This private course study is taught by me, Will Yakowicz, and my wife, Kate Branch. We are both professional writers who have been working for the world’s largest magazines, newspapers and websites for nearly 20 years. This is not a rigid or corporate tutoring company. This is a bespoke, four-part course created and crafted by real-world writers who know how to report and write on deadline (and can also be flexible to the needs of their students). The point of this course is not to hack the admissions process, but rather to teach a life skill: how to write persuasively and effectively about who you are and why you matter. The course’s primary aim is to help you get into the college of you choice, as well as hone a skill that can take you wherever you want to go in life after graduation. Whether or not you want to be a writer, you need to know how to write and communicate about yourself clearly and concisely.

Will Yakowicz, who is the lead editor for the course, is a professional journalist and writer who has traveled the world to report and tell stories for some of the nation’s largest media companies. He has written about some of the most successful businessmen and women for Inc. Magazine, and Forbes Magazine, where he is currently a senior writer. Before that, he reported from the West Bank and Russia for Tablet Magazine, and covered crime and politics for AOL, The Huffington Post, The Brooklyn Paper and The New York Post. He has also taught a feature-writing course to journalism students at New York University, his alma-mater.

Kate Branch is a writer, editor and brand strategist. She used to be a senior editor at Vogue. Before that, she was an entertainment editor at Glamour and worked at The New York Times on the culture and beauty desks for T Magazine. In her work for The Obama Foundation, she collaborated with artists and thought leaders such as Gillian Flynn, Jill Soloway, Nan Goldin and Ai Wei Wei to craft talks about art, education, representation and activism. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and other places. Also an NYU grad, she is currently working on her debut memoir.