Our coaches are talented writers and editors and writing teachers. Admissions officers want you to write "in your own voice." As writers, we know how to do this. As teachers, we know how to show you how to do this, and how to naturally improve the voice you already have. We've helped plenty of students write the kind of essays colleges want.

We truly understand the rules of college essay writing. If you look at collections of excellent essays, you'll see many that break some of the most popular "don'ts:" don't write about death or divorce or travel, don't start with a quotation, don't let the focus stray from yourself. We can explain when you should and shouldn't take these risks.

We're knowledgeable about the general college admissions process. We've listened carefully to what admissions committees have to say and read many, many student essays. We work hard to keep abreast of recent developments. We know what's good advice and what's nonsense. Also, all of our coaches have themselves been successful at gaining admittance to the top schools. They've often worked as SAT prep instructors or been involved professionally with other aspects of the college admissions process.

The college essay is not a marketing document. Admissions officers can smell when someone's trying to sell them something, and they're sick of it. We understand that they're smart, and that they don't need students banging them over the head with a "message" in order to realize that those students are determined, mature, or interested in helping others. You wouldn't want to write an essay that employs the rules of advertising any more than you'd want to sound like a used car salesman in an admissions interview.

You want a teacher, not an editor, to look at your admissions essay. Other services make changes to your draft for you. Sometimes they try to claim that you can use their version as a model, and become a better writer just by mimicing what they did. You can't really learn this way, at least not easily. While having someone else revise your work may be tempting, you'll miss one of the most valuable aspects of getting professional help on your essay: the chance to learn how to be a better writer. Who's going to write your next  paper?

A former admissions officer isn't a bad choice when selecting someone to read your essay. But as writers and writing teachers, we have an advantage. We know how  to show students how to improve their work. It's not easy to learn what admissions officers want—but it takes years of training and experience to become a good writing teacher. Be cautious when getting advice from anyone who isn't highly knowledgeable about writing.

We only make promises we can keep. We won't insult your intelligence by claiming your essay will be perfect. Rather than smothering you in superlatives, we work hard to simply give you excellent guidance and support.