Our Essay Process
We never write the essay for the student. It is critical that the essay reflects not only their own ideas and values, but also their voice. In fact, we rarely change their diction, sticking to grammatical or structural edits. Our main focus is on the content of the essay. Are we painting a clear picture of who this student is, what their values and strengths are, and why they would be an incredible asset to the school’s student body? Are they communicating their ideas clearly so that the essay is conveying the intended message?
PHASE I
This is the planning and strategizing stage. Before we put pen to paper, we will spend time clearly identifying the core messages we want to convey through your essays. We will help with brainstorming techniques, but students must come up with their own topics. Nobody knows your lived experience but you.
Identify your values
Identify personal statement themes/narratives
Brainstorm potential personal statement topics
Brainstorm supplemental essay topics (challenge, leadership, why you, why x school)
PHASE II
Now that we have a plan for your narrative, we start with your personal statement. The first draft is always a stream of consciousness where we have the student get all their thoughts on paper without worrying about word count. We want to see what you have to say - it is much easier to trim than it is to fill in big gaps. If there is more than one topic that sounds interesting, we encourage you to take a crack at a first draft for both to see which resonates more.
Write first draft on top 1 or 2 topics (no word limit)
Pick the draft that resonates more and refine
Iterate on personal statement until near final
Stack rank schools in order of importance
PHASE III
Once your personal statement is in a near final state, we let it marinate and turn to the supplemental essays. We work on these in order by stack rank of priority, starting with your top school.
Research mission, values, specialty for top school
Supplemental essays for top school (EA if relevant)
PHASE IV
Once we’ve completed your top school, we move on to the second and third schools. After these are done, we revisit the personal statement as often times writing the supplemental essays will surface some ideas that we might want to incorporate into the personal statement.
Research mission, values, specialty for 2nd and 3rd choice schools
Supplemental essays for 2nd and 3rd schools (ED I, ED II and UC’s if relevant)
Finalize Personal statement
PHASE V
Now that your top 3 schools are done, we have the backbone for all the remaining schools. From here on out it’s predominantly tweaking the supplemental essays for each new school.
Research mission, values, specialty for remaining schools
Supplemental essays for schools 4-10
PHASE VI
We’ll hold off on submitting until 2-3 days before the submission deadline just to allow time for any last minute tweaks. Even after we submit the top couple of schools in time for early deadlines, we’ll keep working on your Regular Decision schools until first week of January.
Submit EA/ED if applicable by Nov 1
Submit ED II if applicable by Nov 30
Submit Regular decisions by Jan 1-5
Phases
Plan with Purpose
Together, we outline a path forward that’s realistic, strategic, and tailored to your specific needs.
Collaborate Openly
You’re part of the process. We keep communication open and decisions shared—no black boxes or surprises.
Plan with Purpose
Every project is different. We stay flexible and responsive to make sure the process fits your flow—not the other way around.
Plan with Purpose
When we deliver, it’s not just a finished product—it’s a solution you can trust, backed by real care and effort.
Past Project
Check out Essay Samples Here…
