Grad School Application Essay Coaching
Table of Contents
The MyGuru Edge for Essay Writing
MyGuru instructors are uniquely able to help students get into top notch graduate programs, because, in many cases, our tutors have completed those programs themselves. Rather than relying on the conventional perspective of one of the hundreds of former admissions officers now acting as educational consultants, our essay and admissions experts provide the direct perspective of a successful applicant and are able to use their experiences getting into top universities worldwide to help other students stand out from the applicant crowd.
Your essay coach will have storytelling experience outside of academia and be able to help you articulate your unique background in a narratively compelling fashion. We'll also do everything we can to ensure that you work with the same expert essay coach throughout your application process instead of being assigned to a rotating team of writers who aren't familiar with your voice and story. Your personal coach will get to learn about your story to help explain why you should be admitted over all of the other applicants who have filled out a cookie cutter template of what they read online or were told by a stereotypical admissions consultant that an application essay should be.
Of course, each of our essay coaches is a classically trained editor, possessing a degree in Communication, English, Journalism, or Literature. This is important, because ultimately one of the greatest values an essay coach can provide is the peace of mind knowing that no matter how much you go over the word count, your editor will be able to trim that content back within the guidelines.
Experts for Global Applications
While all MyGuru essay coaching is focused on gaining admission to graduate programs that are conducted in English, our experts have extensive experience working with students applying to schools in the United States from abroad and helping American students apply to schools elsewhere in the Americas as well as across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Most of our top essay coaches even have personal experience working or studying abroad that allows them to better understand the international application process and how to turn that aspect of an applicant's story into a major asset on an application essay.
No two students are the same, so no two MyGuru one-on-one essay coaching sessions are either. Using either our dynamic online whiteboarding tools or shared documents in the cloud, editing and brainstorming are recorded live by either the applicant or the coach. This way, applicants can focus on creativity rather stenography when they meet with their coach.
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Tell Your Grad School Story
Regardless of whether you are applying to business school, law school, for a Ph.D. or any other academic endeavor, the college application process is stressful and most people find it hard to sell themselves in the limited amount of words provided by the standard graduate school application essay or statement of purpose. Choosing an essay coach who is able to help you through this challenge for one or more applications is a major decision and we always start with a free introductory conversation before any payment is collected. While we can also conduct a phone call, we recommend a videoconference as it allows a greater opportunity to share exactly what separates MyGuru's experts from all other essay coaches. In that videoconference potential students will be able to:
- Screenshare live with an experienced MyGuru essay coach to learn how our online editing tools can be used and to better understand the differences between our standard and premium online essay coaching offers
- Share the essay prompt(s) you need to address and any rough drafts you might have to give fuller context regarding what you need from a potential coach and determine whether the work you've done so far is viable as a first draft or if it might be preferable to brainstorm with your coach as a first step before creating a new draft from scratch
- Conduct a comfortable introductory conversation with your possible essay coach to determine whether the personality fit is good and whether that instructor seems well-positioned to guide this aspect of your application process
Application Essay Coaching Pricing & Package Options
At MyGuru, we believe on return on investment and do not require any commitment to start working together beyond purchase of a single hour of essay coaching. We offer several tiers of essay writing support and hours to maximize value. At each level, MyGuru students have gained admission (and merit-based aid!) from some of the top graduate programs in the United States and worldwide.
- Standard Online Essay Coaching | $130 per hour | $600 for 5 hours | $1,400 for 12 hours
Our most affordable option, and significantly lower cost than our most well-known admissions consultants, MyGuru Standard Online essay coaching is uniquely tailored to each student's needs by an instructor with thousands of hours of tutoring experience. - Premium Online Essay Coaching | $200 per hour | $900 for 5 hours | $2,100 for 12 hours
Our best value, MyGuru Premium Online essay provides full recording of every coaching session to watch back for up to three months after the final session and a private read/write whiteboard where students can upload drafts of their essays to post questions or comments in between lessons to maintain contact with their coach. Coaches will check the board at least once a day to respond as warranted. - Expert Edge Online Essay Coaching | $250 per hour | $1,125 for 5 hours | $2,600 for 12 hours
Seeking to offset or explain subpar academic performance with a stellar essay or two? Consider premium online essay coaching with MyGuru's Director of Instruction, Stefan Maisnier, who has 20 years of experience helping students write captivating essays on a variety of prompts that have helped past students gain admission to top graduate programs at Cambridge, Cornell, Harvard, Hong Kong University, INSEAD, Northwestern, Oxford, Stanford, University of Chicago, and Yale among others.
Our packages are designed with flexibility in mind to facilitate essay coaching sessions of 60, 90, or 120 minutes depending on student availability and preference. Once a package of time is purchased, the cost for any additional time will remain at the prorated hourly package rate. We also refund unused hours minus a 5% processing fee and consider time unused provided at least 24-hour notice is given prior to a lesson for any reschedule or cancellation request.
Although it isn't recommended because all modern application essays are produced and submitted digitally, and it lacks the dynamic features allowed by online coaching sessions, in-person essay coaching is available in many major US cities upon request, at the same prices as our Premium Online instruction, pending local availability.
Your Application Essay Guru
The MyGuru grad school essay coaching team is led by our Director of Instruction, Stefan Maisnier. Stefan's bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Southern California and master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University along with his experiences in live (Emmy-nominated!) sports television production at ESPN and Fox Sports, international relations at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, France, and academics at Northwestern and City Colleges of Chicago have allowed him to develop a uniquely engaging writing style that he enjoys sharing with each of his students.
While Stefan hasn't worked in journalism full-time in a long time, he hasn't lost the ability to ask gently probing questions to help find that special angle or detail that can best articulate what makes each applicant's candidacy uniquely compelling. He also effectively wields his editing pen to ensure that no essay prompt word count is too small to effectively communicate what a student should to garner interest from the admissions committee at any target graduate program.
Stefan is proudest of keeping in touch with many of his past students and becoming good friends with a few. He enjoys the personal touch that essay coaching allows most, because it lets him help students overcome personal doubts on the path to academic success and is always ready to supportively ask for one more draft because "getting into a top graduate school is supposed to be hard!"
Making Application Deadlines
Applying to graduate school is a serious commitment, so hopefully you're not facing imminent deadlines as you consider how to make your application essay(s) shine. That said, our team is used to working on tight deadlines and since most of our essay coaches have a background producing narrative content for legacy media outlets, they are used to working under a time crunch to efficiently find creative solutions to whatever writer's block you might be dealing with.
However, having a bit more time to work with is ideal and provided you have at least a month before your next application deadline your essay coach will set out a longer calendar for drafting, revising, and finalizing your work. Your coach can even help to prioritize multiple essays and use brainstorming efforts for one prompt to help generate ideas and content that might work for another. Whatever your application situation is, a MyGuru essay coach will make sure that this part of your packet becomes a true asset that you relish working on rather than the part of your application that is perpetually procrastinated.
More Grad School Application Resources
Phone
Chicago: 312-278-0321
info@myguruedge.com