Essays can be one of the toughest parts of a college application. They require a different layer of strategy on top of your resume, extracurricular lists, and recommenders, and many students come to us unsure how to bring the needed sophistication and intentionality required to the process. Choosing what story to tell and deciding how to put it on the page are important considerations to make, and if you’re feeling stressed about it, maybe it’s time to enlist the help of an essay specialist. If you need help with the larger application process, you can work with a college counselor, who can assist you with essays as part of your package. But if you just need more focused attention on your essays, maybe it’s time to enlist the help of an essay specialist.
If you’re considering working with an Essay Specialist but are unsure whether it’s the right fit for your student, check out this blog where we break down what you can expect in your time with Marks Education. From the initial brainstorming process to essay structuring and expert feedback, our team does college prep like no one else! Learn more:
Before Your Session
After your introductory call and enrollment, your essay specialist will reach out and ask you to send your resume, extracurricular list, transcript(s), and college list. Access to this information will help us prepare for our discussion and begin the initial strategy phase of your essay process. This also allows us to come to the session ready to dig deeper based on what we already know about you and suggest ideas and ways forward.
After your enrollment, we’ll also send you plenty of brainstorming materials to help you work through your ideas and decide what to write about. This part of the process is important as it not only saves time in our sessions, but also allows you to reflect on your time in high school and demonstrate your values.
We ask students to spend at least an hour working through these exercises as they lay important groundwork for our discussions and help you make the most of your time with Marks.
The First Session: Brainstorming
Your first session with your essay specialist is all about laying the foundation for a strong essay process. We’ll start by thinking about the college essay’s purpose more generally and start to draw connections between your experiences and the broader application. Many students don’t realize that generally the purpose of essays is to be the personalizing glue that holds other parts of your application– transcripts, test scores, recommendation letters, and activities lists– together, but after they do, they tend to produce much stronger application materials.
However, the heart of this session is brainstorming. Your specialist will dive into the ideas you’ve developed in your Marks Education Personal Statement Workbook, asking thought-provoking questions to go deeper– these discussions tend to make for great essay content. College essays are ways for students to express themselves, to show colleges who they are on and off the page and in and out of school. It’s what takes you from a statistic to someone concrete and personal– in all, they help you stand out.
Many students aren’t sure what they should say about themselves, and sometimes, what they think they should write about isn’t actually the most interesting, compelling, or engaging thing about them. Sometimes the most powerful essay topic comes from something a student mentions offhandedly in a session. Our role as essay specialists is to identify these moments and help students see the value of their experiences.
However, most importantly, by the end of this session, you’ll not only have a list of potential topics and outlined material for your personal statement, but you’ll also have a timeline for your application process. This will help you pave the best path forward and take the stress out of the process.
The Writing and Feedback Process
Most of your package hours will be spent exchanging writing and feedback with your essay specialist. After our first meeting, you’ll work independently to write your first draft, ideally within a day or two. This timetable ensures that you’re writing while what we discussed is still fresh in your mind. From there, our essay specialists will provide feedback, comments, and line edits designed to highlight your strengths and areas for improvement.
If necessary, in a follow-up session, we can discuss the feedback in detail, but generally, suggestions are clear and supplemented by examples to help students understand what’s being asked. Our Essay Specialists might suggest changes in structure, depth, or ask for clarity, but throughout the process, your voice and ideas will always remain authentically yours. Our Essay Specialists will not write the essay for you, but provide feedback and edits that help the essay you submit present you and your writing in the best light possible.
Conclusion
Working with an Essay Specialist is a great way to simplify the college essay process. We help provide structure and a guiding hand on what can otherwise be a deeply challenging endeavor. Interested in learning more? Contact our team for a free consultation!