Now more than ever, colleges want to admit students who have compelling interests. The essay is your opportunity to weave together the threads of your experience, interests, and excellence into a narrative that tells your story.
But: What’s your story? How do you tell it? How do you make it sound like you?
We help you write a Common App essay that compels your reviewer to put down her coffee ☕, lean forward in her chair, and read every word closely--then share it with a colleague.
what we do
we work with students 1:1 to find & tell their stories. while we tailor each session to our needs, we commonly help you:
Find your stories--and the most compelling angles to tell them from
Apply principles of story structure to make your essays memorable
Translate your voice into your writing
Clarify and showcase your strengths
Polish your copy
Our Team
Sarah Dillard
Sarah Dillard is the founder of Kaleidoscope Education and a graduate of Harvard Business School (MBA), the Harvard Kennedy School (MPP), and Duke University (BA, magna cum laude). She attended these institutions on full tuition merit scholarships as an A.B. Duke Scholar, Reynolds Fellow, and George Fellow. Her ability to capture her experiences and interests in writing was central to these admissions successes. She received a perfect 800 on the SAT writing and is a published and award-winning writer.
Edie Abraham-Macht
Edie Abraham-Macht is a teacher and curriculum developer with Kaleidoscope Education and a Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of Yale University (‘22).
At Yale, Edie had a 3.95 GPA and majored in American Studies and Education Studies. She has been lauded in high school and at Yale for her writing abilities (creative writing and narrative/expository essays). While in college, she frequently tutored both K-12 students and her college peers in writing. She received a perfect 36 on the ACT writing and is a published and award-winning writer.
Our Impact
45% of our alumni attend a top-25 college or university in the US
18% attend a top-10 college or university in the US
selected institutions our alumni attend
Our Perspective
18% of our summer program alumni attend a top-10 college or university and 45% attend a top-25 in the U.S.
What we’ve learned from our students & from interviews with college admissions officers at top-25 schools is that colleges want to admit compelling applicants—ones that have a demonstrated interest, make an impact, and tell those stories well.
This is good news! It means that the key to college admissions success is to, in the words of our alumni Leila Wass, now a student at Harvard University, “Be more you”
For more on our perspective, download our report “Intrinsic Admissions: How to Invest Your time To Get into Your Reach School”
Our Partners
We partner with the Rise Fellowship, a global talent search for exceptional high school students, backed by Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, providing workshops to their finalists to help them tell their stories.
Logistics & Pricing:
1:1 sessions are conducted online via Zoom or similar
60 minute sessions are US $175 each
Payment is due at booking (we’ll send a link!); all major credit cards accepted
48 hour cancellation policy & 24 hour rescheduling policy (within those windows, you forfeit payment)
