Writing the College Essay
The team at CTK college coach has helped hundreds of students find their voice and write an essay that will stand out from the pack. Getting your ideas organized can be half the battle. Our team helps students brainstorm and track all of their essay topics so they can be used throughout the supplemental essay writing process.
Why might my student need an essay package if they’ve written their college essay in English class?
Many junior year English teachers provide class time and some coaching for writing the personal essay toward the end of the school year. This is wonderful! Our experience is that often these essays either are written on a topic that does not highlight the student’s authentic self and/or are in need of major restructuring and heavy editing.
The CTK team will review your student’s school essay to provide feedback on whether they will need a personal essay package or only 1-2 hourly sessions for coaching (or nothing!). Schedule a free consultation to get started.
Meet our Experienced Writers
Words and stories are at the center of Stephanie’s foundation. With an undergraduate degree in English Literature and Theater from Shepherd University, she has enjoyed a robust career as a professional actor in commercial voiceover, while continuing to develop her personal creative writing at the same time. She has coached and consulted for comedy writers, playwrights and screenwriters, and served as a beta reader for novels. Her collaborative and creative spirit allows her to connect easily with her students. Stephanie has a knack for helping to unlock a young writer’s authentic voice to shape their own personal stories, with keen insight on how to refine a piece for maximum impact.
Christina’s great joy is in coaching students to uncover and articulate their stories. She honed her writing and finely tuned editing skills as an undergraduate Philosophy and Religious Studies major at Stanford, as an editor for the Columbia Law Human Rights Journal, and as a lawyer in private practice published, inter alia, in the New York Law Journal. She now particularly enjoys writing the personal essay, having published essays on topics ranging from ethics to theology to parenting. Christina’s gift is in seeing the best in each student– she firmly believes everyone has a compelling story to tell– and in teaching the student the skills to ideate, write, and edit a well-written piece.
Rachel is a writer and filmmaker with a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She’s been teaching and tutoring writing and verbal test prep since she was in grad school. Rachel loves connecting with students on an intellectual and personal level to help them tell their stories in their authentic voice. Because of the unconditional support that students feel, they end up taking risks and rising to the challenge of getting their writing to the next level. For Rachel, college essay tutoring helps students get into college, but just as importantly, it helps them know themselves better and become critical thinkers and better writers.
College Essay Writing Testimonials
“Rachel worked with my twin daughters on their personal statements for college. She was a phenomenal coach and support during this college application process. Rachel is warm, dedicated, and immensely skilled. My daughters loved working with her and looked forward to every session. They trusted her and felt encouraged every step of the way. Rachel also figured out the strategies that worked well for each of them and got them to write their absolute best work. None of us can imagine going through this process without her and we are so incredibly grateful to her. I cannot recommend Rachel more highly!”
“CTK was incredibly helpful. We worked with Christina and Rachel Eskin Fisher, for targeted test prep and essay writing, respectively. With her experience and through asking the right questions, Christina also coached us through the college/university admissions landscape to create an exciting list. From my teen: “Rachel took the time to get to know me. She helped me write an essay that was really strong and also true to me and my voice.” Highly recommend CTK and the whole team!”
“It was really helpful to have someone like Stephanie who could help my son and gave him the right amount of pushing to get his work done. She helped him organize his thoughts around a few topics for the essay and then helped him to realize it into something special. I am forever grateful to this top notch team. They are so communicative and caring and go the extra mile for all their clients.”
“I highly recommend Stephanie for help writing college essays! As a senior in High School, it’s time for college applications and the essays were by far the most stressful part for me. Stephanie really helped me form my ideas into words and helped me perfect my essays while still making sure it’s my voice being heard. She’s so kind and wonderful and I appreciate all of her help. The college application process was so much easier with her there to guide me.”