This is your story. This is your time.
Transform your college application journey with personalized, step by step guidance from a celebrated author and storyteller. Ditch the stress, claim your voice, and discover your future direction.
Navigate the college planning and application process with confidence.
Experience a narrative-centered approach to the college planning and application process. Gain college-level writing and critical-thinking skills, along with the confidence to step beyond cliché.
Each student receives clear, personalized guidance, from comprehensive advising to building great-fit college lists to creating stand-out essays and compelling application stories.
Additional services include honors college and scholarship essay review, interview preparation, and strategic advising on offers and negotiations.
Chart Your Unique Path
Whether your student is a 9th grader just beginning to think about college or a senior facing application deadlines, Your Story College Advising offers targeted services to meet their specific goals and needs:
- Application Strategy & Timeline Planning
- College Exploration & List Development
- Essay Brainstorming, Drafting, & Targeted Revision
- Decisions and Offer Negotiations
- Scholarship and Honors College Application Support
About Manette
As a New York Times bestselling author and Emerita Professor of English, Manette Ansay draws on her extensive storytelling and teaching experience to coach students through a meaningful college application journey. Her narrative-centered philosophy blends practical expertise with compassionate guidance and an upbeat vibe, supporting students through the process of crafting unique application stories in their own authentic voices.
Dear Future College Student,
Applications are more than a compilation of transcripts, activities and essays. Each section builds on the next to create a single, comprehensive story, one that aligns with the prerequisites and priorities of the colleges we choose for your list. Throughout the college planning and list building process, we’ll keep this larger story in mind. It begins with your interests, develops with your activities, strengthens with your coursework, experiences and leadership. It explores choices you’ve made, risks you’ve taken, and opportunities you’ve left on the table. Failure might be part of this story, too. That’s OK.
The most important thing is that this story is yours. Only you can tell it. It belongs to you.
When it comes time to write, we’ll coax your authentic voice onto the page, whether earnest or ironic, funny or fierce, data-driven or out-of-the-box creative. I’ll offer short personalized prompts to help you dig into experiences, concrete, narrative approaches, and strategies for revision. When and if permitted, we will make responsible use of AI technologies as well. By the end of your application journey, you’ll have strong college-level writing and critical-thinking skills you can carry with you wherever you go.
I look forward to being part of your journey.