COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
Essay
Coaching
MY COACHING METHOD
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Discovery
By listening to my student’s multi-faceted life stories, we are able to co-create a map of narrative possibilities for compelling, unique essays.
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WRITing + Imagination
Next, we engage the visual imagination and begin crafting stories in vivid, stirring language with a strategic approach that supports the goals of the essay.
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Refinement
The last step? After we’ve developed a strong draft, I work with students to refine and proofread their essays, ensuring the essay is concise and impactful.
THE ART OF THE ESSAY
College admissions essay writing is very different from writing a good paper for English class — it’s an art form. Strong, original college admissions essay writing requires students to mine their personal stories and emotions. On the page, the essay has to be strategic and authentic, showing off the student’s values, personality and intellectual acumen. It sounds hard, but with a good essay coach, the process can be rewarding.
My coaching style is encouraging, collaborative and instructive. I not only help students find the right story with a strategic approach, but also work with them to hone the structure of their sentences, paragraphs and the essay as a whole. Our work is process-oriented — we brainstorm, outline, write and revise together until we land on an exemplary, winning essay.
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SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS AND MATERIALS
In addition to the Common Application personal statement, many schools require students to write supplemental essays. For these essays, I help students research the college’s unique offerings (courses, academic programs, extracurricular programs, professors, etc.) and highlight the key reasons why both student and college are a good fit for each other. Additionally, I work with students on other supplemental materials when applicable, such as artist statements, activity lists, resumes, and portfolios.
ARTS PROGRAM APPLICANTS
With a background in Art History and Critical Studies, I specialize in working with students applying to arts programs (both at traditional colleges and universities as well as art schools). We work together to craft nuanced, critically informed artist statements, essays, portfolio piece titles and descriptions with language that fully captures the conceptual intent of the work.
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STAYING ON TRACK
Helping students stay on track to meet deadlines for multiple schools is an important part of my coaching work. After years in this field, I have a strong sense of how much time is required to write and finalize each school’s application deliverables. Working together, we minimize stress around deadlines by creating a meeting schedule customized around application due dates.
Working Together
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Book 60, 90, or 120 minute sessions online.
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A comprehensive package helps students stay on track to finish multiple essays on deadline.
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With a monthly subscription, we meet 1 - 2x per week for 120 minutes per session. Each session is determined by the student’s goals and needs.
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For students who have already had at least one session with me, I offer additional editing and proofreading services.
VIRTUAL SESSIONS — FROM ANYWHERE
Each essay session is a collaborative process. We meet via Zoom and simultaneously use a shared Google Doc as a canvas for brainstorming, outlining, writing and editing. Sessions spanning 90-120 minutes are ideal for digging in, focusing and making substantial progress toward the essay goal.
The reasons
Why work with a college admissions essay coach?
You’re unfamiliar with the college admissions process
You don’t know where to begin
You find it challenging to craft a compelling, concise story
You feel overwhelmed by all of the different ideas and don’t know which story is appropriate
You have a hard time staying on track
You’re not sure how to edit and refine
You thrive with external structure to hold you accountable
Parent / student conflict about the essays and staying on schedule is stressful
You’re applying to competitive colleges and know your essays need to be outstanding
Your test scores, grades, and extracurriculars aren’t exceptional, so you need your essay help you stand out
To learn more about how Essay Art can help, set up an initial free consultation.
Who we are
Annie Connole has been working as a college admissions essay tutor for several years, including work with InArt, a private college preparatory institute in Los Angeles. Students she has worked with have been admitted to their top college choices, including USC, UCLA, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Washington University, Boston University, Tufts University, Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington and more.
In addition to tutoring, Annie has worked as a strategist at advertising and public affairs firms since 2007, where she advised companies, start-ups, and government institutions on their communications and brand positioning. With this expertise and business acumen, Annie brings a unique, strategic lens to essay planning and structure, with an eye toward maximizing audience impact.
Annie’s formal training in the art of the essay culminated in a MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Nonfiction from University of California, Riverside - Palm Desert. Her essays have been published in critically acclaimed journals including, The Rumpus, Alta Journal and others. Her first book, The Spring: A Mythic Memoir was published by Chin Music Press in 2021 and named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2021-22 by Entropy Magazine.
Annie’s undergraduate work at The New School University focused on Critical Studies in the Arts. With this background in aesthetic theory and art history, Annie is highly skilled in helping applicants to art programs at top universities write their artist statements, portfolio descriptions, and supplemental essays in context of art historical movements and philosophies.
Raised by a family of teachers, Annie enjoys working with students to build their confidence in the art of storytelling and dexterity with language. She meets kids where they’re at — helping them grow into tenacious writers, all while producing outstanding essays that cut through the noise and open doors.
Annie is based in Southern California, but works with students virtually in any geographical location.
Students I’ve worked with have been admitted to their top school choices including USC, Cornell, the University of California schools (UCLA, UCSD, UCI, UCSB), Washington University, Tufts University, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington College and more.
SUCCESS STORIES
testimonials
“It was my pleasure to have Annie as my college essay tutor. She enabled me to make my essays feel genuine through engaging conversations.”
— Eric, USC
“With the help of Annie, I was able to fully capture myself in my college essays. Thanks to her, I was able to get into my dream school!”
— Sooah, Washington University
“Annie has helped me to better my writing in many ways. She is extremely supportive and gives space to express your individual identity within your writing. Annie further provided me with helpful constructive criticism to improve my writing style and structure. ”
— Evelyn, Washington University
LET’S CHAT.
BOOK A FREE 30 MINUTE CONSULTATION WITH ME.
