john tsai college essay guy

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they are good for average university…

they are good for average university but if you want to get into top university they are just not at that level, we did spend 1 on 1 service , lots of money I must say and my son did not get into any top universities of his choices - they tried to point that maybe it it because of the grade average but his grade average was very high and it was up to his essays to pass or fail and they just did not deliver the level of service or knowledge, we were very disappointed indeed.

Date of experience : November 02, 2023

Best resource of college application

Their courses are amazing, they give you a step by step on how to brainstorm and write your essays. They free resource of previous college essays is a good source to learn what works and doesn't. They guide you from day 1 to acceptance and beyond, couldn't recommend them more.

Date of experience : June 11, 2024

Set yourself apart

Ethan and the team at College Essay Guy made all of the difference in my applications. I strongly believe that the quality and substance of my essays are what helped me gain admittance to both Yale and Brown. I learned more about writing in his courses than I did in all of my previous schooling and I couldn't recommend his work more highly.

Date of experience : May 21, 2024

If I had missed the guidance of College…

If I had missed the guidance of College Essay Guy during my college application process, I can't imagine the turbulence I would have gone through. Their resources completely changed my perspective on college applications. I learned it's not so much about me, but more about what the admissions officers want to know about me. This mindset shift made a huge difference. College Essay Guy, you are amazing! Keep helping students out there navigate this daunting process. I am infinitely grateful for your support. You were an oasis in the desert of my college application journey, which I tackled from the other side of the planet. I'm writing this today as a college graduate, thanks to you.

Date of experience : May 14, 2024

Great Coaches

What stood out about the CEG college essay process the most was how they helped along every step of the way. My essay editor, Sarah Murphy, was amazing and was there to help me whenever I had any questions about anything related to the college process, no matter how simple or abstract the questions were. She made sure that I was comfortable with what I was writing, and her friendliness allowed me to be very open with her, up-leveling my essays. If you are looking for someone to look over your essays, I would definitely recommend College essay guy!

Date of experience : January 01, 2024

The CEG team helped my son reach his…

The CEG team helped my son reach his best performance without us managing the process, allowing him full ownership. He was admitted into the college of his choice. Money well spent!

Date of experience : November 10, 2023

Great experience

College Essay Guy was super helpful in our application process. Not only the coaches have a lot of first hand experiences, it also helps me avoiding potential tensions with my son in the process lol. Sophia was our essay coach and she was bright and also super dedicated. She accommodated a super difficult schedule to help my son in his last push of finishing his essays. Can't ask for more. Separately, for the parallel "college list" coaching service, it is much more than what I expected. The coach not only helped building a college list, he actually provided very detailed instructions, with follow ups, to my son regarding all the steps he needs to take to complete the applications - activity lists, recommendation letters, etc. Overall, enjoyed working with CEG!

Date of experience : May 07, 2024

Incredibly supportive and experienced team

I am immensely thankful to CEG for stepping in when my son found himself in a last-minute bind, realizing he needed external assistance. He felt completely stuck. When a friend suggested contacting CEG, which I did, Ethan responded promptly. He patiently listened to our concerns and efficiently guided us through the process. From that point on, things progressed swiftly. Jennifer worked diligently and patiently with my son. The highlight for me, as a mother, was the review process, where other advisers contributed their insights and recommendations. I couldn't have asked for more. My only regret is that I wish we had reached out to them earlier in the process to fully benefit from their expertise.

Date of experience : October 31, 2023

CEG made the college essay writing…

CEG made the college essay writing process enjoyable and engaging. It was an opportunity to reflect on my values and my life and what I want admissions to know about me through my writing. I couldn’t recommend CEG more — not only will they lead you to formulate ideas for essays but they will also teach you things about yourself. Thank you so much, CEG!

Date of experience : September 01, 2023

CEG is priceless…

CEG kept my son accountable with tasks to complete each week. The whole process was streamlined and professional. Helena helped with any questions and coach Natalie (so positive and encouraging) kept him on track and feeling able and accomplished. Thanks so much for considering.

Date of experience : March 21, 2024

Awesome Experience!!!

It made a HUGE difference to have an expert provide guidance, accountability, and support. Melissa was Maggie's essay coach and she was awesome! Very prepared and timely. It made the whole process a lot less stressful and less overwhelming.

Date of experience : October 12, 2023

Best Experience Possible

We highly recommend College Essay Guy. Our son's counselor was able to get him to open up in a way he would not have with us, they helped keep him on a timeline and we were done before Thanksgiving and there were no parent-kid battles! The best part is that our son was accepted to his first choice school! The College Essay Guy team was fabulous.

Date of experience : November 15, 2023

Every session with our counselor and essay coach was a joy and inspiration

One the most helpful things about having my daughter work with the essay coach was being able to bounce ideas, brainstorm out loud, and also the incredible in-depth feedback Lola got on everything she wrote! Every session was a joy and inspiration and truly helped propelled Lola's writing to another level! Working with our college counselor was immensely helpful! She was so knowledgeable and answered so many questions with a huge smile! She was a vast ocean of resources and information that really helped us navigate some confusing aspects of the application process, timing, and the applications themselves.

Date of experience : November 22, 2023

Working with CEG was the best thing I…

Working with CEG was the best thing I could've done! Starting out as someone who had absolutely no idea what they wanted to write about or how to even write a college essay, CEG was able to provide me with the support to write an outstanding personal statement and supplementals, all of which I never could've written without such incredible support. This truly made such a significant impact on my college application process and I am so grateful for the CEG team for all of their help!

Date of experience : May 23, 2023

Seamless Process for College Essays

This is been a great experience and it was stressful initially but you guys made it so easy. I really thank you for all the services and making this process helpful. It was really seamless process.

Date of experience : May 08, 2024

Empathetic and highly effective

The process is excellent and the team fantastic. Our son worked with Cat and her ability to connect deeply with him and to help him think through and articulate his passions were central to his journey. In a word - awesome.

Date of experience : July 31, 2023

We were so fortunate to work with Ethan Sawyer, Susan, and Andy

We were so fortunate to work with College Essay Guy for my second and third child. I happened upon College Essay Guys work while we were prepping our oldest child for his applications and working with a different "prestigious" college prep company. What really stands out about College Essay Guy is the level of depth and authenticity that they are able to excavate out of your child. The process that College Essay Guy uses to help the student really understand and examine themselves and their own values is profound and rich in meaning far beyond the college application process. I felt that everyone working with my children actually cared about my child and wanted to help them further evolve and develop into even more meaningful adults. I was honestly blown away with the care and compassion of College Essay Guys entire team and thrilled to have them as role models for my children. They are the real deal and admissions officers can feel the difference in the essays. Yes, both of my kids got into either their first choice or second choice (but with surprise of a full academic scholarship!), but this process meant so much more than even the acceptance letter.

Date of experience : June 05, 2023

Worth Every Penny But Intimidating

This course is amazing but very lengthy with a bunch of unnecessary information. Id prefer if you just went straight to the point and explained some parts of the essay on a dumber level. Other than that everything was perfect and this course will boost your acceptance chances through the roof!

Date of experience : March 24, 2020

The resources are great and very…

The resources are great and very helpful as a student looking for where to begin. The online class was a bit crowded which made it difficult for me to get my essay reviewed and wasn’t always the most helpful. Overall I think it is a great service thought there were definitely parts I liked better then others

Date of experience : March 30, 2020

Best program by far

My son’s coach showed exceptional patience, flexibility, responsiveness, and guidance throughout the entire application cycle. The process is highly structured and I appreciate the focus on keeping it between the student and coach. I think it’s best to keep parents out of the process in order to maintain the boundary and working dynamic between essay coach and student, as you intended. It really helped me put my faith in the coach without feeling I had to be involved. I was adjacent to the process which was better for everyone. My son’s essay topic was so unexpected and incredible in a way that could have only been derived from this extensive process. In addition, this program was more comprehensive and far more affordable than other resources. My son received admission to 16/18 schools including several full ride offers and Ivy League institutions. His writing improved so much and I even think it assisted in his selection as a Coca-Cola scholar. It made for some difficult decisions! Highly, highly recommend!

Date of experience : April 07, 2024

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College Admissions Unfiltered (Ask the Questions You're Afraid to Ask Elsewhere)

Tuesday, April 9th ​​​​​​​5-6:00pm PT (8-9:00pm ET)​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ ​​​​​ Can't make it live?   Recording of the session will be emailed to all registrants after the event. We'll also upload it (and all of our webinars) to our  Webinar & Live Events page .

Meet Your Hosts

Ethan Sawyer

The College Essay Guy

Tom Campbell

Community Manager at College Essay Guy

Chief Strategy Officer at College Essay Guy

Stephanie Metruk

Program Advisor at College Essay Guy

Erin Griffin

Associate Director of Admission at Pitzer College

Join Ethan Sawyer ( College Essay Guy ) with former admission officers and application readers Tom Campbell ( Pomona College ), John Tsai ( University of California ), and Stephanie Metruk ( Gettysburg College ) to get your questions answered about the college admissions process from the school's perspective. We'll cover:

Your completely anonymous questions (which you can submit here) !

What annoys admissions officers the most?

How biased do you think admissions officers are?

What are things people think colleges care a lot about that actually don’t make a difference?

What are some ways you think the college admissions process is broken?

What factors do colleges deem most important when making admission decisions? ​​​​​​​

What impacts have you seen so far of the SCOTUS decision to ban race-conscious admission

How can parents and counselors support and advocate for their students in the coming months?

Your questions! Feel free to submit your questions here and I’ll select a few to ask our panel. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Johns Hopkins college essay guy

so i’m reading this sample essay but the paragraph that starts with “but this was one school…” seems really suspicious. like this kid is just profiting off over a disaster that happened at their school district? it just seems like they made this non profit or whatever just for college apps and don’t actually care about the severity of the situation.

here it is:

Energized by the enthusiasm I’d experienced in the lab, I also wanted to make an immediate impact on my community. After a local middle school lost its STEM extracurricular funding, our robotics team established and mentored FIRST Lego League there, working with children to create functioning products and emphasizing collaborative learning over lecturing.

But this was one school. One issue. I wanted to continue educating people about global problems through engineering. Such an opportunity arose after five district-wide suicides in forty days. To promote mental health awareness and discourage drug misuse, I worked with friends to create braiNformation, describing depression signs and drugs’ effects, and worked with Rise Above Colorado to increase awareness. Through research and community outreach, I’ve grown to embrace proactive, unorthodox problem-solving.

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Innovators: Dr. John Tsai

How the former president of global drug development and chief medical officer at Novartis funneled his curiosity for engineering into a bold new approach to drug development.

Editor’s note: This story is part of our 2022 PharmaVoice 100  feature.

Electrical engineering isn’t the most common stepping stone into drug development. But for Dr. John Tsai, the former president of global drug development and chief medical officer at Novartis, the “deep sense of curiosity” that initially led him to pursue an engineering degree is also what also guided him toward medical school and the life sciences. An up-close encounter with the impact innovations can make on patients was also a catalyst.

According to one of his nominators, Tsai’s grandmother had a stroke when he was in college, which was diagnosed using a medical scanner — a detection tool that ultimately helped her make a healthy recovery.

“As he had experienced first-hand how medical technology could make a difference, this prompted him to start working with medical scanners and later go to medical school,” one of his nominators says.

At the time, Tsai had to leave a job at GE to study medicine. But once he entered the healthcare field and landed in pharma, he would continue his work at major companies. 

At Pfizer, he served as the cardiovascular group leader; then during an 11-year stint at Bristol Myers Squibb, he worked as the global head of late phase clinical development, among other major roles.

As his career unfolded, that initial sense of curiosity he had as a student evolved into a penchant for innovation.

“[Tsai] is a natural innovator, and I think this stems from his inherent curiosity and unique engineering mindset,” one of his nominators says. “[Tsai] and I regularly have ‘What if?’ conversations.”

In 2018, Tsai stepped into the head of global drug development and chief medical officer role at Novartis and took on the enormous responsibility it brought.

“We have more than 160 projects in clinical development, and over 500 ongoing clinical trials targeting around 50 diseases,” his nominator writes.

While managing the vast and deep pipeline, Tsai has been able to pave the way toward singular accomplishments — including the U.S. approval of more than 10 new medicines. Tsai has also leveraged his innovative mindset in broader areas of the company’s pipeline — oncology in particular.

“Thanks to [Tsai’s] ambition and leadership, our industry-leading oncology pipeline has more than 45 compounds across more than 70 development programs,” a nominator says. “We are building up capabilities and capacities across four platforms — cell therapy, radioligand therapy, targeted therapy and immuno-oncology — to help us reimagine cancer care and make significant strides in the advancements of precision medicine.”

“The most important trend that I see in drug development now is the breakthroughs in scientific advancement for platform therapies such as gene therapies, RNA based therapies and advancements in engineered antibodies.”

Former president, global drug development and chief medical officer, Novartis

To pull all this off, Tsai has had to bring to the table new approaches for drug development.

“One of my first charges from [Tsai] was to develop a clear portfolio prioritization schema that would allow the clinical development team to highlight where we can develop first-in-class or first-in-indication medicines that could change the standard of care,” one of his nominators writes. “This was a very bold shift from the past approach and has already yielded promising results.”

But getting these kinds of results requires trust from his team, which Tsai says he cultivates by being “strategic and visionary while being authentic.”

“I let others know they should never go home at the end of the day not knowing what I’m thinking,” he says. “I tell others they may not like what I have to say — but I will be honest and say the same thing under all circumstances.”

Even with these successes, Tsai says there’s at least one advancement in medicine he’s still swimming toward.

“My blue ocean is the opportunity to create truly personalized medicine for each patient,” he says. “We currently treat diseases with a broad tool based on evidence from clinical trials … [which] doesn’t represent the patient population afflicted with the disease.”

Editor’s note: In April, Novartis announced that Tsai left the company, which is undergoing a restructuring.

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Essays That Worked

The essays are a place to show us who you are and who you’ll be in our community.

It’s a chance to add depth to something that is important to you and tell the admissions committee more about your background or goals. Below you’ll find selected examples of essays that “worked,” as nominated by our admissions committee. In each of these essays, students were able to share stories from their everyday lives to reveal something about their character, values, and life that aligned with the culture and values at Hopkins.

Read essays that worked from Transfer applicants .

Hear from the class of 2028.

These selections represent just a few examples of essays we found impressive and helpful during the past admissions cycle. We hope these essays inspire you as you prepare to compose your own personal statements. The most important thing to remember is to be original as you share your own story, thoughts, and ideas with us.

The Art of Imperfection

In this essay, Stella dives into her journey in the art world and the challenges that came with it.

Finding Purpose in Trivial Projects

Anjali uses her essay to share her experiences with making miniatures. We see how this passion influences everything she does.

Korean Sticky Notes

Nancy’s essay details the responsibilities she had at a young age and her resulting spirit of exploration.

Being the Handyman

Sarah chronicles her experience as her household “handyman” and the versatility of skills she acquired over the years.

To Stand Out or Fit In

Caroline’s essay focuses on their experiences developing and accepting their identity. We see how Caroline navigates the challenge of being themself while also trying to fit in with their peers.

A Growing World

Calla highlights her early wonder by dreaming of future expeditions and playing them out in her backyard. As Calla grows, so does her curiosity and ambition.

More essays that worked

We share essays from previously admitted students—along with feedback from our admissions committee—so you can understand what made them effective and how to start crafting your own.

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