Unusual or standard?
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Anonymous
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DC has talked with a few different college essay coaches over the past week as their hope is to knock it out over the summer. Really liked one, so circled back. The coach indicated the hours were 9-5 (think Eastern time as coach is on East coast) weekdays only. DC is pretty much in school from 9-5 and will work at a camp this summer from 7:30ish to 6ish.
Totally get that someone doesn't want to always work nights/weekends, but their client population is often not available during weekday hours. Have others had this experience with their kids? |
Anonymous
| Those are strange hours for an essay coach. If it's unworkable for your kid, you'll just have to keep looking. |
Anonymous
Yeah, thought so too. I can see some kids may have schedules where that works, but IDK any of DC's friends who are available during the school day. School starts an hour or so before 9, school doesn't end till after 3, and almost all are in sports and/or clubs till after 5 every school day. DC probably going to keep looking. Did say they may suggest set times over a month that fall outside the hours and see if they bite. |
Anonymous
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The essay coach we used did not work weekends but was generally available from about 9:00-7:00 Monday-Friday. (And they were available to answer questions on the weekend; they just did not book any sessions with students over the weekend.) Nice work if you can get it!
It was not an issue for my son because he did most of the work over the summer and his jobs (retail & restaurant) were all over the place scheduling-wise but always left him with some free morning hours. During the school year, he is home by 2:45 outside of hockey season (but all his apps were in before hockey started.) |
Anonymous
| Isn't essay coaching asynchronous? |
Anonymous
Perhaps, but not with this coach. There are set meetings between coach and student during the hiring period. Coach likes to meet 1x/week. Think it is over 4 to 6 weeks. |
Anonymous
| Ours is available until 730 pm and on weekends. |
Anonymous
Don't even need to do every night till 7:30, but at least a few times a week. |
Anonymous
| The coach DD worked with had a full time writing job so was only available evenings and weekends which was the only time DD could have met anyway. |
Anonymous
Got it. Appears that this is their sole gig or they've omitted other current work in their bio. |
Anonymous
| BUMP |
Anonymous
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We are on the west coast and it is common for people out here applying to east coast schools to work with east coast coaches/advisors. I would assume that this coach is successful enough that they can set their hours as 9-5 and easily fill it with local kids with flexible schedules or kids in other time zones via zoom who are knocking stuff out at 7 or 8 am. I think your child will benefit more from working full-time than they will from being available to work with a tutor mid-day.
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Anonymous
| Sounds like they’re self employed and make their own schedule, or perhaps have a second job or caretaking responsibilities in the evening. If the schedule doesn’t align with yours, find someone else. Not sure why this topic requires a whole post! |
Anonymous
Save your money, you do not need an essay coach for your kid. Only the T30+ colleges have detailed essays and if your kid is the kind to be successful once attending, they can write well enough on their own to get in. Any English teacher or parent can do a basic proofread. Or, grammar software can. The main factor in admission is the transcript: course rigor + grades. And what does it say to your kid when you hire an essay coach? That's a self esteem crisis now or once they get to college. Plenty of kids get into T30 all the way up to ivy with zero coaching. SMH. |
Anonymous
Many kids have a lunch break, or a study hall, or a free period, or a space between school and practice where they can set up virtual meetings for things like this. |