Pen, Path & Presence College Coaching

$215/hour

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Introduction

Pen, Path, and Presence offers college admissions guidance grounded in over a decade of experience, with a special focus on college essays. With a BA from Yale, an MFA from NYU, and experience as a Yale alumni admissions interviewer, I help students find their path with clarity, refine their presence with confidence, and wield the power of the pen to tell their stories — on the page, in interviews, and beyond. Packages can consist of solely essay coaching, or essay coaching paired with application strategy, process guidance, interview/video coaching, etc.

Overview

Hired 17 times

Serves Montclair, NJ

Background checked

1 employee

10 years in business

Business hours

Sun12:00 pm - 8:00 pmMon9:00 am - 1:00 pm

Payment methods

This pro accepts payments via Cash and Zelle.

Projects and media

9 photos

Projects and media

9 photos

Reviews

Customers rated this pro highly for work quality, value, and responsiveness.

Exceptional 5.0

36 reviews

100%

Read reviews that mention:

Roberto O.

Jan 22, 2025

Hired on Thumbtack

Olivia worked on tutoring my daughter throughout the daunting college application season. She helped her navigate her personal statement, while staying true to my daughter's voice. She also helped with supplemental essays and general advise about targeting colleges based on her personal preferences, career goals, and academic record and she helped my daughter get into her top choice program.

Details: Writing essays • Completing applications • High school Senior • Cadence recommended by professional • Remotely (phone or internet)

College Admissions Counseling

Gina B.

4 days ago

Choosing to work with Olivia as a college consultant was the best decision we made for our son.  Starting with little direction as to how to choose a college essay topic, Olivia's brainstorming sessions helped him find the strengths he wanted to highlight, as well as the personal stories that would make his essay unique.   She worked directly with him not just on content and draft review, but also on deadlines, taking the entire process and all of the stress off my shoulders.  My son specifically said that she let him think freely and without judgement, bringing out his personality.  His final essay authentically captured his strengths, voice and spirit so well that we immediately asked her to help him with his supplemental essays.  She also helped him develop the activities and honors sections of the common app in a way that was not just a list.  In the end his entire application told a cohesive story.

Olivia's assistance with the remainder of the college application process became invaluable.   Olivia helped us make decisions (such as where to send SAT scores, when not to apply EA) college by college, reaching out to colleagues for input when the decision wasn't straightforward, making sure that for each school we chose the path that would best support his application and enhance his chances of admission.  It was clear she never took a single question or decision lightly, giving each and every one full consideration.  She was incredibly responsive to emails and an absolute angel with questions, even answering one night at 10pm on a holiday the night before a deadline.  She is fun and engaging and obviously loves what she does.  I have no doubt her guidance helped my son get into almost all of his chosen schools, even reaches.   I hope she is available in a few years when it is time for my daughter to apply to college.

Leela T.

Mar 4, 2025

Olivia is incredibly supportive in the college process and balances strong guidance and leaving room for the student to maintain authenticity in their writing.

Sima V.

Feb 25, 2025

Working with Olivia was one of the best decisions that we made for our son. She came recommended by my son's friend, and after our initial consultation with her, she stood out as the absolute right person to be working with our son. She was warm and friendly and made him feel comfortable enough like he was talking to a friend and not an adult. This really helped in finding the right stories to tell and linking everything into a narrative that made sense and was reflective of his strengths and interests. I love that she never wrote anything for him but would always guide him to use his voice and dig deeper when telling a story. She worked directly with him and asked for parents to step aside which was perfect as it helped reduce some of the stress. He will take what he learned forward even in college and will become a better writer as a result. She also helped him with his activities list, scholarship essays, and some mock interview questions. She really helped build his confidence and made him realize how far he could go. She celebrated alongside us every time he was accepted to a university. He has 6 amazing schools to choose from so far and waiting on another 3 before making his decision. I'm certain that her help was instrumental in making him shine during one of the most competitive application years ever. She went above and beyond and even asked for help from her colleagues when she needed additional information to guide us. She truly cares about her students and their success. We hope to hire her again in a few years when my younger kids go through this process. It was a worthy investment to hire Olivia to help my son navigate his senior year with success.

Alexsys S.

Feb 4, 2025

Choosing Olivia for essay counseling was the best decision I could have made! Up until I started working with Olivia, I was extremely stressed about my writing and thought I would never get to a point where I was happy with it. Through the process, I had asked family members, friends, etc. to review my writing. My favorite thing about working with Olivia that differed from those other experiences was how well she guided me towards expressing my own ideas. She used the perfect balance between asking thoughtful questions about what I wanted out of my writing & letting me play with the ideas I came up with. For any kids like me who are lucky enough to have family members who want to help by giving feedback on my writing, Olivia is also incredibly helpful in terms of sorting through all of that feedback to find what fit best with my vision. Her feedback is always very open- meaning I never felt like I had to make some specific change. Instead, she made the process super comfortable for me by allowing me to make choices based on her clarification of how my writing ‘sounded’. In only a few sessions, we were able to transform my personal statement from tons of ideas into a finished product that felt both authentic to me and well-thought out. I feel confident that all of the writing I worked on with her was 100% in my voice, but is so much better than anything I could have written without any guidance. I was accepted ED to the University of Pennsylvania's Huntsman School of International Studies and Business (where I'll matriculate this fall). I truly believe the work we did on my personal statement and even checking over my activities list was instrumental in my acceptance-- I don't think they would even have considered me if I had used any of my pre-Olivia drafts. I am not only so grateful, but also proud of my work, and even inspired to continue improving my writing in the future now that I know what I can do. She's also genuinely such a good person! Really loved working with her.

Credentials

Background Check

Olivia Scicolone

FAQs

What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I firmly believe that every student who reaches out to me for help and guidance should have the opportunity to receive my support. As one of four children to a single mom who worked as a travel agent, I think of my own experience trying to find great tutors who had reasonable rates when I was in high school: they didn't exist. It is my mission to keep my rates low enough so that students from all backgrounds can have a shot to get into a great school. Though I need to honor the value of my expertise, I am willing to speak to anyone interested in my services should the cost of my tutoring be prohibitively expensive.
What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
When working on essay writing, I first start by getting to know the student, talking through potential story ideas, and then setting the student off to do some free writing on anything they like. Then we see what the student has written, which story has some substance to it, and how we can dig deeper into that topic to get to the heart of the story. The initial meetings typically happen via Zoom, but once a story is chosen and the student gets comfortable doing work solo, we start to work in a hybrid model wherein the student presents work via a shared google doc and I leave detailed comments which either provoke a discussion via Zoom or further revisions on the google doc (whatever the student prefers). Many students enjoy this combination method, as it allows the student to take a look and digest the information, followed up with a Zoom call to clarify any ambiguous points or additional questions -- or vice versa.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
MFA NYU BA Yale Content Developer (ACT/SAT English) for two test prep companies (2 years) Creative Writing teacher in New Haven, CT (1 year) English / Performance teacher at the women's prison of Cleveland (2 years) Private College Essay tutor and ACT/SAT English tutor (8 years)