Who is the BEST college essay coach out there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College Essay Guy

If you like chaotic-no-scheduled-no-follow-through spammy emails!

Worst DCUM advice! (August 2025)

Why revive a thread to say what was already said?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this guy: https://www.collegewithmattie.com/

Please don’t advertise for Mattie. “This guy” is a terrible writer.

1. These two essentially identical sentences next to each other: “A lot of students run track and want to write about their experiences. That’s great except that a lot of other students also run track and have similar things to say.” https://www.collegewithmattie.com/how-to-create-easy-original-college-application-essay-topics-introducing-half-ideas/

2. “In the week between meetings, you write the essay. You write it.” https://www.collegewithmattie.com/how-i-work/

3. Long single sentence: “ What makes me different is that I can write and edit at a professional level, I handle every aspect of the work and demand a high barrier of quality for everything I submit, I think differently and will give you advice no one else will, and I love what I do and enjoy every second I get to spend with kick-ass teenagers.” https://www.collegewithmattie.com/about/

Tons of examples…and he’s $400/hour for a single session or $16000 for 9 essays.

No one is legitimately recommending this guy, except this guy or his friends/family.

He has a podcast and mentioned DCUM on it recently. Someone sent me the transcript snapshot of it.

Apparently he lurks on here providing west coast/Cali intelligence.

[Anonymous]

I think AI can give advice that is as good as these guys.

And then if you have a parent or aunt who can run through it several times, that’s about as good as it gets. You’re the ones who know the kid, the voice, the history. You can say, “I’d skip this anecdote because you don’t sound as likable as you are - and replace it w the time you got a job because you changed that guys tire. That shows the same thing but w a little more spirit “

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Essaysthatworked.com
Essaymaster.com
Essayintensive.com

All good. Differing levels.

Yale podcast host practically called out College Essay Guy cached essays for being formulaic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleges essays are written by teens. Why do you need someone special to edit it? Any literate adult should be able to manage it.

Ha. Not really - it takes a village.

[Anonymous]

We used Robert at yourbestcollegeessay.com. He's worked with several of our friends and we couldn't be happier. Highly personalized service. He even helped choose schools and strategy. Highly recommend!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used Robert at yourbestcollegeessay.com. He's worked with several of our friends and we couldn't be happier. Highly personalized service. He even helped choose schools and strategy. Highly recommend!!

Cost?

[Anonymous]

Richard Montauk for both undergraduate and law school admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Richard Montauk for both undergraduate and law school admissions.

Again? One poster continues to recommend this unknown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richard Montauk for both undergraduate and law school admissions.

Again? One poster continues to recommend this unknown.

Hardly. Go to Amazon and look at all of the books he has written: "How to get into top colleges; how to get into Brown; how to get into Dartmouth; how to get into the top Law Schools; how to get into the top MBA programs." He also advertises on this site for free seminars for interested parents, so presumably the moderator has cleared him. You might want to check into that.

[Anonymous]

^^

Hardly any reviews.

Dartmouth and Brown books are 6 yrs old.

How to Get Into the Top Colleges (16 yrs old)

But THIS book is just 3 years old: Waiting Tables for Very Good Money: A Guide for Ambitious Waiters and Waitresses

No one legit is recommending this person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Richard Montauk for both undergraduate and law school admissions.

This is a post about essay coaches. he's not an essay coach. I interviewed him and was not impressed. He kept pushing the type of school that was the opposite of what I said the kid wanted. pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richard Montauk for both undergraduate and law school admissions.

Again? One poster continues to recommend this unknown.

Hardly. Go to Amazon and look at all of the books he has written: "How to get into top colleges; how to get into Brown; how to get into Dartmouth; how to get into the top Law Schools; how to get into the top MBA programs." He also advertises on this site for free seminars for interested parents, so presumably the moderator has cleared him. You might want to check into that.

This site doesn’t allow people to advertise their services. This should be reported.

[Anonymous]

Application Nation. You can just follow the excellent advice for a nominal fee or pay for more extensive editing.

[Anonymous]

There are literally tens of thousands of people who can help edit your kid’s essay. They all will be slightly different. Get advice but then go with what you like and what phrasing is authentic to you. The cost doesn’t make anyone better or worse. They are just all different.

Mom/dad are the best bc they’re free.

Read some websites/books on college essays