Nancy Fries | College Essay Advising

YOUR ESSAY, YOUR VOICE

"Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others."

"How will your unique experiences or background enhance the diversity of our university?"

"What is square one, and can you ever really go back to it?"

SAY WHAT?

Chances are, these college essay prompts leave you with no idea where to begin or what to say. Yet your essays are a critical part of your application—your last chance to distinguish yourself from other students with similar grades, test scores, and extracurricular involvement. That’s where I come in. I help high school seniors and transfer students with this daunting part of the college admission process.

I guide you through a process of personal growth and self-reflection to find what’s truly unique about you. Even if you think you have nothing to write about, I help you develop essays that capture your reader’s attention from the very first sentence and bring your application to life.

C O N T A C T

WHAT STUDENTS SAY

"I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.

You seriously have such a cool impact on young adults’ lives,

and I am very grateful!"

Charlie, UT Austin '19, Chicago Booth School of Business '26

ESSAY ADVISING

BRAINSTORMING: A highly personalized one-on-one meeting to explore topics for the Common Application essay, University of California personal insight questions, and other college essays. I help you write essays that enhance your application by illustrating who you are and how you’ll contribute to the college community.

DRAFT REVIEW: Unl imited feedback via Google Docs on the flow of the story, the details provided, and the overall effectiveness.

COPYEDITING: A final polish of grammar and punctuation.

STREAMLINING THE PROCESS: You may need to write as many as 15 or more essays for all your college applications. I help you find the overlap between essay requirements and modify completed essays to fit multiple prompts, reducing the number of original essays you need to write.

APPLICATION REVIEW

Review of activity descriptions and other elements of your application to highlight your contributions and accomplishments.

LETTERS OF CONTINUED INTEREST

For students who are deferred, assistance with letters stating ongoing interest in admission.

WHAT PARENTS SAY

"Nancy likes working with young people, spends the time to get to know your child, and guides them to write in a way that captures their voice and focuses on what is unique about them. Her process works because she breaks it down into meaningful and manageable steps. She navigates the student and parent in a way that honors the student's privacy and the parent's need to know that progress is happening. An unexpected bonus is that she suggested a school that turned out to be the one."

Trish, parent of Emily, University of Richmond | '22 |