Find your material
Explore experiences, interests, and moments that matter to you.
Guidance for your college essay
Your colleges have questions.
We help you write answers that stand out.
Get help brainstorming, writing, and refining your essays—with guidance tailored to the colleges you’re applying to.
For US and UK applications. New accounts are invitation-only; existing users can sign in as usual.
Find meaningful material1 / 3
Your writing
I started tutoring because I liked helping people. Over time, I learned how to be patient.
Go back to one moment
What did you change when your first explanation didn’t work?
Illustrative guidance
There’s more in an ordinary moment.
1 Find your material→2 Shape your essay→3 Refine
Built by alumni of
A place for your next step
Begin where you are.
A thoughtful process
From a first idea
to a thoughtful revision.
Shape your essay
Connect your ideas and give your writing a clear direction.
Review and refine
Decide what to develop, clarify, or cut.
What informs our guidance
Grounded in university requirements.
Informed by successful essays.
We train our model using requirements from leading universities and a database of standout essays from previously admitted students.
Start with what’s asked.
Requirements from top universities help ground our guidance in what each application asks students to communicate.
Learn from strong writing.
Our curated essay examples inform how we approach structure, detail, and reflection.
Strong examples inform the guidance. Your experiences make the essay yours.
Guidance for the writing.
Ownership of the story.
Your experiences, your perspective, your decisions. Use the guidance to develop an essay that reflects what you want readers to understand about you.
Working on the Common App? Develop one personal essay and link it to your colleges.
Before you begin
A few questions, answered.
Can I start without a draft?
Yes. Begin by exploring your experiences and choosing what you want to write about. You don’t need a perfect first sentence to start.
Can I import an existing essay?
Yes. Bring a draft you’ve already started and continue developing it in Essly.
Does Essly support US and UK applications?
You can choose between US and UK applications when you begin your guided journey.
Can I work on my Common App essay?
Yes. You can develop one personal essay in the Common App workspace and link it to your colleges.
Start with what matters to you
Give your story
a place to begin.
Start with an idea, or bring the draft you already have.
Get started