Our personal mentoring program
A mentor does three things: comes alongside the hero, helps them get unstuck, brings a magical gift or a special tool.
-Nancy Duarte
We’re here to help young adults discover that they’re heroes, that they have stories worth telling, and that they can write those stories better than they ever imagined.
Students have been writing better college essays with us since 2009. We based our teen-tested framework and methodology on the approaches that professional writers and communicators use. And, we’ve integrated self-discovery, accountability, and feedback activities to make it more powerful and less stressful for students and parents.
Our mentoring program empowers teens to write the kinds of essays that admissions officers love to read. It makes intuitive sense to teenagers, giving them both the freedom to be creative and the structure to produce their best work.
Essay Mentors start where high school stops
The bottom line is that our students write great college essays because they go far beyond the skills they have, and they get to know themselves in ways that few teenagers do.
We mentor students one-on-one – nationwide by phone or video and in-person in Seattle’s Eastside. Each student works with one mentor throughout the program.
Occasionally we ask parents to get involved, but the relationship is between the student and the mentor. The student does the work, and the mentor provides guidance, support, and a little bit of magic.
The Standard Program for the class of 2024 (flat fee, unlimited sessions)
$4500 (We offer a six-month no-interest payment plan through PayPal Credit.)
In this program, we give students all the support they need for every college essay they have to write. We are with them to the very end.
Students write the best essays they can, using their newfound thinking and writing skills. Some students write just one or two essays, some write fifteen or twenty.
By the end of this program, your teenager will have:
- one of the best essays that college admissions officers will read—it will be an authentic and engaging short story written to the best of your student’s ability;
- strategically written supplemental essays that respond to what colleges are looking for and that communicate your student’s message;
- new thinking, storytelling, and writing skills that will make all the difference in college and beyond; and
- a clear sense of what they contribute to their community and world, and the self-confidence that comes with that.
This program is most powerful when spread over months. Our target is for students to have a rough draft by the time school starts in September. That gives us the opportunity to take advantage of the new self-awareness and maturity that many teenagers have when they become seniors. And, students who are still choosing which schools to apply to can be strategic in their topics.
The Enhanced Program for the class of 2025
$5500 (We offer a six-month no-interest payment plan through PayPal Credit.)
Each year we mentor a small number of sophomores in a program that begins now and ends when they’re seniors, finished with their college essays. They develop a more personal, natural, and effective approach to writing than what they’re taught in school. They discover more freedom to think and capture their ideas on paper. They acquire new tools to write more quickly, powerfully, and efficiently.
Whether a straight-A student or a struggling writer, the teens we mentor expand their abilities to write, think and communicate.
The results? They write better school papers now and better college essays later, all with much less stress. In a world where communication is key, they learn skills that will serve them for a lifetime.
Learn more about the program for the class of 2024
Programs offered by our partners at Huntington Learning Centers
starting at $750
We have trained a select group of top tutors at Huntington Learning Centers to guide students through the same process, using our EssayQuest online program. If you’re not sure which program would be the best fit—our personal mentoring program or a program with Huntington—we’d be happy to talk with you about what’s available with each.
We’ve mentored hundreds of kids like Henry one-on-one, led free workshops for thousands of students and parents, and trained teachers, college counselors, and volunteers in schools and non-profits coast-to-coast in our unique approach.
Whether you want your teen to write better college essays, learn powerful communication and writing skills, build self-awareness and self-confidence—or all of the above—we have a program that can make that happen.