College-essay workshops, 1-1 coaching, or read a book?
My high-school junior would like to get started on college application essays this summer and we're wondering whether it's worthwhile to enroll in one of the essay-writing workshops that various coaches seem to offer for brainstorming and writing sessions, whether the money is better spent hiring a coach to work with the student one-on-one, or whether anyone in this area still goes it alone (perhaps with the help of a good guidebook or website). There seem to be a lot of writing tutor recommendations on the site but I haven't seen recommendations for small-group workshops, which are appealing to my student. If your student has gone through a summer essay-writing workshop or class do you have any feedback/recommendations for one? And if your student hasn't worked with anyone but found a book or website to be particularly helpful in the process of writing, I'd love those recommendations too.
Parent Replies
It is a good idea to start working on it over the summer to reduce senior year stress. Autumn Stephens helped my daughter. In some ways it seemed liked counseling as much as writing help -- talking through what was important. My daughter also did a fair amount of work on her own. One thing I noticed was that the college she ended up going to was the one that had the prompt that was closest to her interests. Here's Autumn Stephen's email: autumnalstephens [at] gmail.com
Your question is very timely.
Berkeley High will be hosting a college essay workshop on the evening of May 30, so if your student is a BHS student, he/she can attend that workshop. A BHS college counselor and folks, including myself, who comprise the Berkeley High college app essay reading team will be leading that workshop.
Personally, I think 1:1 advising works best to help students choose topics that can add the most value to one's application, as well as to bring out each student's authentic voice. Independent writing coaches can help with that. In working with students individually, I find it helpful for the essay coach to also have a holistic view of the student so that the application "hangs together" and is cohesive.
Of course, there are plenty of printed resources that many students find helpful. One that was widely recommended by instructors of a college admissions certification program that I recently completed is collegeessayguy.com
Good luck
Elaine Chan
My son worked with Heather MacLeod for his college essays. He is accepted to many UCs and one UC with an Honors program. Heather is very kind and sweet and that made his whole college application a wonderful experience! Her email is hmactutor [at] gmail.com
I'd go for the 1-1 if you can afford it. This is such a turning point in your child's life. We found Lesley Quinn www.lesleyquinn.com to be kind of astonishing. Each essay from our son - who was not a writer, more science-y, was like a polished piece of memoir, and it was moving for both of us to read HIM writing so insightfully about these moments in his life. (She coached in great detail, but he wrote every word.) She's also highly organized, which he very much needed. The essays were a level far above what he would have done without her help, and he ended up proud and surprised - and he got into the places he was hoping for.