A little bit about me
In 2017, I graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in English and film. The following year, I became an AmeriCorps fellow at Match Charter School in Boston, where I tutored students one-on-one and helped out in the college admissions department. In 2019, I was awarded a Fulbright grant and taught English to over 500 students in the Czech Republic.
During my Fulbright grant, I was asked by several of my students to help them with personal essays for applications to American institutions and programs. Working with students to structure their aspirations and stories into an essay format was one of the highlights of my year in the Czech Republic, and I understood the power of writing in a new way: it has the potential to unlock a world of possibility for students from across the world.
I then began working full time with students as a writing tutor, mostly for high school students applying to college. Seven years later, I’ve spent 4,000+ hours tutoring over 400 students from all walks of life. One of my students survived a drive-by shooting outside of her school, another fled persecution in Myanmar and started a new life in the U.S. My student’s stories aren’t always so extraordinary, but through the techniques I developed, like the Dewdrop Method and conversational inquiry, I help them find depth and insight in even the most ordinary moments and make their writing process as easy as talking to a friend.
These approaches are now the basis for the courses and tools I'm building to offer my help on a larger scale.
Why I base everything I teach on what admissions officers say
My students will often tell me about the things they've heard about college essays.
"I saw a TikTok that said having an essay title for your personal statement helps it stand out."
"Someone told me that you shouldn't max out the word count because it will look lazy, like you didn't spend enough time editing."
The first question I ask them is, "Did this information come from an admissions officer, or does it reference something an admissions officer has said?" Nine times out of ten, the answer is no.
In order to provide my students with accurate information about the admissions process, I pay attention to what current and former admissions officers say. I read their books and blogs, and even interview them myself to get to the bottom of the most important question: "What are admissions officers looking for in a college essay?" The answer is different than what people expect.
→Read my blog post on what admissions officers look for in a college essay
→Read my interview with a Tufts admissions officer
The Dewdrop Method
My approach to helping students with the Common App personal statement
When admissions officer recall the essays that stuck with them, they are almost always about the little things: debates over pulp/no pulp orange juice at breakfast, observing pigeons or changing your seat on the train you take every morning. All of these are real essay topics that admissions officers remembered years after they read them, and it makes sense — it is the nature of our memory to recall the little, concrete things (the "Dewdrops") rather than the big, abstract stuff.
Yet, my students often think that admissions officers are looking for substantial topics. They believe they have to impress admissions officers and so they write impersonal, polished essays (or have ChatGPT write these essays for them). But when I asked my students to focus on something small and concrete — a person, a place, a thing, or a story — a vivid essay emerged, one that actually sounded like them and truly connected to their most deeply held values.
The Dewdrop Method is at the heart of how I work with students and the basis for my personal statement course, where I guide students through the method, from brainstorming to drafting to editing.
→ Learn more about the Dewdrop Method