The magnet-program problem

Montgomery County has built a set of programs — the Blair magnet, Richard Montgomery's IB, Poolesville, the Whitman and Churchill course loads — that reliably produce students with excellent transcripts and near-identical résumés. Two hundred applicants with the same eight AP courses, the same research internship, the same tutoring nonprofit.

By the time the reader reaches the essay, everything above it has already blurred together. The essay is the only part of the application that cannot be replicated by the student sitting next to you in class, and it is the part most students spend the least honest effort on.

"Honest" is the operative word. The essay that works is rarely the accomplished one. It is the one where the student risks saying something they would not put in a caption.

Some of the schools I have worked with students from

Public: Walt Whitman, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Winston Churchill, Thomas S. Wootton, Richard Montgomery, Montgomery Blair. Independent: Landon, Holton-Arms, Georgetown Preparatory School, Bullis, Stone Ridge.

College Park, and the essay everyone writes for it

Maryland's flagship takes a very large number of Montgomery County students every year, which means its readers see the same county, the same schools and the same activities over and over. The "why Maryland" answer that names the size of the campus and the strength of the program is the answer they have already read that morning, several times.

A supplement earns its place when it contains something only the writer could have written — a specific class, a specific person, a specific reason this school and not the one twenty minutes away. That is a research problem before it is a writing problem, and we treat it that way.

Working across the river

Everything runs over video and a shared Google Doc, which for a Bethesda or Potomac family is usually faster than driving anywhere at five o'clock. In-person sessions are possible when they help.

Already have a draft? A written diagnostic is $150 — one page back within three days on whether this topic is worth the next six weeks, what it is actually about, and what would have to change. No session and no sales call, and it is credited in full toward any package within 14 days.

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Serving Maryland

Students and families in Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Rockville, Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park and North Bethesda — and online with families anywhere in the United States.

Full details on how the work runs, what it costs, and who I am are on the main page, along with reviews from families here and answers to the questions parents usually ask.