How the course works:
This online video course offers counselors a values-based approach for guiding their students to producing not only a stand-out Common Application, activities list, and additional information section, but also the supplemental essays that most selective schools require.
Each week, you’ll watch pre-recorded video lessons that cover everything I’ve learned from years of guiding students through this process.
You’ll complete a few coaching exercises (AKA homework) in between sessions.
Then, you’ll watch a recorded Q&A session to synthesize and answer questions on what you’ve learned.
Course Modules:
Module 1 - How to Create an Inspired Application in Half the Time
Module 2 - The Activities List, Additional Info, and "Why Us?'"Essay
Module 3 - The Extracurricular Essay
Module 4 - Specific Supplemental Essays
Module 5 - Short Answers + More Supplemental Essays
Module 6 - How to Make Sure an Application Is Doing Its Job
Bonus Modules - The Rest of the College Application
YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:
Help students discover what matters most, brainstorm essay topics, and get them inspired to write.
Help students outline and write (basically) every required supplemental essay.
Help your students articulate their intellectual interests and the ideas that keep them up at night.
Help your students craft an activities list that shows growth and impact.
Guide your students to painting a complete picture of who they are.
Help your students stay organized and manage essay drafts with a whole suite of resources.
THE COUNSELOR TRAINING PROGRAM
PART ONE:
HOW TO WRITE an OUTSTANDING PERSONAL STATEMENT
25+ Video Modules & 14+ Sample Essays - LEARN MORE
PART TWO:
HOW TO CREATE A COMPELLING COLLEGE APPLICATION + SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAYS
30+ Video Modules & 30 Sample Essays
30+
VIDEO LESSONS
You'll develop a big picture strategy, help students brainstorm essay ideas, analyze applications that worked, and get all the tools for creating a compelling application.
30+
SAMPLE ESSAYS
Read great example activities list descriptions and dozens of inspiring example essays that do an awesome job, plus a few awesome sample college applications.
6+
hours of PRerecorded Q&A Sessions
Review the course material, get answers to your questions, connect with your colleagues, and more.
300+
Colleges
We'll cover the most common supplemental essay topics required by hundreds of colleges, including those quirky essay topics required by the most highly selective colleges.
1
goal
Help students create an outstanding college application.
Here's what a few people have said:
THANK YOU! You are a wonderful teacher and your love for college essay writing is so apparent. You helped many of us connect with & write our deepest stories and for that I am very grateful. I'm really excited about the new tools I have to help my students write their essays. I loved this course so so much! :)
-Bekkah, High School Counselor
“This course provides much of what it took me 38 years to gain through firsthand experience in the business. Taking it will help anyone looking to hone an important part of their college counseling skills with the goal of truly helping students.”
- Dawn B. Independent Consultant
As a counselor I appreciate how I can replicate (or try really hard to replicate) your sessions because you’ve outlined and scripted it all. We need scripts until we embed practices and make them our own.Ethan, you are so completely thorough; I love that!
-Sunita Takhar, Counselor
“For the first time in my eight years of college counseling, I am beginning to get a handle on how to assist my students with the essay writing process. I am extremely grateful to be given tools that I can both relate to and apply with my students. I will listen to Ethan present every time I am given the opportunity — he is that good!!!”
“Ethan you are so approachable and fun to listen to. You care deeply about your work and the students. You are an inspiration. ”
“I’ve done a lot of courses, and this was the best so far. The PDFs are great, as are the links. I’m printing all of it and will make a binder for reference.”
Module 1: How to help students Create an Inspired Application in Half the Time
Sample Application: How Doing a Thorough Job on the Brainstorming Activities Can Set Up a Great Application
A Relatively Quick and Totally Free Way to Figure Out Which Essay Topics Overlap
The Overlapping Game (or) How Doubling--or Tripling, or Quadrupling!--Essays for Multiple Prompts Can Yield a “Super Essay”
A Sample Super Essay
How to Write a Super Essay
Module 2: The Activities & Awards List, Additional Information Section, The "Why Us" Essay
5 Tips for the Activities & Awards List
The Difference Between an Outstanding Activities and Awards List and a Really Good One
Activities You May Not Have Considered Including—But That Count!
“Stretching the Truth” on the Activities List: A Cautionary Tale
How to Up-Level the Activities and Awards List in Three Steps
What One Should (and Shouldn’t) Include in the Add’l Info Section
How an Add’l Info Section Can Make the Difference in the Application
The Complete Guide to the "Why us" Essay
3 Great "Why Us" Essays You've Never Read and Why They're Awesome
Module 3: The Extracurricular Essay
The Difference Between a Regular and a “Super” Extracurricular Essay
Eight Mistakes Students Make on Their Extracurricular Essays
A Three-Step Process to Show Students How to Avoid All Those Mistakes
Helping Students Write a Narrative Extracurricular Essay
Helping Students Write a Montage Extracurricular Essay
How to Apply These Approaches to Almost Any Supplemental Essay
Helping Students Write a Great "Community" Essay
Three Great Sample “Community” Essays
Module 4: The supplemental Essays
Helping Students Write the "Why X Major" Essay
Helping Students Write the Stanford “Idea or experience that makes you excited about learning” Essay
Helping Students Write the Stanford “Roommate” Essay
Helping Students Write the Stanford “What's meaningful to you and why?” Essay
Helping Students Write the "Create Your Own Class" Essay
Four Tips for the Quotation Essay
Helping Students Write the "Diversity" Essay
Lots more
Module 5: Short Answers & More Supplemental Essays
Six Techniques for Helping Students Write the 150-Word Extracurricular Essay
Three More 150-Word Extracurricular Essays I Love, and Why
The High-Flyer Method: How to Write a Next-Level 150-Word Extracurricular Essay If Your Students Have a Perfect GPA, Test Scores, Ridiculous Extracurriculars and Have Nothing to Prove
How to Make the Short Answers Awesome
A Stanford-Worthy Set of Short Answers And What Makes Them So Good
A Creative Take on the “Where Have You Lived” Essay
How to Beautifully Answer the "Diversity" Essay
Module 6: How to Make Sure Your STudent's Application Is Doing Its Job
Content is So 🔥 I Can't Even Describe it Here
Bonus Modules: The Rest of the Application
18 Tips for Creating a Great Video
How to Create a Great College List
How to Get Great Teacher Recommendations
How to Guide Students Through the College Interview
Demonstrated Interest: A Brief and Practical How-To Guide
How to Turn the Common App Activities List into an Awesome Resume
Q&A Sessions: Ask Me Anything You Want
Get answers to a wide range of questions from the general to the specific, including
What timeline do you use when working with students?
Who should be accountable for which parts of the application? Who should be responsible? And what's the difference?
My student's "Why Us" essay still isn't quite "there" yet. What would you suggest?
What if someone else is giving a student advice that I strongly disagree with? What should I do?
Dozens more.
Plus, I give feedback on everything from the Activities Lists to several in-progress "Why us" essays.
The COURSE guide Includes:
Plus: 36 Sample Essays and 3 full sample applications
(3) Successful Sample Applications
(4) Great “Extracurricular” Essays
(2) Great Community Service Essays
(2) Great “Community” Essays
(2) Great “Intellectual Idea” Essays
(2) Great “Roommate” Essays
(2) Great “What Matters” Essays
(2) Great “Quotation” Essays
(2) Great “Create Your Own Class” Essays
(4) Great U of Chicago Extended Essays
(8) Great 150-Word Extracurricular Essays
(3) Great Sets of Short Answers
(3) Great “How I Spent My Summer” Examples
Bonus:
College Essay Guy’s Complete Guide to the “Why us” Essay (20 pages)
College Essay Guy’s Epic Activities Verbs List
A Dozen Brainstorming Activities, including:
My Favorite Supplemental Essay Brainstorming Exercises
Everything I Want Colleges to Know About Me
The Feelings and Needs Exercise
The Best Extracurricular Brainstorming Exercise
The Elon Musk Exercise
The “Why us” Research Chart
How to Develop a Preliminary College List
How to Organize All Your Essay Topics For Free
List of Potential “Super” Topics from Past Students
How to Write an Awesome Activities List
Activities You May Not Have Considered Including—But That Count!
How to Write the Additional Info Section
Which is right for you?
Best for counselors who have not taken these courses before or have fewer than 5 years experience
More time focusing on essential essay-focused skills (i.e., How Ethan brainstorms topics with actual students, Why outlining is important, A step-by-step guide to creating an outline, Helping students get started on a first draft, How to write a great opening, Tips for revising, etc.)
Less time spent in group conversation; more time spent presenting content
Less time addressing higher-level concerns (e.g., What impact will AI have on essays? What is “voice”?)
Best for counselors who have taken these courses before, or have 5+ years experience
More time spent in group conversation; a bit less time presenting content
More time addressing higher-level concerns (e.g., What impact will AI have on essays? What is “voice”?)
Less time spent on the basics
I signed up to take Ethan's course to learn some specific strategies in helping my students write better essays and hopefully, enjoy the process along the way. I learned amazing strategies PLUS so much more! The questions that Ethan asked us, as his students writing essays for our college applications, were invaluable in looking deep within ourselves and putting ourselves "out there" on paper, to speak from our truest selves and share our deepest stories. Ethan has a very special talent in teaching from his heart and it was apparent in every step of his class. I am grateful I had the opportunity to participate!
-Heidi, Counselor
“Whether you're new to college essay coaching or a seasoned professional, everyone can learn something from Ethan's course. As a participant, I gained so much insight into the more subtle aspects of coaching and how to really hear what students are saying -- and, even more important, what they may NOT be saying. The course is definitely worth the time and financial investment.”
- Julia B. Writing Coach
This course gave me a fresh approach for how to structure student sessions. From brainstorming to revising a first draft, the tools and resources made available during this course were invaluable to me! It's exciting to be able to put these new techniques in action in order to help my students write the best personal statements possible. In addition, the opportunity to write my own personal statement was not only wonderfully cathartic, but it helped me connect more to the struggles my students often experience while writing. Thank you so much for a fabulous course!
-Chelsea, Independent Counselor
Meet Your Guide
Ethan Sawyer is a nationally recognized college essay expert and sought-after speaker. Each year he helps thousands of students and counselors through his online courses, workshops, articles, products, and books, and works one-on-one with a small number of students. A graduate of Northwestern University, Ethan holds an MFA from UC Irvine, two counseling certificates, is certified in Myers-Briggs and hypnotherapy. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife, Veronica, and their amazing daughter, Zola.
In this online course, I distill the best and most effective resources I have ever found. I’ll personally walk you through how I guide students from "I feel totally lost" to "Wow. I love these essays."
"Listen to the Essay Guy! He has practical, useful tools for all college bound students to stand out in the crowd"
+ Supplemental Essays
Access is really important to me. In fact, it’s at the heart of most everything I do and is why so many resources on my site are free.
It’s why this course is available at Pay-What-You-Can for high school college counselors in schools, CBOs, or non-profits with small budgets and few resources for professional development.
“Wait, so if our counseling department doesn’t have a budget, we can still join?”
Yep. If that’s you, click on the orange buttons below to request a Pay-What-You-Can spot.
Want to help your students write their main personal statement, too?
TAKE Part I of my counselor training program: How to write an outstanding personal statement.
Help them find the right topic, get step-by-step guides to structuring their essay, and get tips on how to bring their essay to life.
On this course I’ll answer things like:
What’s the Purpose of the Personal Statement?
What are the Four Qualities of an Outstanding Personal Statement?
How do I help my student discover their deepest story?
How do I use the Montage and Narrative Structures to help my student outline their essay?
YOU MAY BE WONDERING (FAQ)
+What if I Still can’t afford it?
As with all my courses and resources, I have pay-what-you-can spots available for high school counselors that work with low-income students or have little to no budget for professional development resources at their school. Just click the orange button above.
+Can I use your materials with my students?
Absolutely! All that we ask is that you leave the logo and website on the materials. You can find more information here.
+How long do I have access to the recordings and materials?
You'll have lifetime access to all the course materials and live sessions recordings. If you ever find that you can't get back on your course, just email us and we'll send you the latest version.
+What if I hate the course? Can I get a refund?
Absolutely. If you've purchased and completed a course, ebook, product, or service and feel it didn't help you, just request a refund within 30 days of purchase date and it's yours.
+What if I have another question?
My FAQ page has you covered. Or, if you can't find the answer there, shoot an email to my team: **help@collegeessayguy.com**.
