive Language
  • Developing Personal Voice
  • Point of View Exploration
  • Pacing & Tension
  • Grammar, Syntax, & Sentence Structure Editing
 

You’ll get constant feedback, meaningful reassurance, and the confidence to express your true self.

Supplements

Supplements

Most universities ask for additional supplements with their own unique prompts.

We help you craft the perfect supplemental essays, always keeping an eye out for similar prompts among schools. This saves you time, energy, and tears.

With our help, your supplements will paint a fuller, deeper picture of your life.

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The Test Guy | All Rights Reserved

Take Our Quiz

Quiz to See where you stand

Let's figure out your kid's unique needs.

1 / 11

How do you feel about the college application and selection process?

 

1 is the greatest stressor in my life; 5 is ‘eh’; 10 is ring the bell and let’s slug it out.

2 / 11

What are your Top 3 concerns about applying to college?

Choose up to 3. There is no one way to do the college process. But there is one right way for your family.

3 / 11

What is Your Graduation Year?

4 / 11

How would you describe your top choice schools?

Top choice schools can be reach schools, but they don’t have to be. There are so many ways to pick a college.

5 / 11

Choose 3 qualities that your child exhibits the most. (1 is never; 5 is almost always).

College admissions can be a crucible. It tends amplify the traits we already have – we become more of those things, good or bad. Fostering the positive and addressing the negative creates the best college applicants and the best college students.

6 / 11

Do you have any special considerations for college admissions and college choice (select as many as is relevant).

No path is the same; no life is exactly as expected. The challenges of life can help more than they hurt in admissions and in life.

Academic Disruption – Significant changes in family dynamic (student/family illness; job loss; changing high schools; divorce)

Upward Academic Trajectory – An improvement in grades as high school goes on.

7 / 11

Does your child have a defining passion and a way to exhibit that to colleges?

The emphasis on passion – whether it’s a ‘passion project’, selecting a major, or selecting a career can be very misguided. Stanford research shows that 80% of people lack a defining passion. But, in the process of ‘becoming’, we can find the mix of things that serves that purpose.

8 / 11

Good relationship w/ guidance counselor? Do they give good advice?

9 / 11

What matters to you in selecting a college?

Not everything matters to everyone, and there are no bad answers.

10 / 11

What is the secret strength of your child?

What is the ‘thing’ you see that others – perhaps including your child – don’t.

11 / 11

What would you like to learn more about?

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