After Alison helped my daughter get into her dream school UCLA, I turned to her to help my son. He was transferring from a CC to an UC. His hard work & her help with his essays really paid off. He will be starting at UC Berkeley this fall. One of the things I appreciated most was Alison's responsiveness and willingness to make revisions promptly. Her professionalism and attention to detail made the process smooth and stress-free. Thanks to Alison both my kids got admitted to top schools. read more

My son worked with Alison the Summer between his Junior and Senior year in high school on his college essays. Her style of working with my son, as well as her knowledge of how to shape the essays for the major my son was applying to were valuable and in sightful. Alison communicated very clearly through out the process, both with me and my son, which made things so easy. I highly recommend using Alison for your college essays. I can firmly say it made the difference, as my son got into his dream school. read more

After having an Essay Planning Meeting with Alison my daughter came home excited and motivated. Alison helped pick the PIQ's that best showcased my daughters achievements and qualities. They worked together on the content for each of the PIQ's. My daughter said "Alison was extremely easy to talk with and really helped her find her voice". The summery my daughter received after her planning meeting organized and focused her writing. Thank you Alison, you really kicked this process into gear. Maurice read more

Cannot thank Alison enough for her assistance with my HS Sr's essays. Since I didn't feel we needed the services of a full service college coach, Alison fit the bill to a tee. My son was looking at colleges primarily to play a sport. The sport recruiting was in full swing, however, he still needed help with the essay portions of the common app & UC prompts. Alison set-up a schedule for meetings, due dates & time frame to make sure the essays were ready to go by the application due dates. This system worked well for my procrastinator. I almost wish we had started prior to the end of his junior year. He came home from their initial meeting and said, "THAT was really good. Well worth the time." She was able to help him focus on a topics of interest and elaborate or edit where needed. All the while keeping it in his voice. Just a great experience for my son and for us! read more

Alison is an incredible and valuable partner in the college essay-writing process! My daughter immediately connect with her and felt comfortable sharing her essay topics with her. Alison has the utmost respect for the student's privacy and all (most) communication is with them directly, allowing students to share what writing they choose with caregivers. Don't hesitate hiring her for your student's needs. She is a wonderful asset! read more

Thank you Alison! You are exactly what my son needed! Just support on college essay Alison is so prompt, and I don't have to get involved per se with the process. My son really enjoyed brainstorming and came up with a great subject matter. Simply the best and we can't thank you enough. Susie read more

Thank you for the witty way to attract interest. Our NCL class of 2017 was so in tuned with what you had to shared. Great tips on essay ideas and what to avoid!!! Appreciate your time !! read more

Alison is easy to work with and had great rapport with our daughter and worked directly with her throughout the process of writing and editing. She helped our daughter tap into her unique voice and experiences to develop her personal statement. Our daughter was accepted to her top choice school! read more

Alison helped my daughter prepare her college essays. This was the daunting task during the application process. My daughter was struggling to find "her story". After one session with Alison, during which they just talked, Alison asked questions and spent the session listening and genuinely getting to know her, she helped my student easily identify several worthy topics for her to expand upon and write about. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the time together and appreciated how quickly Alison was able to understand her priorities and values and help her put them to paper. Alison is quick to reply, and return edits, and so flexible with providing the amount of personalized help each student needs. In large part thanks to her help, my student was accepted to all of her top choice colleges. Alison is excellent at what she does and a great value in comparison to many college advisors, particularly if your child really just needs help with their essay. Call her, you will be glad you did! read more

Alison Cotter's essay help was a tremendous help to my daughter getting in to the perfect school for her! I cannot thank her enough!! I know my daughter's beautifully written essay really helped her get in! Alison is a pleasure to work with and makes the process very easy! read more

Alison Cotter was a tremendous help to my son as he was preparing for his personal insight essays for the UC application. Alison brought the best qualities out of my son and creatively helped him to paint a true picture of himself on paper. She kept him on task with a timeline of deliverables which helped him stay organized. As my son says, "Alison helped my activities and accomplishments sound much better than I ever could have! She helped to tie all these things into an essay that made for an interesting read!" I would highly recommend Alison to any student applying to colleges. It was definitely money well spent! read more

We were referred to Alison by some friends who had utilized her services in the past. My son is currently a HS Senior who needed some feedback on his college essays. Alison was always very prompt in getting back to us. She even had her essay suggestions back to my son a day earlier than expected! I thought my son had already written a good essay but Alison had suggestions that made it even better. She took time to get to know my son and ask him thought provoking questions to get him to express himself better on paper. We will definitely use her services again for my younger son when he is going through the college essay process. read more

Would definitely recommend her service. She was very helpful. She made the essay writing process less stressful. read more

My daughter, a senior in High school needed some tips on what to write about on her college application essay. So we contacted Alison, a college application essay coach and within a couple of days, Alison met with my daughter. Alison is knowledgeable, reliable, patient and positive! Highly recommended when your son/daughter needs a little boost with those college app. essays!! read more

And you think to yourself, "this will never get done"! But with the coaching and editing from Alison, it does! She is able to magically pull the ideas while creating excitement with the kids to get them motivated to write and complete their essays. Best College prep money spent. Thank you Alison for "getting this done"! read more

Alison worked with my son to edit his main common app essay as well as supplemental essays specific to a school. She was very thorough in her evaluation and suggestions for how he could improve and adjust what he had written. I highly recommend Alison for any writing assistance your student may have. read more

I would highly recommend Alison as an essay coach! My daughter found her helpful and easy to work with.