Nicole Z.

“My son is heading to Stanford, and it's all because of Dan Lichterman! (So maybe my son had a part in this admission, but Dan was a huge part of the process.) If you know anything about the college admissions process, then you know that the Common App essay plays an important role. Although my son is a good writer, he found it difficult to make his words flow from his brain to paper. Maybe it was the stress in knowing that this would be the focus of his college application. Maybe senioritis was getting the best of him, and he couldn't just sit down and figure something out.( Maybe I knew that my relationship with my son would disintegrate if I tried to give him some pointers.) Whatever the reason was, I am so happy that Dan and my son connected (virtually!) so well to just get the essay done!

From the first session, Dan made it a point to learn all about my son's personality...from his interests to his quirky behavior...and the two of them began to form the story that best represented who my son is and how he wanted to portray himself to the college admissions teams. Week after week, my son's story progressed. Dan helped my son brainstorm and edit and mold his life's passions and interests into a succinct yet thorough (and incredible!) Common App Essay! (By the way, the operative word here is "help." Dan did not write the essay for my son. They collaborated together, so my son felt proud of the end result because it was written in his own voice.)

Due to this crazy pandemic, my son still does not know if he will actually be able to live on the Stanford campus when he begins his freshman year this September. He may be a Stanford University student from his bedroom, but eventually he will live his dream life in Palo Alto. My son applied and received acceptances to many other high-ranking schools. He was accepted to Columbia, Duke, Northwestern (special dual degree program Engineering/Theater), Vanderbilt, UC-Berkeley, Michigan Engineering, UNC-Chapel Hill Honors, UCLA, USC, UF, UMiami, Johns Hopkins, and STANFORD!!! It was difficult for him to decide among all of these amazing schools. He ultimately realized that he couldn't deny himself a Stanford education.

Dan Lichterman was an integral part of my son's college acceptances. I cannot offer enough accolades about the type of person he is and the care he has for his students/clients. Dan is extremely intelligent and well-versed in writing. My son and I feel very lucky to have found such a wonderful person whose goals paralleled our views on what we wanted from a writing coach. Dan's expertise in college admissions essay writing was just icing on the cake!”