How you tell your story makes a difference
My students have been accepted to every Ivy League and Top 20 school in the country. They have been awarded Fulbright and Questbridge scholarships, won essay contests that flew them to Oxford, and have won grants that help them change the world, from teaching financial literacy in Los Angeles to running a filmmaking camp for refugees in Jordan.
The old maxim of writing, "Know Thy Reader" is something I take seriously. What exactly admissions officers are looking for can feel confusing and unattainable, which is why I've put so much time and focus into studying what actually goes on in admissions offices when they read your essay. And when I hear good feedback from admissions officers, I know I'm doing my job well. An MBA admissions officer at Cornell told my student his essays were "Fantastic!" and a UChicago admissions officer e-mailed my student's counselor just to say how much she loved my student's essays.
Results
See a comprehensive (but not exhaustive) list of universities and institutions my students have been accepted to below.
Bank of America Student Leaders
UC Berkeley
Brown (BS/MD)
UCLA
Carnegie Mellon
UChicago
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
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UMichigan
MIT
UNC Chapel Hill
Northwestern
Notre Dame
NYU
Fulbright Scholarship
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Georgetown
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Hunter College High School
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UPenn
Princeton
Questbridge Scholarship
Rice
USC
Stanford
Swarthmore
UT Austin
Tufts
Vanderbilt
UVA
WashU
Yale
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-KJ, accepted to Cornell
Testimonials
Until you find someone that really knows what you need to do, you will waste money and time. With Tara, she helped my son hone in on his strengths and guide him with feedback to build out a top notch essay (yes we will keep working with her). If you take education and entry into higher end colleges seriously, you will be very happy to have someone like Tara help your daughter/son.
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-Jonathan, father of son accepted to Colby College
I was not receiving good feedback from my English professor just generic comments. Tara reviewed my paper and gave the same feedback, but she explained her feedback and explained how to address the issues. With just a few lessons, I learned more from Tara than I did from my college English Professor after an entire semester.
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- Brad, college student
I was struggling with my personal essay, and was 4 days away from my deadline for college applications. Tara did a phenomenal job in helping me completely rewrite my essay and edit it in 2.5 hours. I cannot stress enough that she is very different from all other tutors that I've worked with in the past. Tara knows exactly how to make your personal essay stand out to admissions officers from her experience in interviewing them, which can be a very powerful insight. Tara is the best tutor I've ever worked with, and I cannot thank her enough.
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-Eddie, accepted to Cornell and Carnegie Mellon
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The rapport that Tara built with me throughout our sessions was incredible! I felt like I was jumping through flaming hoops with the help of Tara's magical editing skills. I remembered showing my college English professor an essay that Tara and I had previously worked on. He said, "John, this essay is beautiful." The essay was so compelling that he started crying! Yes you heard that right! Before I started working with her, I was reluctant to put trust into someone who would be looking over my essays - having had a few unpleasant experiences in the past. She is kind, polite, and was super understanding of my busy schedule. I learned and gained so much confidence in my writing skills after working with her. Couldn't have asked for anyone better to work with. Thank you Tara!
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-John, accepted to Stanford, Yale, and Princeton
Tara helped me with the entire college essay writing process from brainstorming to editing to proofreading. She made the process so much easier and less stressful. I am so happy with how my essays turned out. She made them concise, creative, and really helped me highlight the important parts of my application. Thank you so much, Tara!
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-K.J., accepted to Cornell
At first, I was so confused about how to write my supplemental essays for my college applications. However, Tara made sure to help me along the way and even went as far as researching the school to find additional information for the "Why this school" essays. She is extremely knowledgable and makes sure to not waste time on trivial things. She was able to help me with 4 essays in one lesson once.
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- Lena, accepted to University Of Pennsylvania
Tara has helped me patiently with writing an application into Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. During the induction ceremony in front of hundreds of students in the auditorium my story was chosen by the Dean to read aloud to all of the students. I was very proud.
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With Tara's assistance, I was accepted into Cornell University's Executive MBA Program! Throughout the rigorous application process, several comments were made regarding my essays and one even claimed they were "Fantastic." Tara's assistance with my essays was a great investment and I couldn't speak higher of her!
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- Katherine
-Cody, accepted to Cornell MBA
Saying that Tara was an immense help would fall short for the quality of work that she provided. She has a gift for writing, storytelling and clarifying ideas. The help that she provided allowed my brother’s essays to shine among the strongest applicants. Tara’s help enabled him to receive a full ride scholarship to a top 5 university in the nation.
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-Alberto, brother of student accepted to Stanford