One-on-One
College Application Coaching

Hey there, I'm Dyllen!

I am so excited to work with you.

Colleges want to understand who you are as a whole person, not just a list of stats and achievements. Stellar college essays are pivotal for a successful application. Now, you might be thinking that your story is "basic" or "not unique".

But I will prove you wrong.

I believe everyone has a story to tell, no matter how big or how small. We each live by a set of values, beliefs, and principles – but as a high schooler this level of introspection may seem unfamiliar. By utilizing my Stanford education in design-thinking and years of experience in college application coaching, I follow a process designed to help you develop a stronger understanding of yourself and craft a stand-out narrative. 😇

LET'S WORK TOGETHER!
Dyllen Nellis

One-on-one
with Dyllen Nellis

Meet with me (Dyllen) live to work on anything you want regarding your college applications and essays. I work fast so no time is wasted!

Holistic and Personalized Feedback

Strategize the way you come across as an applicant.
I provide directional advice to help create a competitive profile that feels true to you.

Deep Brainstorming

I will ask you a series of questions to help you discover your values, what makes you unique, and the experiences from your life that best convey your identity. Uncover these details to create a stand-out essay!

Detailed Structure for Your College Essays

Already got a topic in mind?
In just one session, we can flesh out your entire narrative to create a strong and detailed structure for your essay.

Transform Your Essays

Bring an essay into our meeting, and you will come out with a transformed draft.
We will craft a theme, strengthen your wording, and improve your storytelling.

~ IMPORTANT UPDATE ~

For the High School Graduating Class of 2024

In 2023, I will be transitioning from hourly bookings to a 6-month college application coaching package!
I will work with you each week throughout your ENTIRE application cycle.
Sounds like something you're interested in? Join the waitlist to be notified of the program launch!

In the meantime, my hourly sessions are still available for booking!

As little as 1 hour of private coaching with me
has the potential to change your entire college admission decision.

Dyllen Nellis Graduation
🤔 How can I be so confident?

I teach a process that best optimizes your time. I don't believe in stressing yourself out by haphazardly writing & scrapping mediocre essay drafts. You've got a lot on your plate, a lot on your mind, and not a lot of time! So let's work smart, not hard. K?

I provide clarity amid the chaos with practical strategy and actionable steps.
Hop on a call with me and I'll untangle your ideas and organize them in a way that is best suited for college essays.

Oftentimes, students book their first session once they already have a working draft.
But almost every time...

...we dive back into the brainstorming process
and completely restructure the essay.

Now why is that?

The #1 Mistake:
You start writing your essays before learning the necessary strategy.

When you skip the brainstorming stages, skip the outlining and structuring stages, and jump straight to drafting your essays, you end up with a draft that...
😭 Is scattered and confusing for others to understand.
😭 Focuses on irrelevant details.
😭 Fails to encapsulate your growth and identity as a person.

You become trapped in a time-wasting cycle of scrapping and rewriting poor essay drafts.

The stress increases, your well-being takes a toll, and college applications live on in your mind as literal H, E, double hockey sticks. (Believe me, I’ve been there.)

Let's prevent all that, shall we?

🎓 How would it feel for YOU to be accepted into your dream school?

"I am happy to share that because of Dyllen’s help, I will be attending my dream school: Boston University!!!"

"Over the summer I met with Dyllen on Zoom for the first time and I was all over the place! Dyllen immediately helped ease my nerves and provided great advice while answering all of my countless, and very specific questions. Meeting with her on Zoom to brainstorm person statement ideas, her online essay course, YouTube videos, and essay editing services were all incredibly useful resources!

I have many friends who paid for SAT tutoring and other personal college counseling, and based on what I’ve heard from them, Dyllen’s services are far more valuable and she is so much more skilled at what she does. I highly recommend that all college applicants take advantage of the tools and services she has to offer."
Luke – Boston University
Connecticut

Meet Your College Essay Coach

What's up!
I'm Dyllen, a Stanford undergrad and YOUR college essay coach.

When I applied to college in 2018, I had big dreams of getting into top-ranked colleges, but I had no idea HOW – and no guidance at my public high school. So, I sought out numerous articles, books, and videos to educate myself on the ins and outs of the college application process. What I learned was indispensable.

And it all paid off - I was accepted into every school I applied to including Stanford, USC, UCLA, NYU, and more. But most importantly, I experienced an incredible journey of self-discovery and became more grounded in my values and identity than ever before.
I won't lie, it was SUPER STRESSFUL. I spent so much time sifting through millions of random resources to figure out the strategy to get into my top schools, that I didn’t have a comfortable amount of TIME to actually execute what I had learned.
I’ve made the mistakes so YOU don’t have to.

Every year since, I’ve continued to research college essay strategy and I've gone on to coach thousands of students across the world. I have developed a system that both optimizes your time and maximizes your chances of acceptance!
Dyllen Nellis
Dyllen Nellis Stanford Engineering

I'm the girl who could never choose just one passion.
That's why I designed my own interdisciplinary major.

Growing up in a household of artists, I spent my adolescence practicing both visual and performing arts. I attended an arts high school in Downtown Los Angeles with a concentration in visual arts (drawing, painting, photography, film) and I performed in my school's musical theatre program.

Entering college, my plan was to combine art with technology. But after exploring courses in design, business, computer science, and psychology, I declared a self-designed major entitled "Human-Centered Design and Engineering".
(And of course, I also took classes in English and storytelling that have greatly transformed the way I think about writing process.)

Now, as a college essay coach, I am honing my skills in business, marketing, and storytelling. The coolest part? I am able to apply what I've learned from ALL of my interests while coaching you to create the best essays possible.

My experience in a diverse range of interests puts YOU at an advantage.

Whether or not my interests align with yours, I am able to utilize my unique perspectives to offer new insights and specific suggestions to strengthen your essays. 💪

With my years of experience in college essay storytelling,
I know how to take any story and piece it together into a compelling essay.

Here's how I work...

We're gonna get deep, we're gonna work fast, and it's gonna be fun.

Our first step is my personal favorite: exploring your full story. Colleges want to understand your personal values, but in order to do that, you need to discover them for yourself. Together, we will learn who you are, your areas of interest, your past experiences, your limiting beliefs, your moments of growth, and how all of these come together to shape your mindset & values. Get ready to experience breakthroughs about yourself in ways you've never before!

I will teach you how to write an essay that showcases your best qualities, yet still feels true to you. (I don't believe in fabricating false narratives!) I will guide you to define a clear theme and character arc for your essay, so your ideas will flow seamlessly from one to the other.

You will come out of our session with a detailed structure for your essay, broken down paragraph by paragraph. So then, all you have to do next is turn those bullet points into sentences.

It's that easy.
Dyllen's College Essay Advice
LET'S WORK TOGETHER!
Then once you have a working draft, we will polish your phrasing and condense your sentences to fit the word limit. I will show you that it is possible to clearly communicate your entire story within the word limit. You'd be surprised by how much you can convey about your life, experiences, and identity in just 250, 350, or 650 words!

Unlike my offline essay editing service, I will work with you in real time to uncover the missing details and points of connection in your story. We will make the changes right then and there so you are left with a beautifully crafted narrative – and pride in yourself!

Experience Unbelievable Transformation

Students on my calls are bound to have a major "AHA" moment of transformation. I love watching students experience incredible breakthroughs as they discover new ideas, stories, and connections during the brainstorming & writing process.

You will learn new insights about yourself and leave our sessions instilled with a new sense of confidence!

Watch Hamad’s reaction when he finished all 4 of his UC PIQs with me!

At first, Hamad was really struggling with his essays. He had submitted drafts to my essay editing service and received crucial feedback that it was time to go back to the drawing board. But he felt stuck and didn't know what next steps to take.

With several weeks of private coaching, we discussed his ideas in depth, built detailed structures for ALL of his essays, revised multiple versions, and polished his language into stunning final drafts!

Hamad was stunned. He proved to himself that his dreams ARE possible and he is capable of more than he thinks!

My students have done it, and so can YOU!

"Dyllen helped me achieve my goal of attending Stanford, and I know she can do the same for you!"

"One of the most important decisions I made during my college application process was getting Dyllen to help me brainstorm essay ideas and later on edit two rounds of my Common App essay. Her feedback helped me understand where my writing was strong and where I needed to go back to the drawing board so that I could craft the strongest application possible. I cannot thank her enough and recommend her to any and everyone!"
Melany – Stanford University
Washington

"Dyllen has the eye of a storyteller."

"For my Common App essay, which ultimately became one of my UC PIQs, Dyllen helped clarify different moving parts of my essay to become one cohesive narrative. By asking a number of probing questions, identifying confusing syntax, and pointing out opportunities for me to tie my complicated story together, her feedback made sure I presented myself in the best way possible. Compared to other services, Dyllen's focuses on capturing who YOU are as an individual. Because of Dyllen, I was able to show who I was and who I became in my story, and this is a skill that not many people can do well. But Dyllen can! Her teachings and feedback allowed me to create an application that I was proud of!"
Clara – UC Berkeley
California

"Meeting with Dyllen over Zoom starting at the end of summer before senior year allowed me to have a lot of clarity and direction going into college essay writing season."

"We brainstormed my theme and ways to tell my story, which helped me get a good head start on the hardest part of essay writing. I appreciated all of her great ideas and encouragement so much!"
Isabella – Yale University
California

Are you ready to write phenomenal college essays – with ease?

One-on-one
with Dyllen Nellis

Meet with me (Dyllen) live to discuss anything you want about your college applications and essays. I work fast so no time is wasted!

Holistic and Personalized Feedback

Strategize the way you come across as an applicant.
I provide directional advice to help create a competitive profile that feels true to you.

Deep Brainstorming

I will ask you a series of questions to help you discover your values, what makes you unique, and the experiences from your life that best convey your identity. Uncover these details to create a stand-out essay!

Detailed Structure for Your College Essays

Already got a topic in mind?
In just one session, we can flesh out your entire narrative to create a strong and detailed structure for your essay.

Transform Your Essays

Bring an essay into our meeting, and you will come out with a transformed draft.
We will craft a theme, strengthen your wording, and improve your storytelling.

• You will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link. Be sure to log onto the Zoom at the appropriate date & time!

• Reschedule: If you need to reschedule your meeting, please click the reschedule button at the bottom of your confirmation email. There is no additional charge to you.

• Arriving Late / No Show: If you do not show up or communicate that you will be late via email within the first 10 minutes of the scheduled meeting time, the meeting will be cancelled and non-refundable.

• Cancelations: If you need to cancel your meeting, you will receive a refund covering the meeting cost. It is strongly recommended to reschedule your meeting instead of cancel, if possible, as there is a slight delay to issue your refund!

FAQs

I would be happy to meet with parents to discuss college applications as a whole and other general questions, but if you would like to review and edit your child's essays on our call, your child must be present. I am committed to maintaining the integrity of your child's work, as all college essays must be coming from their own ideas and writing. With your child engaged on the call, we can discuss ways to craft their story and the best methods for improvement!

I am happy to coach you throughout the whole process, as my availability allows (see the booking page above)! I charge based on an hourly rate, so feel free to book as many appointments as you need.

I will not write your essays for you! College essays are deeply personal and must come from your voice, ideas, and story. I will guide you through the development of your story and offer specific advice on how to improve essay structure,
sentence phrasing, clarity, cohesion, grammar, flow, and storytelling. I can suggest alternative sentences or words you can use, but I will not completely rewrite sections of your essay. 

After spending thousands of dollars and 40+ hours with elite college admissions counselors, I was able to gain the knowledge I needed in 60 minutes with Dyllen. Her pricing model is incredible for students looking to gain rapid feedback on their essays and her resources provide actionable insights into the admissions process. Her platform undoubtedly provides robust and comprehensive resources that are optimized for students and their stage in the journey. Dyllen should be the primary option for students when seeking input from someone who went through the college process.

Zayn – Babson College Washington

Dyllen has edited many of my essays, and I can confidently say I would recommend her to any of my friends or classmates. Her edits are very comprehensive and she has ensured that all my essays sound precise, personal, and interesting to read. I definitely recommend scheduling a Zoom call with her to explain your ideas for your essays, she has been very helpful in helping me find ways to elevate my essay topics and make them incredibly specific. Her help has reduced my stress greatly in this process and I truly believe her services are worth the money.

Samantha – Purdue University Illinois

    ADMISSIONS DISCLAIMER

    Any college acceptances shown through our website are only to demonstrate what might be possible now or in the future. There can be no assurance as to any particular admissions outcome based on the use of our website. You agree that we are not responsible for your college admissions decision, the success or failure of your personal decisions, or any other result of any kind that you may have as a result of information presented to you through our website. You are solely responsible for your results.

    TESTIMONIALS

    We present testimonials and insights about other people’s experiences with our program for purposes of illustration only. The testimonials, examples, and photos used are of actual students. They are not intended to represent or guarantee that current or future students will achieve the same or similar results; rather, these testimonials represent what is possible for illustrative purposes only.