“Our tutors are doing real meaningful work and have a lasting impact on a lot of lives,” says Andrea Kay McFarland, founder of Kay Tutoring. Here, a tutor connects with a student during an online session. Photos: Emma Hoffman
Local tutoring service helps students find their voices through college essays.
When brothers Wilson and Quintin Schaefer began working on their personal statements and supplemental essays for college applications, they were putting in the work to get accepted to a top-tier school but also to find their voices.
The 2025 graduates of Edina High School credited the support they received from tutors at Kay Tutoring, a one-on-one academic tutoring and test prep center based in Minnetonka, with guiding them to their acceptance of Northwestern University in Chicago and Boston College, respectively.
“It’s a very daunting essay,” Wilson says of the 650-word personal statement. “You not only have to find some sort of topic, but you also must construct a deeper meaning from the subject to connect to yourself.”
Like his brother, Wilson received help with the essays from Kay Tutoring’s Alex Burchfield, someone they grew to trust and admire. “The essay is so important, and [Burchfield] was good at helping to guide me and set my essay apart,” Quintin says.
Abhik Pramanik, director of college counseling at Kay Tutoring, says most college admission officers spend 60 seconds on an essay, deciding if they want to continue reading or not. Kay Tutoring works to increase that.
Kay Tutoring offers students an opportunity to hone their writing skills and so much more.
“Even if the topic may seem mundane, we want to structure it in a way that people can’t help but read it,” he says. Pramanik says before a student embarks on the 10 to 12, one-hour long sessions to write a personal statement, they fill out a six-page profile that asks them to reflect on challenges, personal characteristics, activities they’re involved in and more.
“This provides insight to a student’s life that won’t show up on a resume,” he says. “We start looking for what’s unique about them.”
In addition, the profile allows tutors to assess the students’ writing and vocabulary capabilities. “The most important thing is that the essay they write is something they’re capable of,” Pramanik says. “We push them to their personal limits … They don’t have to be a strong writer, but we’ll help students write essays that are strong, polished and something they’re proud of.”
What about students who haven’t had a seminal life moment or impactful experience? That’s Kay Tutoring’s specialty. “Students don’t need a homerun story,” Pramanik says, recommending students seeking essay support to contact Kay Tutoring the summer between their junior and senior years of high school. Because the common application for many colleges goes live August 1, the goal is to have the personal statement complete by then. “We want to space out the writing as much as possible between June and July,” Pramanik says. “Because every time you look at something, you can make it better than what it was before.”
Andrea Kay McFarland, founder of Kay Tutoring, sums up the student and tutor experience. “Tutors become part of families,” she says. “Our tutors are doing real meaningful work and have a lasting impact on a lot of lives.” The Schaefer brother’s mother, Tracy Schaefer, agrees. “I was extremely pleased that Kay Tutoring provided my children guidance to write their essays, but my children were responsible for their essay content, ideas and writing in their own voice,” she says. “Although both boys had strong academics and extracurricular activities, without a doubt their essays helped them secure admissions at two extremely selective universities.”
Tips for Personal Statements
- Be personal.
- Be yourself.
- Be creative.
- Show what makes you unique.
- Be positive, and show your growth.
- Take your time, and write multiple drafts.
- Write your story the way it needs to be told.
- Avoid trauma dumping.
- Don’t tell them what you think they want to hear.
- Never lie.
- Avoid writing about common experiences.
- Don’t choose topics that you can’t view with objectivity.
- Remember to censor your ideas before you’ve reached a final draft.
- Don’t write to a prompt.
Tips for Supplemental Essays
- Answer the question that is being asked.
- Show additional interests or sides of your personality.
- Don’t use AI.
- Avoid recycling “Why” essays for multiple schools.
- Refrain from repeating information from your personal essay.
Kay Tutoring
Instagram: @kaytutoring
