Admissions Essays

Your Personal Statement, together with the Supplementary Essays in the Common App & Coalition App, can make it or break it when it comes to getting into the school of your dreams.

The Personal Statement holds the key to unlocking your unique presence in your college application. It’s your moment to shine and make a lasting impression on the Admissions Readers. Beyond the numbers, this essay unveils your personality, providing a dimension that exam scores and GPAs cannot capture.

Think of it as your opportunity to stand out, to be more than just a set of data. Your College Admissions Essay is a chance to offer something extraordinary, something that sets you apart and adds exceptional value to the college or university of your choice. Let’s craft a narrative that makes you unforgettable.

"If there is a track record of exceptional achievement, there’s a likelihood that that will continue into the future."

How I Guide A Student Through Admission Essays:

I offer comprehensive guidance to each student: from brainstorming and writing the first draft to re-writing, finding the perfect tone and style, and polishing the essay.

I provide time management supervision and make sure each step of the process is done on time.

We conduct a detailed initial discussion and practice 5-6 Core Exercises to get full clarity on the perfect topic (Usually a 2-hour discussion that in 90% of the cases is enough to determine the right topic of the essay).

I help students with portraying their innermost self: displaying their vulnerabilities and lessons learned in the most persuasive manner and creating depth and thoughtfulness in the essay coupled with a beautiful and original structure.

I provide each student with a comprehensive list of successful essays that are of the particular type the student plans to write about. The essays contain detailed explanations of structure and why they worked.

Once the topic and the general structure have been determined, I help the student with organizing their paragraphs, finding the most suitable style, perfecting the word choice, creating an effective hook at the beginning of the essay as well as figuring out the most suitable conclusion

How Do We Accomplish Success With Admission Essays?

To begin with, just follow this simple rule: Be yourself.

The admissions readers expect you to be yourself and, more importantly, to be your best self.

(This, of course, means that your own voice, your own opinion, and your own intuitions are more important in the writing process than the opinions of parents, older siblings, and friends).

Furthermore, in order to succeed you have to be your most inspired, most positive, most mature self.

How Does This Work?

Naturally, there are many ways to start your essay writing process, and many manuals exist on the Internet.

I offer you a practical, workable, and clear approach that I believe gives the best results in the shortest amount of time.

It has worked for me and for many other students. My students have successfully applied to UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Stanford, Boston University, Columbia University, and more.

It will work for you.

To begin with, I have put the 7 most important strategies that will guide you to ultimate success in the below video.

If you prefer to read about the process, please check out my article on How to ACE your College Admissions Essays in 7 Simple Steps!

What is the Final Step in the Process of Crafting a Superb Admissions Essay?

An experienced, empathic and creative tutor can help you express your best self in the most persuasive form. I engage in a deep and enjoyable discussion with you, study your psychological profile, and make sure that your greatest strengths and passions come to the surface and are expressed in a clear, concise, and inspired manner.

FAQs

Why is the Personal Statement Crucial?

Many students fail to make a great impression.

Not managing to write truly engaging and unique essay can cost you the spot at a top 15 university, EVEN IF the rest of your application is stellar.
There are 4 main blocks that a successful college application depends on. Your GPA, extracurricular activities and FOCUS, test scores, and Teacher Recommendations represent 3 of these blocks.

The fourth one is your Personal Statement. It lets the Admissions Reader a chance to get to know you personally, as a human being rather than a collection of grades and activities lists. Second, of no less importance, are the Supplemental Essays, which are specific to each school and vary widely in size, number and topics. (Some as weird as “How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared?” by University of Chicago)

How is our Admissions Essay Guidance Unique?

Each student is different. There is no single formula or recipe that works for all. Student have different life experiences, different personality types, different passions and ways of expressing themselves. Some are more comfortable opening up to complete strangers; others have many layers that must be peeled off first before they can show their true colors and shine.

Leveraging an extensive Psychology background, together with Literary degrees and knowledge about many different cultures, I am able to tune in to each student’s unique individuality and help them extpress their true voice.

In a series of deep discussions, we uncover the core of each individuality and the most powerful experiences that can create the most persuasive and emotionally compelling essay.

What My Students Say.

Sonya is an amazing person who made my way to UC Berkeley. She was the person to help me with editing the essay, preparing for the SAT and TOEFL. I wouldn't get in one of the best computer science universities without Sonya's help. I believe she is the best writer in this world because the way she expresses her emotions on a piece of paper is enchanting!! I honestly wish her luck in all her endeavors. 6/5!!!!!!!

UC BERKELEY, Computer Science, 2024Daniil S.

Sonya has helped me realize my dream of getting into my Ivy League dream school! Her pure heart, interesting unique personality and thoughtful perfectionist approach is what makes her so successful in helping other students all around the world to reach their goals and use their potential to the fullest. She has taught me how putting my thoughts on paper in a structured and creative manner can have a mind blowing effect on the reader. She has also shown me ways of how to use my language more precisely and sharply by telling my own story and using my own voice and style. I am beyond grateful for all the advice she had given me and I would recommend her to anyone who ever wants to improve their writing skills, master their standardized testing scores, write outstanding college essays or simply get a priceless advice from a real specialist. Sonya doesn’t only teach and show the way but she inspires in the ways I didn’t know existed.

UPENN, B.A ECONOMICS/ENGLISH 2024Kate V.

I’m a student from Russia, roughly 1,5 years ago I decided that I should continue my education in the United States and study at one of the American universities. My dream was to get into one of the Ivy League schools. Obviously, as a part of my application process, I had to take SAT General test. I’ve done some self preparation and scored 1450 - 700 for language and 750 for maths, and 5-2-6 for an essay on my first sitting. As it wasn’t quite enough for my target universities, I decided to find someone who would be able to help me improve my language score. That’s when I started working with Sonia. She thoroughly explained all the necessary concepts, showed me how to do tasks efficiently and where to pay extra attention. We also practiced a lot with essays, Sonia explained me how to properly structure the piece and which points to stress on the most. Just after 3 months of preparation with Sonia, I was able to score 1590 on my second sitting and 6-6-6 for an essay. Recently I’ve been admitted to Columbia University class of 2023. I believe that Sonia’s expertise, commitment and personal approach played a crucial role in my preparation, allowing me to score very high on SAT and to eventually get accepted to my dream school, and I can recommend her to anyone who wants to improve their skills of reading and writing in English.

COLUMBIA U, COMPUTER SCIENCE CLASS OF 2023DIMITRI Z.

I am so glad to finally find a teacher who works 200%, helping the student. In a month, Sonya managed to do what teachers at the best school in Russia could not do in a year. In just four incredibly informative, interesting, and understandable lessons, I managed to raise my SAT scores in the reading and writing parts by 200 points, which seemed to me unreleasitic before. Sonya also managed to prepare me for the IELTS exam in the shortest possible time. Her optimistic attitude, energy and responsible approach helped me achieve what I could not even dream of.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGOElizabeth K.

My students have gained admission into the following universities:

All my students have been admitted to top 50 schools, including Ivy League and Top 20 universities, such as Columbia, Upenn, Cornell, Duke, Brown, University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, NYU, USC, UPenn, UCLA, UC San Diego, King’s College London, Oxford University, Boston University, and many others.

Ready to embark on your journey to success? Let’s make it happen together – your dreams are waiting, and I’m here to guide you every step of the way! Are you in?

OPTIMIZE YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS WITH A MENTOR FROM STANFORD AND COLUMBIA UNIVERSITIES