Luckily, writers and teachers have been filling blank pages for years. At Topic Sentence, we can help you produce a solid essay (or two!) that will let colleges know something about you and what kind of student you are. Ideally, your essay will also help you learn something about you and what you might want to study in college, too.
AI programs like ChatGPT or Grammarly may seem like a godsend for a nervous writer. The problem is, AI writing is easily recognizable to those of us who have been reading college essays for years. Schools are using increasingly sophisticated tools to detect even the smallest amount of AI—and they may set aside your application if they feel you are not ready for college-level work.
Colleges want to get to know you—the actual student. That includes your imperfections, your hesitations, and your room for growth.
Whether you journal every day or hate freewriting with the heat of a thousand suns, you have a good essay in you. We work with writers at all levels and stages, and we shoot for writing that fits the student—no dazzling feats, globe-trotting, or anguish required. (But they’re okay, too!)
Lizzie Skurnick is a graduate of Yale University and the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Her work appears in the New York Times Book Review, Elle, Time, on NPR and PBS, and in numerous essays collections and anthologies. She is the author of Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, That Should Be a Word: A Much-Needed Lexicon for the Modern Era, and Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, and Feisty. Her latest work is The Special Students: My Great-Grandfather at Harvard, His Mysterious Death, and The World of the Talented Tenth. She has taught college-level writing for nearly 30 years, helping students bring their essays, papers, and stories to fruition. Currently, she teaches at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
Payment is required upon commencement of work. Topic Sentence accepts Venmo (@lizzie-skurnick), Zelle (551-265-8587), and personal checks.
Topic Sentence has limited scholarships for students in need. Contact us with inquiries.
You can provide help so a student in need can use our services, too! Send any amount to Topic Sentence to aid a future scholar in their college path. Please label your donation Future Scholars Fund.
Have questions? Last-minute writing emergency? Ready to get started? Call 551-265-8587, or use the contact form below.
Whether you’re just getting started, need that final polish, or have no idea where to even begin, we can help.