Map your journey to a great college essay with EssayQuest and Marco Learning
With our partners at Marco Learning, we’re offering 3 exciting new programs, starting at just $49. Live webinars begin soon!
Writing college essays
can be a chore
Or an adventure
Write your best college essay, explore who you are, and become a better writer with the online program from Essay Mentors, the experts in helping kids write great college essays.
Self-directed
We’ve distilled the best of what we’ve learned in the past decade of one-on-one mentoring, and poured it this online program. Anyone writing a college essay can go through the same process that our private mentoring students use to write their best essays, at a fraction of the cost. Step-by-step, we’ll take you from a blank piece of paper to a polished essay. We even make it easy for the people giving you support and feedback.
Teen-tested
We’ve discovered what works by helping teens like you write their college essays. In thousands of student interactions, teens told us what they liked, what they didn’t, what challenged and motived them, and what made the process fun and effective. So, when you’re on your EssayQuest, you can be confident that hundreds of teens before you have successfully followed this path to a great college essay.
Nothing like school
Colleges want to read an engaging, authentic short story that shows who you are, but American high schools don’t teach that kind of writing. To write an effective college essay, you need to get out of the academic mindset. EssayQuest is nothing like the school experience. With our students’ help we designed everything – the steps, activities, the feedback and support tools – to keep you engaged and moving forward.
Write Like a Pro packages: EssayQuest, plus so much more!
Big Picture Package
For students who just need the big picture and the essentials.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
EssayQuest Get Started account
Three foundation webinars (they’ll be recorded)
Three sets of activities
Full Package
For students who want thorough, step-by-step guidance towards a complete college essay.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
EssayQuest Full Access
Three foundation classes
Five comprehensive classes
Five sets of activities
Full Package + Feedback
- For students who want thorough, step-by-step guidance towards a complete college essay that has received three rounds of personalized feedback.
- WHAT’S INCLUDED
- EssayQuest Full Access
- Three foundation classes
- Five comprehensive classes
- Five sets of activities
- Three rounds of feedback
Looking for one-on-one support or personal mentoring?
We mentor students one-on-one—nationwide by Zoom and in-person in Seattle’s Eastside. Each student works with one mentor throughout the program.
Learn more and schedule your no-cost parent consultation at our sister site, Essay Mentors.
With EssayQuest, you’ll write your college essay like a pro
Our Write Like a Pro process is the map for your EssayQuest
When it comes to writing college essays, it doesn’t take much for teens and parents to veer off into friction, frustration, and wasted time and effort. EssayQuest takes you from your first topic ideas to the final draft of your essay with the same process that professional writers and communicators use. We’ll guide you on a clear pathway from confusion and frustration to an engaging, authentic, and effective finished essay. We break up the process of writing into four parts so that you can put your full attention on one aspect of the process at a time. Just like the pros.
You’ll go step-by-step so there’s no mystery about what to do next
We listened to lots of teens to make the process easy for you. Every step of the way, you’ll know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and the specific actions to take. We’ll even let you know when you’re ready to move on to the next step. Each step sets you up for the next. You’ll focus on one thing at a time, whether coming up with ideas, writing a ton of raw content, getting clear about your message, creating a structure for your essay, or bringing it life and polishing it to perfection. Just do the activities and follow each step to your best essay. When you’re done, not only will you have a great essay, you’ll also be surprised and delighted with how much you’ve learned.
We’ll share tons of resources and support to help you on your way
Even though we made the process simple, you’ll still have to do the work. Writing well takes time, and if you’re like us, sometimes you’ll hit a roadblock or get a bit lost. When that happens, we’ve got you covered. We’ll make sure that you can keep moving forward in your journey with easy-to-use support pages, FAQs, videos, sample essays, and more. We even have resources for anyone giving you feedback or support. If you’re still stuck, send us a chat message right in the site, and we’ll help get you back on track.Our students have been accepted at hundreds of colleges and universities
including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, UPenn, MIT, Brown, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA, Williams, Middlebury, Chapman, USC, Pomona, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Duke, Bates, Barnard, Smith, Bowdoin, and the Universities of Michigan, Washington, Virginia, Illinois, Arizona, and Oregon.And so much more
You’ll explore who you are as a young adult
As a teenager, you’re likely not that good about knowing or communicating who you are (that’s ok – most adults aren’t either). But, that’s what it takes to write an essay that college admissions counselors are looking for.
EssayQuest is a journey of self-discovery. As you go through the process, you’ll learn your unique set of strengths and see how they play out in your life. Our greatest strengths are often invisible to us. As you tell your stories, you’ll see yourself and your strengths in action. You’ll get to know yourself in a way few teens do.
You’ll become a better writer
The skills you learn will make your writing easier and better in college and beyond. Our Write Like a Pro process builds on what you’ve learned in English class and goes far beyond. As simple and powerful as it is, it’s just not in the American writing curriculum.
You’ll discover that you can use this framework for any type of writing or communication—from academic papers to presentations to love letters. (Or love snaps…)
We’ll help the people helping you
You may want help throughout this process. In fact, we highly recommend it. Whether it’s your parents, a teacher, friends, or a neighbor, they could help you stay on track through the process, help you brainstorm, or give you feedback. Whoever it is – we call them guides – they need to know how to help you effectively, so we’ve created tools especially for them.