Testimonial Tuesday: Accepted to Johns Hopkins

When Ben reached out to me, he was convinced he had the best admissions essay topic about helping out in a factory for a summer. After all, his family, friends, and even teachers all said this was a unique way to show his personality. Unfortunately, after multiple revisions, his authentic self just couldn’t come across no matter how hard he tried to make it work. It was an important lesson in not forcing a topic —even if you’re convinced it’s the coolest idea ever— if it’s just not working. Maybe the idea is great but your experience wasn’t impactful enough to write a whole essay about it. The language felt verbose and overwritten, which is another sign the idea wasn’t working.

In cases like this, I always ask to see any other essay drafts that have been written from very rough outlines to supplement answers and even writing for school if relevant. He sent me some supplementary essays, and buried deep in one short answer, I saw a glimmer of hope. A passion project involving coffee and experiments - his two favorite things. We started from scratch based on that idea and used this anecdote to showcase his natural curiosity. Then, we dug deeper below the surface with more follow-up questions and journaling exercises, to show why this was such an important passion for him. The final result took 4 revisions to get right.

You wouldn’t believe how excited I was when Ben told me he got into his first choice, Johns Hopkins, Early Decision:

“I want to thank you for your assistance with my personal statement again, it really provided an essential element about me and helped me stand out in the pile. I’ve been accepted to Johns Hopkins University Class of 2026. I look forward to working with you again for grad school. I wish you all the best in the future!”

I was so glad to hear the good news that I had to ask him for a testimonial! Read it below:

“Yelena has helped me brainstormed a better topic I never thought would be interesting when executed. Through her in-depth, insightful, and personal edits sentence by sentence, I could gradually see my personality and values fleshed out. Her personal method of revision really helped me stand out in an increasingly competitive group of applicants.”

-Ben, Accepted to Johns Hopkins