Our clients say...

Arienne’s help was invaluable; we are incredibly grateful to her and recommended her to all our friends. She guided our son through detailed prep work that identified a wide variety of strengths, noteworthy accomplishments, and unique passions, which helped drive the brainstorming for selection of topics. She was very responsive in all phases of the writing process, giving immediate, clear, insightful feedback—but she never took over the writing; she helped our son clarify his own thinking, and polish his essays using his own authentic voice. 

In the end, we were frankly surprised at how powerful his essay was (he’s more a math kid; writing is a relative weakness). It was unique, personal, clear, concise, funny, wise, passionate, and highly memorable. In short, it was everything the admissions officers tell you they want, and that make a kid stand out in these schools with single digit admit rates and thousands of cookie cutter essays. His essay was a powerful exclamation point on a strong application, and helped him secure an early decision slot at his dream school. 

— Parent, Princeton, NJ

 

For me, tackling the college essay was the most daunting part of my application, but Arienne helped turn my fears into confidence. From our very first meeting, Arienne was committed to helping me learn about myself -- my interests, passion, and pursuits -- and working them into beautifully crafted essays. Arienne made sure that what I wrote about mattered to me and helped make my essays more genuine and personal. My initially bland words became heartfelt personal statements. Arienne is energetic, professional and truly has the patience to work with students to pull out their individual strengths. I'll be forever grateful!

— Student, West Windsor, NJ

My son worked with Arienne at Essay Navigator, and it made all the difference in the world.  When he started out, he had been planning on writing a fairly generic sports essay that just about any high school athlete could have written.   After she got to know his interests, personality and accomplishments through an in-depth series of guided questions and answers, Arienne gently steered him away from this topic and helped him zero in on one that showcased his unique voice.  Moreover, she worked with him to push the Common App essay through numerous drafts, guiding him but letting him remain at the helm, so that he retained ownership of the essay, and his personality came through.  Her feedback was also indispensable with the short answer questions, where every word counts and where your responses can really help you stand out from the crowd.  He is a decent writer, but the college application process is incredibly stressful, and like many teenagers, he was resistant to getting advice from his parents.  I have absolutely no doubt that Arienne's guidance, from picking the right topic to editing the final product for grammar and style, was a major factor in his being admitted to Columbia University.  Arienne helped him write an essay that was memorable and unique, and, just as importantly, she transformed what had been a miserable process into something much less stressful.  I recommend her service unequivocally. 

— Parent, Montclair, NJ

When I first looked at the prompts for my college essays, I had no clue where to start.  I was indecisive for weeks, unable to commit to any one thing.  When I started working with Arienne, however, everything changed.  She helped me find a topic that would present my voice and my accomplishments in a unique way.  Because of her guidance, I was able to decisively choose the best essay topics and let my personality shine through to colleges.  From picking the best subjects to write about to polishing the finished essays, she helped with every step and transformed the process into something less overwhelming.  With her help, I got into my dream school!

— Student, New Jersey

I found Arienne to be incredibly helpful during the whole application process. She was prompt and clear with her feedback, and presented it in a way that allowed me to easily incorporate her suggestions into my essays in my own voice. Her sharp eye for grammar, wording, and tone helped me polish my drafts into essays I was proud to send to colleges.

— Student, Delaware

Arienne was fantastic to work with, and I can (and do!) recommend her services without reservation.  She is helpful with all aspects of the process, but we particularly found her feedback on our daughter’s essays to be invaluable. 

Our daughter goes to a lovely private school, with counselors and teachers who read over her drafts, but they actually gave very little feedback beyond a reassuring “that’s great!” Everyone understands how crucial it is that the essays reflect the student’s voice, and not be rewritten by an adult… so schools are reluctant to give much feedback. Arienne was able to help our daughter polish her essays with lots of clear feedback on problem areas (and suggestions for new directions, etc)... Again, I can’t recommend her highly enough. 

— Parent of boarding school student

Arienne was an immense help in the three major phases of the college essay writing process: brainstorming, writing, and editing.  She took the time to get to know me, what I wanted to become, and what I thought defined me.  She then helped me to distill what I wanted to communicate in my essay, worked with me on how to ‘show’ this message through the lens of an experience, and thoroughly edited my essays.  I worked with four different professionals while writing my college essays, and what stood out with Arienne was that she truly works with the individual.  I didn’t feel as I did with others like I was part of a process; Arienne truly knew me and what my goals were, and indeed how to get me there.

— Student, New Jersey