ColPrep Tutoring
College Application and Essay Process – How it Works
June 2014
Dear Students and Parents, I am writing to explain our process for working with students in the
summer and fall on college applications and essays.
You will find the reservation form following this letter. We have five highly talented writing
specialists on staff ready to work with students on their applications and/or essays. We all work
closely together, and all of our writing specialists have English or writing degrees and have taught or
currently teach writing.
To reserve a space with one of our writing specialists, you may download the form, write your check,
and return it to my home office at 404 Dairy Glen Road, Chapel Hill, NC, or you may leave it under
the mat at my front door if you live close by. We ask that you pay for three sessions at this time and
will note your payment through an email confirmation. The cost for hourly college sessions is $70 per
hour, so you will be sending in $210.00 with your reservation form. If for any reason we do not need
to use the third hour, we will happily refund this last session or a part of it to you. The first two
sessions are non-refundable. Should we need more time, we will instruct you on the process for
arranging more sessions.
Unfortunately for students, most applications are not released until mid-July at the earliest and early
September at the latest. It is advantageous for students to gather a few applications before they
meet with us to brainstorm and/or write rough drafts because one question can often be used for
several schools if adjusted and tweaked a bit. This process saves a student from writing more essays
than he or she needs to write. The Common Application questions will not change this year, so if
student have many schools using the Common Application, they may be able to begin working a bit
sooner in the summer. I should be able to access the UNC-CH questions by early July. You can also
call your schools of interest and ask when the applications will be released, and whether essay
questions will be released early. Please share if you receive any information as well. Thanks.
Our first session with students is usually a brainstorming session; we talk about the students’
question choices and help them determine their topic, or we listen to their ideas and help them
outline. We also share what we have learned are some tricks of the college essay trade! Then we
send them home to work on their drafts. We will keep all notes on a session sheet, which will be
sent home with the student.
Students are not required to meet every week or keep a set time in our schedules for essays. We
may be meeting with them at different times depending on their schedules and ours. However, many
students do choose to schedule an additional appointment time with the tutor before they leave a
session, which will keep them from procrastinating. Once a student has committed to a scheduled
time, he or she will be charged for that session, since we will have other students on a waiting list. It
is best to schedule only when the student is sure he or she will complete the writing by the next
appointment time. Students are also welcome to call us when they are ready to meet again. Just a
friendly reminder: students should call at least one week in advance of wanting to schedule another
meeting since we will be working with other students and will need time to fit them into our
schedules.
A very important philosophy for us is that WE DO NOT WRITE WITH OR FOR THE STUDENT. Our role
is to look at COMPLETED rough drafts and help the student edit and polish his or her work. Students
will need to be doing their own individual writing in college, so this is a good time to practice that
independence. We wish to help our students discover the writer within, and of course, teach them
valuable writing skills, as well as grammatical and mechanical rules that they will use in college. In
other words, we want to teach them to be confident writers. We do not expect a final draft – that is
our role to help the student reach that stage - but we do ask that the student do his or her writing
alone and complete the draft completely before we sit down and help him or her develop it into the
winning essay! A completed draft includes an introduction, full body, and conclusion. We will ask
that students email us completed rough drafts, not outlines, prior to our sessions, making sure the
question and word length is at the top of the page. We can then work with students on the drafts
and return them completed or for final polishing. Again, if students come with only an outline, they
will be charged for the session and we will continue to work on ideas and outlines.
As we get closer to the end of our work together, we may not need a full hour with each student. We
will prorate the time and keep a record of that time on the students’ session sheet. Should students
finish with a balance due back to you, we will happily send you that money due to you.
I hope this letter has answered many of your questions about the process. Right now students can be
securing teacher recommendations by talking to their teachers of choice and asking about senior
packets (check with your guidance counselor). I would also suggest that students visit their websites
of their schools of interest and gather information about average GPA’s, standardized test scores, and
other applicant considerations so they can see their chances of getting into these schools – we like to
list them as safety schools, possible acceptance schools, and reach schools. They may also wish to
use this time to check schools’ options for merit aid or to research both school and outside
scholarships.
If you have any other questions that I have not answered in this letter, please feel free to email me.
The writing specialists will work with the students on essays, but I am always here to answer your
questions that do not pertain to the writing process.
Also, if you are interested, Amy Brown of College Funding Consultants is a great contact. She is
amazing, and her first meeting with you is free. Amy is a master at helping families understand
financial aid, merit aid, and other ways to fund college costs. To see more of what Amy can do, visit
her website at www.collegefundingconsultants.com.
We look forward to working with your son or daughter on this most exciting process!
Pat Lewis and the team!
ColPrepTutoring
ColPrepTutoring - Reservation Form – College Assistance, Applications and Essays
Summer/Fall 2014
Please print carefully and neatly. Thank you.
Student’s Name/School ___________________________________________________________________
Home Phone _________________________ Student’s Cell Phone ________________________________
Parent(s) Name(s) ________________________________________________________________________
Parent Cell Phone ________________________________________________________________________
Primary Parent Email ______________________________________________________________________
Primary Student Email _____________________________________________________________________
Will student have a free period in the fall? ______ YES
______ NO
Please read the form that follows this reservation form carefully.
Then print and sign below. Return this first page to me. Thank you.
************************************************************************************
I have read the attached guidelines for college consulting and agree to follow them.
I am enclosing a non-refundable check made out to Pat Lewis for $ 210.00. This payment will secure a space on
the ColPrep schedule and cover the first three hours of college work.
Parent Printed Name _________________________________________________________
Parent Signature ______________________________________________________________
Col Prep Tutoring
Application and/or Essay Assistance - Summer/Fall 2014
Parent Letter
Dear Parent/Guardian,
It is our pleasure to work with your son or daughter at this most exciting time in his or her life. We are always
excited to share our knowledge and strategies for college admission success with our students. The following
information will ensure a successful relationship among all of us.
1. The session fee for college work is $ 70.00 per session. Once I have received your reservation form in the
office, I will confirm receipt and send your son or daughter a letter (copied to you) with next steps in the
process, along with a matrix to fill out as students choose colleges. Students will bring that matrix with them to
their first meeting with the writing specialist.
2. Your son or daughter’s writing specialist will contact your son or daughter and copy you in late June to early
July. He or she will plan for tutoring times and location with you as you get closer to the first meeting.
Unfortunately, most applications are not released until mid-July through the end of August.
3. We regret that we are unable to work later than the scheduled time if students arrive late for a session. We
schedule our students with at least fifteen minutes in between sessions to allow for confidentiality and
preparation time. If your son or daughter is not driving to see us, please arrive promptly at the end of the hour
to help us stay on schedule for all students.
4. You are paying for three hours of time. Most students need at least three sessions since the first session is
a brainstorming and outlining session. We will plan additional time with you as needed as we get farther along
in the process. Much depends on the amount of writing that an individual student needs to do. We regret that
we cannot hold any sessions without payment.
5. We ask that students and/or parents provide 24 hours’ notice to cancel a session. There is a $ 40.00
cancellation fee for any cancellations made within 24 hours of the session time. After a second
cancellation, we will only be able to offer the student any remaining open spaces in a given week. Since
many students are rotational, your consideration of the intricacies of scheduling here is greatly
appreciated.
Illness trumps all rules. It happens. If a student is not well, please do not send him or her to see us. Sick
students need to get better, and we need to stay healthy. Please call and let us know as soon as possible if
a student will need to miss a session due to illness. We will do our very best to schedule the student as
soon as possible, but please know that the writing specialists may not have another opening for at least
a week.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this information. Please email with any questions.
And again, thank you for the privilege of working with your son or daughter.
Pat Lewis, Director of ColPrep Tutoring