It's What We Do
Each year, our team helps rising seniors craft outstanding college applications and essays, assisting them on their journey to amazing colleges and universities around the country . . . and the world.
Ready to get started? Reach out to your Program Advisor, or fill out the form linked above and we'll be in touch.
“Please go with CEG. The experience with this company is far more authentic, more reliable, and simply better than with anyone else. (Trust me, I tried other companies.) Nothing even comes close to the attention and vast support that your child will receive with CEG. I was terrified of college apps before. Working with CEG didn’t just help me get them done—it taught me that I can tackle even the things I’m scared of, and that’s a valuable lesson that you won’t get from another company.”
Lasya • Former Student
Here's how we help students stand out:
For more than a decade, we've been refining our one-on-one essay coaching process and guiding student through the five key phases needed to create outstanding essays and applications.
PHASE 1
Pre-Work
Yes, maybe you've already done some brainstorming, but this is arguably the most important part of the writing process. To make sure we get to know you really well and you aren't leaving important opportunities on the table, you'll complete 1-2 hours of pre-work, including a series of our most effective brainstorming exercises, a first draft of the Common App Activities List, and the Additional Info section.
PHASE 2
Brainstorming, Draft Review & Strategizing Topics
Once your pre-work is completed, we’ll review any initial drafts alongside your brainstorming activities, the parent questionnaire, and gather a few other details (your schedule, specialized programs, your writing/working style) and pair you with one of our amazing essay coaches, hand picked for you.
Your essay coach will help you develop a big picture strategy, including deciding or finalizing potential topics for your main personal statement and supplemental essays. You’ll also discuss initial outlines, so you have a solid framework to use as you write.
PHASE 3
Topic Check & Team Review
Before you get too deep into the drafting process, another experienced essay specialist on our team will review your topics to help make sure colleges are getting a variety of values/skills/qualities across your application.
The goal: Make sure you're focusing on a topic that helps you stand out and shares with colleges who you are.
PHASE 4
Bringing Your Stories to Life: Outlining, Drafting
& Revising
SPOILER: MOST OF THE MAGIC HAPPENS HERE
You'll meet with your essay coach regularly as many times as needed to draft, revise and polish your essays, Activities List, and Additional Information section.
Most students write between 5-10 drafts of the main personal statement and supplemental essays, but the number of drafts and sessions depends on a student's writing abilities, the number of essays they’re tackling, and (honestly) their appetite for re-drafting.
PHASE 5
Polishing & Team Review
Our mission is to ensure you feel really good about everything you're submitting.
When you and your coach feel the essays are getting close, you’ll create what we like to call your “Almost Done” doc (the finalized essays and application components for your colleges).
As part of our internal review process, another essay coach on the team will do a deep review of your nearly finalized essays one more time, offering final feedback before you submit. If necessary, you'll meet with your essay coach for a session or two to make final tweaks.
Meeting Frequency: On average, students spend at least 8-10 sessions with us, but may meet with us for as many as 15+ sessions if working on many schools with many essays. We find that meeting 1-2 times a week with our essay specialists is important for doing impactful and productive writing work. Students who are starting later or have unique scheduling needs can work with their essay specialist to develop a meeting plan that meets their needs, which may include more or less frequent meetings with their essay specialist at certain periods.
