I will not write the essay for any applicants. There are no exceptions.

I offer unlimited hours to enable the student to create the best essays. I believe the extra attention and time I spend getting to know the student at a deep level makes a crucial difference to the uniqueness of the essays. I do not know of any other counselor who offers unlimited hours to their students.

No workshops, no video modules. Each student gets personal attention from me once we begin the process, to bring out their unique voice and story. We do it all in one deep dive—and the result is fresh, powerful writing. I am strongly opposed to making the essay writing process a long-drawn-out, mass effort, and I do not enroll students in (or bill clients for) group writing classes or exercises.

You will work with me and only me directly—I do not employ interns or any external parties. Most general college counselors are not experts in the essay, and often hire external essay editors. You then have no control over this vital part of the application.

All my work is done online. I do not hold any in-person meetings.

I do not chase students to stick to deadlines. Please note that I am not a project manager or an administrative assistant. Students are expected to do their work on time without reminders.

Please see the services and rates page for more details about my process.

The earliest I begin working on essays is the spring/summer before senior year. Students change very rapidly during these high school years; the essay you write at 15 will be very different from the one you write when you are 17. I believe it is useless (and often counter-productive) to start the essay any earlier—the student will get sick and tired of looking at the same material, and the essay will feel stale and over-engineered.

Sign-ups open in January of junior year. I will add you to my client interest list, and only bill you when we actually commence work. I do not lock in clients—I encourage you to do your research and talk to several counselors before you commit to anyone. Find your best fit!

I DO NOT offer general admission counseling services.

Most counselors focus on the following services for senior year: helping the students choose their major and the universities they’d like to apply to, financial aid advice, and essay guidance. They often offer project management services to help students manage their times. A lot of my students sign up with a college counselor in sophomore or junior year to determine their majors and college lists, and come to me for the essay component in the summer before senior year.

I also work with students who do this research on their own. Discovering yourself through the writing process also helps you hone in on your best fit colleges.

Essay writing does not happen in a vacuum—it reflects the student’s academic and personal choices. Hence, I’m happy to answer college admission questions about non-essay matters with the aim of helping my students clarify their goals and approach for the essay. I do not otherwise counsel on majors, college lists, activities lists, and on how to fill the application.

I do not offer guidance for summer program applications—we begin work in June.

I do not offer counseling services to middle schoolers for applications to private high schools.

Most of my clients are regular freshmen undergrad applicants, but I also work with grad school applicants. I handle an almost equal mix of public and private school students.

I do not filter my client intake based on GPA or test scores. I’m on board with the analogy that counselors who accept only highly accomplished high school students are akin to hospitals who only admit healthy patients! Many counselors reject clients who they feel might not be admitted to highly selective schools, and then tout their great outcomes. I accept a very small number of students on a first come first served basis without pre-selecting “ivy-profile” candidates, and am 100% committed to giving each applicant equal attention and care. My results speak for themselves!

I do filter students based on drive, motivation, and general niceness. My methodology works best with ambitious, hard-working students who aren’t fazed by the prospect of writing 3 drafts for a 100-word supplement. Students must be able to manage their timelines on their own; I will not do any followups for pending work or postponed meetings.

I work with students from all over the world, including the UK, Singapore, HongKong, and India. Students need to be fully fluent in English—I do not teach basic writing skills.

I cap the number of CS and Engineering applicants I take on as I like to have variety when I’m editing supplemental essays.

I deal solely with US institutions and do not handle UK applications. No UCAS essay editing requests please!

The essay work primarily consists of figuring out the common app main essay, and then writing supplemental essays for each institution. These supplemental essays get easier as you do more of them, and you’ll begin repurposing essay ideas (if not the exact essay) once you’ve completed an initial set of applications. So if a counselor offers you an expensive 20-application package, please note that the essay component will mostly consist of repetition after the initial essays.

So the first reason I limit the applications is that with the 6-application package, we’ll generate a rich bank of essays that answer a wide variety of prompts, and will suffice for multiple further institutions. With this package, most students will write at least 20 amazing essays with me—we’ll often work on 3-4 drafts for each supplemental essay! The student can then easily repurpose these essays for further apps.

Secondly, I don’t just help with applications; I teach students how to write. After working with me, students will have the tools, the skills, and the knowledge to write better prose! Students find essays very easy to approach and decode after our initial intensive work together.

Please feel free to contact my clients (you can see their recommendations on LinkedIn) and hear what they have to say about the quality of my work!

I work with about 10% of my clients pro bono.

I work for free with FGLI (first generation, low income) students. I use federal income guidelines to determine income cutoffs. If the student qualifies for a free lunch at school, I will work for free. Please do not hesitate to get in touch!

I do not reduce my rates for international students based on their country of residence. Please don’t ask me to work pro bono if you are not a FGLI student. I do not negotiate on price and I don’t offer any other discounts.

While I focus on undergrad applications, I also help grad school applicants with their Statements of Purpose. The SoP is more fact-based and requires less stylistic input and idea generation than the undergrad essay. Also, students at this stage do not usually need intensive writing coaching. I hence offer a 4-hour package for grad school apps; most students do not need further hours.

Please note that I do not work on med school applications.

I have received both these questions, so let me tell you about my pricing!

First, please note that counselor rates vary hugely across the United States, according to the coach’s credentials, admissions record, and quantum of work offered.

Second, please note that the bulk of application work in senior year is essay work. In any senior year package offered by any full-service counselor, essay work will account for 90% of the hours billed.

If you look at counselors with similar educational credentials and similar college placement records (Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, U Chicago etc.), most charge $700-$1000 per hour.

Despite offering an intensive personalized service, and despite showcasing outstanding results, my rates are much lower than similar counselors as I want to be accessible to middle-class families who, in some ways, have it the hardest, as they don’t qualify for need-based aid but find paying full tuition a stretch.

I aim to have a client list that is as socio-economically diverse as possible. I offer hour-based consulting for this reason, and I work pro bono for FGLI students.

Please email me for my rate card.