How to Find the Right College Essay Coach for Your Kid
As more and more colleges adopted “test-optional” admissions policies in the wake of COVID-related SAT and ACT cancellations this spring, the personal statement – or “college admissions essay” – will play an even greater role than it has in recent years. When speaking about the college application process, I emphasize how different writing a personal statement is from writing an essay for AP US History or even English Literature. (Though I’m now a college essay coach, I taught APUSH for years.)
The Common App personal statement requires students to mine their hearts and reflect on their social, emotional, and / or intellectual development. This process doesn’t come easily or naturally to many teens. That’s why I strongly recommend hiring a great college essay tutor to help your child craft at least the personal statement before she sends them to colleges. If it’s in your budget, hire the college essay tutor to also guide her through the never-ending process of supplemental essay writing, too.
Unlike preparing for the SAT or ACT, which involves a standard set of techniques that tutors pass on to students, helping a student to craft meaningful personal statement requires a unique set of skills. Of course, the college essay tutor needs to be able to teach the rudiments of grammar and fundamentals of answering a written prompt. But, without keen insight into the teenage mind and heart, a college essay tutor won’t be able to coax the best essay possible out of your child. A great college admissions essay coach can ask sensitive questions, draw out relevant examples, and help your child to make sense of his own experiences as he builds them into an impactful essay.
Photo by @soulsana on Unsplash
How can you be sure, then, that you’re hiring the right college essay tutor for your child?
Here are three tips that might help:
1. Ask how long the college admissions essay coach has worked with teens.
While your child might identify more strongly with a recent college grad, that person might lack the emotional maturity necessary to steer your child through the muddy emotional waters that sometimes soak the path to a great essay.
2. Ask the college essay tutor if you can read some former essays that she’s helped students to write.
If she has “before” and “after” samples, even better. But the important thing is to make sure that you the final products speak to you.
3. Ask the college admissions essay coach if he’ll speak with your child for 15-20 minutes free of charge.
To really see whether she can envision working with a college essay tutor, your child will need to meet (even virtually) with him to see if there’s a rapport.
4. Ask the college essay tutor which colleges recent students have been accepted to.
It’s not essential that your child’s top university choices appear on that list. It is important, however, that the list contains colleges similar to those your child’s considering. (You can find Crimson Coaching’s list here.) Only then can you be sure that the college admissions essay coach has familiarity with the types of questions your teen will need to answer in his applications.
Got questions – or more tips for other parents – on how to find the right college essay coach? Pop them in the comments below!
Until next week,