Our newest essay coach, Stephanie, is guest blogging with an introduction today!

She started a while back, so many of you have already met her in essay coaching meetings. We hope this post helps you get to know her a little better.

Greetings! I'm Stephanie Leow, a new essay coach at DC College Counseling. 

College essays have fascinated me since high school. As a Northern Virginia native with huge college dreams, I felt the admissions process looming over my head. Dedicated mentors guided me through drafting an essay about goofing multiple piano recitals, but still maintaining my love for playing when no one was watching. That essay is still one of my favorite pieces I've ever written--a feeling that I hope to foster in other writers.

With that essay, I applied to three schools--Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Virginia--and was grateful to be accepted to all of them. I chose Georgetown because of the community I had found at the admitted students weekend. Although I entered college undecided, leaving the remnants of my pre-med ambitions in high school, I ended up studying a trifecta of language: a double major in Linguistics and English and a minor in Spanish. 

I've always aspired to be a professor, but was unsure of my area of study until I began working at the writing center as a sophomore. I felt an affinity to the center, even becoming the Teaching Assistant for the training course. As much as I loved learning about literature or second language acquisition, I had a stronger passion. At my core, I geek out for writing.

I graduated from Georgetown in the top 5% of my class, and now I am pursuing a PhD in English (Writing, Rhetorics, and Literacies) and teaching first year writing at Arizona State University. I have researched students' cognitive processes while writing essays and their representations of identity in personal essays, as I strive to incorporate my takeaways into my coaching practices.

Beneath all of my work is my love for storytelling. I engage with creative writing communities and literacy magazines, as well as cook, garden, and travel. But any interest is even better when I can share it, so I hope I can share my passion for storytelling with you! I'm looking forward to learning about your adventures, adorations, awkward moments, and aspirations. For these reasons, I'm thrilled to be working with DC College Counseling.

Want to meet with Stephanie?

You can book a session right here!

Wondering who our other essay coaches are?

• Here’s Alan, with Top Tips for Success as a College Freshman (a.k.a. Read the Syllabus)

• Here’s McClain, with Maximizing the High School Experience: A Teacher’s Perspective

• Here’s Staci, our student success coach!