Application & Essay Support

Why The Best U for Application & Essay Support?

A strong, personal application can set you apart.

The experienced admission professionals at The Best U have a proven-track record of supporting students in developing cohesive and compelling applications that highlights a student's strengths and unique attributes. Their experience comes from years of working in college admissions or working with college admissions counselors to understand what colleges want to see in applications. Our team provides individualized support to students with crafting strong application components that take advantage of every opportunity to express and enhance the story of who you are and what you will contribute to your college community. The Best U counselors know how to support students in moving through the sometimes overwhelming prospect of application writing in a focused, intentional way.

We have designed a variety of college application and essay support packages to support your individual needs.

Common Application & Writing Package This package is designed to support self-directed students with the

Common Application and related writing, including...

! Initial Application Planning Session: One to one session to discuss student’s' strengths, experiences, and interests to support the student in developing the key themes that will guide their work on essays, activities list and supplements and ensure that the application is a strong and compelling reflection of the student.

! Common Application Personal Essay: Brainstorming session and draft feedback (up to 10 drafts) to support completion of personal essay.

! Common Application Walk Through: Preview the common application and discuss pointers and strategies to make the most of each section, including awards & honors, activities list, and additional information section.

! Activities List: One to one session to discuss strategies for effective and impactful activities list including review and feedback (up to 3 drafts).

! Common Application Supplemental College Essays: One planning session on supplemental essay topics and strategies to approach these effectively and efficiently. Draft feedback (up to 4 drafts) to support completion of supplemental essays for the number colleges purchased in the package.

! Application Review: One final application review with written feedback for each college purchased in the package.

! Interview Prep: One, optional interview prep session. Many colleges do not offer interviews, but some

students will have the opportunity to do optional interviews. A few colleges do require interviews. Students will be responsible for investigating which schools on their list require or offer interviews.

Pricing You can select any of the following options...

! Common App Package w/ 2 College Supplements* - $2,000 (sign up before July 31 and save $200)

! Common App Package w/ 4 College Supplements* - $2,400 (sign up before July 31 and save $200)

! Common App Package w/ 6 College Supplements* - $2,800 (sign up before July 31 and save $200)

! Each Additional College Supplement* Add-On - $300

*The supplement is the Common Application college supplemental application and essays.

The counselors that provide this service include: Annaliese, Lauren, and Matt. Check out their bios - https://thebestu.net/about/.

Package Information

! Full payment is due at the start of the package.

! Package expires December 15, unless a new date is agreed upon with the essay specialist.

! This package is geared towards self-directed students that can manage the application and essay tasks independently. We are not able to provide support to students that need step by step writing assistance.

! Students are responsible for organizing and remembering their own application deadlines and the specific application requirements per college.

! This package does not include essay support for scholarships, honors programs, etc.

! We feel the voice of the student in essay support is essential, so all meetings in this package and the essay development are with students only. We uphold an ethical essay process and believe that there can be “too many cooks in the ‘essay’ kitchen” which can damage student applications. Colleges can spot adult voices in essays. Essay work is between the essay specialist and the student only. Parents are welcome to provide context and perspective to the essay specialist directly that can help round out the student’s story, especially in the brainstorming stages.

! Parents are welcome to email the essay specialist questions and concerns.

! At times, parent expectations of the essays can be different than the ability, voice, and interests of the student as well as what colleges want to see. We ask that you please trust the process.

! Human errors are natural. It is crucial for students to do final edits prior to sending applications. Often students will ask a parent or another family member to do a final application review. Parents can be great application editors as long as the integrity of the student’s voice is maintained.

Coalition Application Add-on This is an add-on to the Common Application package and is specific

to working with the Coalition Application.

! Coalition Application Personal Essay: Help students shrink the Common Application essay down to fit the Coalition Essay/Personal Statement prompt (up to 2 drafts) to support completion of personal essay.

! Coalition Application Walk Through: Preview the coalition application and discuss pointers and strategies to make the most of each section, including awards & honors, activities list, and more.

! Activities List: Strategies for effective and impactful activities list development including review and feedback (up to 2 drafts).

! Coalition Application Supplemental College Essays: Planning session on supplemental essay topics and strategies to approach these effectively and efficiently. Draft feedback (up to 3 drafts) to support completion of supplemental essays for the number of colleges purchased in the package.

! Application Review: One final application review with written feedback.

Pricing

! Coalition App Add-On w/ up to 2 College Supplements* - $450

*The supplement is the Coalition Application college supplemental application and essays.

Package Information

! The application information provided in the Common Application Package pertains to the add-on package.

University of California or U of Texas Application

This package is designed to support self-directed students with their University of California or University of Texas application.

! UC or UT Application Walk Through: Preview the UC or UT application and discuss pointers and strategies to make the most of each section, including awards & honors, activities list, and more.

! Activities List: Strategies for effective and impactful activities list development including review and feedback (up to 2 drafts).

! UC or UT College Essays: Planning sessions for the essay topics and strategies to approach these effectively and efficiently. Draft feedback (up to 3 drafts) to support completion of the UC or UT essays.

! Application Review: One final application review with written feedback of the UC or UT application.

Pricing

! University of California or U of Texas Application Package - $600

The counselors that provide this service include: Annaliese, Lauren, and Matt. Check out their bios - https://thebestu.net/about/.

Package Information

! Full payment is due at the start of the package.

! Package expires December 15, unless a new date is agreed upon with the essay specialist.

! This package is geared towards self-directed students that can manage the application and essay tasks independently. We are not able to provide support to students that need step by step writing assistance.

! Students are responsible for organizing and remembering their own application deadlines and the specific application requirements per college.

! This package does not include essay support for scholarships, honors programs, etc.

! We feel the voice of the student in essay support is essential, so all meetings in this package and the essay development are with students only. We uphold an ethical essay process and believe that there can be “too many cooks in the ‘essay’ kitchen which can damage student applications. Colleges can spot adult voices in essays. Essay work is between the essay specialist and the student only. Parents are welcome to provide context and perspective to the essay specialist directly that can help round out the student’s story especially in the brainstorming stages.

! Parents are welcome to email the essay specialist questions and concerns.

! At times, parent expectations of the essays can be different than the ability, voice, and interests of the student as well as what colleges want to see. We ask that you please trust the process.

! Human errors are natural. It is crucial for students to do final edits prior to sending applications. Often students will ask a parent or another family member to do a final application review. Parents can be great application editors as long as the integrity of the student’s voice is maintained.

Final Application Review Package

This package is geared towards students that have not used The Best U’s college application packages, but want an admissions eye on their applications prior to sending them out. The package includes:

! Application review with written feedback for each college and application purchased in the package. ! One to one follow-up session to walk through feedback and to answer student questions.

Pricing Final Application Review Package (Written Feedback only)

! Final Common App or Coalition App Review w/ 2 College Supplements* - $150 ! University of California or U of Texas Application - $150

Final Application Review Package (with Follow-Up Live Follow-up Meeting)

! University of California or U of Texas Application w/ Follow-Up Live Follow-up Mtg - $300 ! Final Common App or Coalition App Review w/ 2 College Supplements w/ Follow-Up Live Follow-up

Mtg* - $300 Application Review Add-Ons (No Follow-up Session)

! Each Additional Common App or Coalition College Supplement* Add-On (no follow-up session) • $75 - 1 supplemental essays • $150 - 2 or more supplemental essays

! Other College Applications (college-specific applications i.e. Georgetown, state-schools, etc)

• $75 - 1 supplemental essays • $150 - 2 or more supplemental essays

*The supplement is the Common Application or Coalition Application college supplemental application and essays.

This service is provided by Stacy. Check out her bio - https://thebestu.net/about/. Package Information

! Full payment is due at the start of the package.

! All application work must be completed prior to Stacy reviewing any applications.

! This is a one-time application review. When purchasing the “Final Common App Review w/ 2 College Supplements”, Stacy is not able to wait for you to complete all of your work and review at separate times. She will only review what you submit one time. You will need to purchase an add-on for future reviews.

! This package does not include review of the application or essays of scholarship, honors programs, etc.

! We feel the voice of the student in essay support is essential. We uphold an ethical review process and believe that there can be “too many cooks in the ‘essay’ kitchen which can damage student applications. Colleges can spot adult voices in essays.

! Parents are welcome to email the essay specialist questions and concerns.

! At times, parent expectations of the essays can be different than the ability, voice, and interests of the student as well as what colleges want to see. We ask that you please trust the process.

! Human errors are natural. It is crucial for students to do final edits prior to sending applications. Often students will ask a parent or another family member to do a final application review. Parents can be great application editors as long as the integrity of the student’s voice is maintained.