College essay coaching
A guided, structured process to help you discover what makes your application genuinely compelling — and write about it in your own voice. For students with all kinds of transcripts, goals, and paths forward.
The approach
Editing is what comes to mind first — fixing commas, smoothing sentences. But that's not what moves an application forward. What moves it forward is knowing what you actually want to say.
Through guided activities and structured sessions, you'll uncover the throughline that runs through your experiences — and learn to build scenes around it that give readers a complete, vivid picture of who you are.
"My feedback is focused and purposeful — I'm responding to what will move your essay forward, not line-editing every sentence. That's what keeps your voice in the work."
A guided process, not just editing. Every session uses structured activities to help you think, decide, and generate — not just receive feedback.
Clarity and structure without losing your voice. Word banks, outlining tools, and scaffolded drafting keep you moving forward — in your own language, at your own pace.
Built around what colleges actually look for. Growth over perfection. Showing, not telling. Specificity over summary. You'll learn the criteria — and how to meet them authentically.
Responsive, purposeful feedback. Between-session notes are targeted and forward-looking — focused on what will move your work to the next stage.
An essay that's genuinely yours. No ghostwriting, no over-polishing. When you do the writing — guided by a real process — you finish with work you're proud of and skills you'll carry forward.
Packages
A small-group workshop for 3–4 students. One process, one coach, shared energy.
The same structured process, entirely one-on-one.
An on-ramp for new students, and targeted sessions for returning ones.
About
For more than 25 years, I taught high school English in Los Angeles — at a school that served students from all walks of life. I watched students with the same curiosity and capacity for a compelling story have completely different experiences with the college application process, simply based on what support they could access.
I now work remotely, bringing that same approach to students across the country. This process is for any college-bound student — any transcript, any background, any goal — who wants to show colleges not just what they've done, but who they are.
The process
You don't have to know what to write about before we start. This process is built to help you find your throughline first — so that by the time you sit down to draft, you already know what you want to say, why it matters, and how the scenes fit together.
Before session 1
Before we meet, you'll work through a curated set of guided exercises — developed and refined over years of working with students — in a shared document. These aren't open-ended writing prompts. Each one is designed to surface something specific: a value, a pattern, a moment, a way of seeing the world. Together they build a portrait. The goal isn't a draft. It's discovery.
You engage with the exercises that resonate most — there's no single right path through the material.
Brainstorming
Your coach arrives having already read everything — with observations, connections, and ideas forming. Together you mine your prewriting for what's really there.
Outlining
Using your throughline and early draft, you and your coach build a structure together — so your scenes feel intentional and connected, not like a collection of unrelated moments.
Editing
With a full draft in hand, the focus shifts to what your essay is actually communicating — and whether each scene is doing the work it needs to do.
Refining
The final session is about craft — the specific moves that make your essay genuinely memorable. You leave with tools you can carry into every other essay in your application.
Most students who try to write the college essay without support don't fail because they have nothing to say. They stall because they can't see what's interesting about themselves, don't know how to structure it, and have no way to know if what they're writing is working. This process solves all three — at every step.
Without support
With Unwritten Potential
Book a free 20-minute call to talk through where you are and whether this is the right fit.
Packages
Every package follows the same structured process — curated prewriting, guided sessions, and feedback designed to move your work forward at every stage. The difference is in the setting, the pacing, and the level of individual attention.
Full packages
Four sessions, prewriting materials, and individual feedback — everything you need to go from blank page to a finished draft that's genuinely yours.
Group · 3–4 students
Total for the group.
One process, one coach, shared energy.
A small-group workshop where you work through the full process together — finding your throughline, shaping your scenes, and leaving with a complete, revised draft that's unmistakably yours. Sessions are structured so you share only what you choose. Your essay stays yours.
What's included
This is a good fit if...
You work well with peers around, want the energy of a shared process, or are looking for the most accessible entry point. Groups often form naturally — friends, teammates, students from the same school.
Group sessions are structured so the personal nature of your essay is always protected. You workshop selected excerpts and apply feedback to your full essay independently.
Individual
One student, one coach.
The full process, entirely yours.
The same structured process as The Essay Intensive — four sessions, curated materials, and feedback at every stage — with every hour of session time focused entirely on you, your throughline, and your scenes.
What's included
This is a good fit if...
You prefer working one-on-one, want sessions that flex to your pace and process, or have a story or application situation that benefits from undivided attention at every stage.
New students · On-ramp
The Jumpstart is the first two sessions of the Individual Intensive — a complete, standalone experience that takes you from blank page to a clear direction and a draft-ready outline.
New students
2 sessions.
From blank page to draft-ready.
A focused two-session experience built around finding your throughline and shaping your first scenes. You'll arrive at session 1 having already done guided prewriting — and leave session 2 with a clear direction, a draft-ready outline, and confidence that your material is enough.
What's included
Want to keep going?
Loved the Jumpstart? Apply your $150 toward The Essay Intensive: Individual and continue into sessions 3 and 4 — plus two hours of individual feedback — for an additional $400. Total investment: $550, saving $50 off the full package price.
This is a good fit if...
You want to experience the process before committing to the full intensive, or you're earlier in your timeline and just need a strong direction and outline to start drafting from.
Returning students
These sessions are available to students who have completed The Essay Intensive or The Essay Intensive: Individual. You already know the language, the materials, and the process — these build directly on that foundation.
Structure
For a new essay prompt or school that needs its own structure. You bring existing material; we build a fresh outline together.
Supplements
Focused work on school-specific supplements using material you've already generated.
Flexible
No set agenda — you bring what you need. For students who know exactly what kind of support they're looking for.
Book a free 20-minute call. We'll talk through where you are and figure out together what kind of support makes the most sense.
About Jamie
For more than 25 years, I taught high school English in Los Angeles — and one of my favorite things was always the college essay. Not because it was easy, but because it was the moment students got to stop performing and start showing who they are beyond the transcript — and sometimes, who they're becoming.
I taught at a school that served students from all walks of life: families with significant resources, families navigating tight budgets, and everyone in between. I watched students with the same curiosity and the same capacity for a compelling story have completely different experiences with the college application process — simply based on what support they could access.
I carried that with me. I spent years developing materials to help every student find their throughline, build scenes around it, and generate enough material to use across every part of their application — from the personal statement to supplemental essays to short answers.
"My goal is for every student to feel capable, supported, and genuinely proud of what they've written — not just submitted."
I now work remotely, bringing that same approach to students across the country. I stay current on the field — including the evolving conversation about AI in college admissions — because the students I work with deserve guidance that's honest, informed, and genuinely theirs. This process is for any college-bound student — any transcript, any background, any goal — who wants to show colleges not just what they've done, but who they are.
On authenticity
Students don't need to invent something impressive. They need help seeing what's already there — the values, patterns, and moments that add up to a genuinely compelling story.
On my role
My feedback is focused and purposeful — responding to what will move the essay forward, not line-editing every sentence. That's what keeps your voice in the work.
On outcomes
Students who do the writing themselves — guided by a real process — finish with work they're proud of and skills they can carry into every other essay they'll ever write.
On access
Pricing is set deliberately to make this process accessible to students who need it — not only those who can pay thousands for it. Every student deserves to feel prepared.
On every student
This process isn't designed for the student chasing prestige. It's designed for the student who wants to show colleges who they actually are — and trust that the right places will recognize it.
On the process
The activities, the sessions, the scaffolding — none of it constrains the writing. It frees students from the paralysis of the blank page so they can actually say something true.
I carried my awareness of the gap in access with me when I left Los Angeles. Students in under-resourced schools and communities across the country navigate the college application process without the support that so many others have available to them.
The next chapter of this work involves taking this process directly into those communities — through grants, partnerships with schools and organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, and free workshops for students who would never otherwise have access to this kind of support.
The work happening here is building the foundation for that.
Book a free 20-minute call to talk through where you are and whether this is the right fit.
Get in touch
Have a question about a package, not sure where to start, or just want to talk through whether this is the right fit? Reach out — there's no pressure and no obligation.
Free 20-minute call
Book a free call and we'll talk through where you are in the process, which package might be the right fit, and what to expect. No commitment required.
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That's exactly what the free call is for. Twenty minutes, no pressure, just a conversation about where you are and where you want to go.
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