Testimonials
Louise is by far one of the best (and favorite) teachers I have ever had.
I sought out Louise because I was looking for someone who could help me with my high school applications, and I have a sibling who enjoys having her as a writing mentor. My goal was to come up with and polish three well-rounded essays. In only four sessions, I have already finished. They turned out phenomenally and exceeded my expectations greatly.
Louise's approach is kind and easygoing. At the beginning of each session, she asks about my day and shares something from hers. This helps me think because I feel relaxed and free, and like she knows me as a person. What is most unique about Louise is how she really treats you like a human being. She's someone you can just talk to. She doesn't put the kind of pressure other teachers do. It feels like you are just two people having a conversation.
Two skills I’m developing are more advanced vocabulary and sentence variety, so my writing is not predictable and repetitive. Louise doesn't put words in my mouth, but if I am stuck, she will help try to enhance the idea I am trying to portray. She will give me an example, but not write FOR me. Somehow, her ideas and information stick with me, and it is effortless to apply what I’ve learned to my own writing, which I think is incredible.
Nylah, Student
HS Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
I sought out Louise because I needed someone who 'got' me, who understood and valued my personality and learning style, who would work with me and learn with me. I needed someone who could help me one-on-one to navigate the transition between middle and high school.
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Louise did all this and more. She took the time to get to know ME, to translate strategies into my own 'code.' With her coaching, I developed the skills and confidence to organize myself, to write and edit, and to apply to college. She pushed me to want to work hard, to be better, to become more. I looked forward to every session; she taught me to love learning again.
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Far and away, the best thing Louise did for me was take an interest in who I am, kindling an authentic and enduring connection.
Ben, Student
Executive Functioning, Writing, & College Admissions
My sessions with Louise turned my life around. At first, I thought getting a coach was not going to be helpful, but I was very wrong; it ended up being the very thing I have been missing in my life and for my recovery.
I sought out a coach because I had been dealing with a lot of mental health challenges. I have done many different types of therapy; however, I always felt there was a gap between the skills I learned and the way they could be applied to my life. Louise has guided me with steps that feel possible to achieve, steps that have made a remarkable difference in my life. Skills I am developing include: practicing self kindness and compassion, and incorporating healthy, constructive and positive actions. I feel the changes during and immediately after our sessions. I have never had such a helpful individual on my team!
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Katherine, Client
Coaching
Open-minded, kind, intelligent, efficient, and playful, Louise brought out the best in me. I enjoyed every session!
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With her skills and support, I was able to accomplish beyond my goals and grow as an applicant, writer, and individual. When I had trouble figuring out what to write or what was different about me, she helped me see and convey my story -- what I have to offer.
Her approach led me to bring creativity to each piece. To make each supplement specific to the college, she helped me research in depth. Reviewing my writing with me, she was thorough and patient. I was happy that we didn't rush the process, that we put time and effort into each part. I am really proud of the applications I submitted. Louise equipped me with skills, such as brainstorming, outlining, drafting, and revising that I carry with me.​
As a result, I got into my top schools, AND I am more confident. This proved a big time of reflection for me. Now I know who I am.
Anjali, Student
College Admissions & Writing
Louise helped me tackle two critical -- and daunting! -- application processes: private high school and college.
She is a calming, creative, and joyful resource to have throughout a stressful time! Her approach allowed me to create my best work and be true to my personal voice.
She shared valuable insights into the admissions process, while helping me to improve my writing. In particular, her approach to the initial stages of the writing process was really unique; it helped me to spark and foster new ideas. During our work together, I strengthened my ability to write with complexity and coherence. Louise’s feedback helped me understand where to focus, where to elaborate, and where to simplify.
Ellen, Student
​HS & College Admissions and Writing
Louise is a professional -- sharp and able to add some peace into what can be a very stressful time.
Throughout, she listened and understood what I was trying to say. She knows how to identify the essence of what you want to communicate and work with you to craft it in a way that represents who you are. She helped me a lot with writing by teaching me how to edit and the why behind it.
Louise is also just lovely and great to be around, so that made crafting personal statements and supplemental essays more fun. She is a pleasure to work with and ensures the final product is something you are proud of.
I highly recommend working with Louise.
Eleanna, Student
​College Admissions & Writing
Louise is an amazing coach for the college admissions process.
She helped me develop a list of possible choices, pushed me to produce high quality applications, and was an ever-present sounding board and stress reliever. Throughout, Louise's professionalism combined with incredible warmth and empathy made the process smoother than it would have gone on my own.
10/10 recommend! We were in it together - my triumphs were her triumphs as well.
Dimitri, Student
​College Admissions & Writing
Middle school is a challenging time for students in multiple areas -- socially, emotionally, and, for my child, sometimes, academically. Given these challenges, I wasn’t sure how she would feel about tutoring. Well, it turns out she looks forward to the sessions with Louise! Louise genuinely cares for her students as individuals and not just as clients. She has a tailored yet organic way of meeting the needs of her students.
Cynthia, Parent
Writing
Louise Place is an amazing person, coach, and teacher. She seeks to understand each child and guides and inspires them to write school applications that authentically reflect them and their skills, goals, and personality. She's very insightful, supportive, and encouraging for kids and parents to work with. She makes something that isn't necessarily fun extremely fun and eye opening!
Danielle, Parent
MS Admissions and Writing
Ms. Place has helped me in many different ways throughout my time working with her. I have been able to become a lot more organized than I used to be because of her, and overall my efficiency in how I work has improved a ton because of this. I am so happy to be able to work with Ms. Place, and I think she is a great teacher.
Charlie, Student
Executive Functioning
Ms. Place is both a capable and fun tutor for students of all ages. She can be very flexible depending on your needs and circumstances.
Russell, Student
Writing Support & Enrichment
I sought out Louise to help our older child become a more confident and effective writer in Middle School English. At the end of the year, his performance outdid our expectations! He credits it to all the work he has done with Louise.
Louise has a way with kids, understands what they need, and adapts her teaching style to bring out the best in them. She brings a fun energy to all her sessions. Both my kids will testify that it is a joy to work with her.
We highly recommend Louise -- she is spectacular!
Saloni, Parent
Writing Support & Enrichment
I am so grateful that we were referred to Louise. We knew it would be easier to have someone else guide our son through the process of crafting his high school essay. However, I don't think we understood how beneficial it would be on a variety of levels. Louise has a way of astutely helping our son reflect and write about himself in ways that he has never before. Expressing himself does not come naturally, and Louise has done a remarkable job in getting him to think more deeply about who is and then translate those insights into words. Originally, we chose to work with Louise to help our son prepare for assembling his high school applications. But now, not only has she made all of us more relaxed and prepared for the whole process, but she is giving our son skills that he can use beyond our initial goals. We would definitely use her again when our next son is ready to apply to high school or for the college applications.
Lisa, Parent
HS Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
Louise was exceptional with her ability to understand the needs of our son. She gave him back his confidence by guiding him to write a better personal essay than he had previously written. She helped him navigate the college application process with a gentle but strong hand. I would highly recommend Louise to help any student through the difficult and challenging college application process.
Sophie, Parent
College Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
Louise is an essential for anyone writing essays for college or graduate school applications. She is able to identify meaningful personal experiences in your life and channel your personality into writing, while ensuring the essay checks all the boxes that a college admissions office wants to see. She is accommodating and caring, but she also doesn't waste any time when working with students. She helped me write statement(s)-of-purpose that elegantly blended authentic aspects of my personality with key points that an admission office wants to hear. I reached out to her 3-4 weeks before applications to graduate schools were due, and she jumped in the trenches with me right away, sharing my drive to submit high-quality essays before a quickly approaching deadline. She was professional and focused while making sure to touch base on aspects of my personal life at all the right times (which allowed for our relationship to grow).
Max, Student
College & Graduate School Admissions and Writing Support
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Louise has helped me to grow confident in my writing and has taught me many skills that I know will be helpful in school and beyond. She has allowed me to explore what I can do, while giving me feedback to help me when I am stuck.
Tegan, Student
Writing Support & Enrichment
Louise has been so helpful in getting my daughter prepared for and organized in middle school. Her thoughtful, gentle, and fun approach makes my daughter think she is chatting to a friend during her sessions, all while learning vital study skills.
Stephanie, Parent
Executive Functioning
If you want help, Louise is the person.
It’s as simple as that.
She is genuine, kind, caring, and actually emotionally invested in her clients. She wants them to succeed! If you give her the time to work with you, she will change your life for the better. That’s a promise!
Jonathan, Client
Coaching (Personal & Professional)
I sought Louise out for direction in the college application process. Our work together has proven very useful. She has a compassionate and creative approach that produces authentic work.
She always has an answer to my questions and was very helpful with recommending SAT tutors. Her writing process is great; she asks smart questions that help me think about what I want to say and how I want to say it. As a result of our time together, I have grown in understanding myself, writing about myself, and presenting myself in writing. Additionally, I am stronger at creative writing and requesting recommendations. These skills will definitely help in other areas of my life--and already have.
One thing that is unique about Louise is her very personal style. She takes the time to get to know me and understand me and caters her approach towards that. I appreciate the conversations before we start working. I've always felt that I am the only person she is working with (which is obviously not the case!), and I think it's really awesome how special she makes the people she is working with feel. They are her priority.
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This style has clearly proven effective as I produced strong applications and was accepted into my top choice through Early Decision!
Clara, Student
College Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
I worked with Louise because I wanted to feel confident that my Personal Insight Questions (applying to the University of California schools) accurately portrayed me during the admission process. Her approach is very hands-on and efficient. We would get a lot done each hour, and I never felt like time was wasted.
Whenever we work together, it feels like we’re a team. She encourages and pushes me to write write write during our sessions and simultaneously goes through adding in little notes. I am now better at answering prompts, getting to the point and weaving different stories together. Louise asked questions and coached me to think of ways to craft my story that I would not have necessarily thought of by myself.
Hamsa, Student
College Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
We reached out to Louise very early in the college application process. She worked with our daughter first to set a good timeline for the process and then to start to put together a list of schools.
She got to know our daughter very well. Louise's approach is very thorough, personalized, and effective. Working with her took a lot of stress out of the process and gave us confidence that we were going about it as best as possible. She was available for us, the parents, too. She was very responsive and gave all of us good advice.
The result was a very strong application that reflected who our daughter is, what she was looking for in a school, and what she had to offer. She got into her top choice in Early Decision. We are very happy with the outcome and thankful for Louise's help!
Luciana, Parent
College Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
Across my time working with Louise, I have come to recognize her ability to draw out my own voice in a very natural way. Our conversations never centered solely on one aspect of the writing process, but rather extended from brainstorming to editing. Due to Louise's thorough and holistic approach, I am able to apply these new and strengthened skills to my writing beyond the application process, and have grown – and believe will continue to grow – into a much more confident writer and storyteller.
Maria, Student
College Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
I sought Louise's services because I was feeling overwhelmed by the college process, and the prospect of writing so many essays. My goals were to find a school that was a great fit for me!
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My sessions with Louise absolutely helped me accomplish these goals. Not only did we work on essay editing, I also felt that Louise helped me process a lot of what was going on in my life at the time, and how the events leading up to our sessions had shaped my personality and life. That was all, of course, great fodder for college essays, and as a result, I both enjoyed the college application process, and felt it to be a time rich with reflection.
Ela, Student
College Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
I engaged Louise to help with our daughter's writing mechanics after she was identified as dyslexic. In their time together, her writing and sense of structure improved significantly. The 1-1 instruction made it significantly easier for her to understand the gap between what she was writing and what the reader needed to follow her story. Louise's open-ended approach of letting her choose based on interest was very appealing.
Throughout, she felt Louise was giving her the tools to write the stories she has to share. She looked forward to the sessions as a privilege. She gets to spend an hour with a cool grown-up focused on her creative process. It's the opposite of a chore!
Irene, Parent
MS Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
I had a great time working with Louise! I feel my writing reflected important parts of my personality that I wanted to share with colleges, and I was able to complete all my applications in a timely manner.
Danielle, Student
College Admissions
I started working with Louise because I wanted to improve my essay writing and organization. Working together, I have accomplished these goals. My essays have become better worded, more clear, and to the point.
In other writing classes, it has been mostly scripted, such as just writing an essay and getting only one or two pieces of advice. What is unique about Louise's teaching style is that she goes over every section of each essay in detail, allowing students to have their own input while offering suggestions for how it might be improved. She guides us into a certain direction, but ultimately empowers the student to decide what the final version should be. I really enjoy this type of approach!
Charlotte, Student
Organization and Writing Support & Enrichment
Initially, I worked with Ms. Place for ISEE prep. Once I successfully got into my top choice, I realized I needed help improving my grammar to make me a strong writer. Ms. Place helps writers like me discover new literary techniques. She expands my vocabulary and makes clear the most confusing parts of grammar.
Ms. Place is very encouraging. She never interrupts me when I am speaking, and when my idea isn't fully shaped, she helps me get on the right track. With every passing session, my writing is becoming stronger.
Yaamini, Student
MS Admissions and Writing Support & Enrichment
I heard that Louise is good at helping kids with writing. She is also great at helping parents to formulate a good parent essay for my son's high school application. I am not a native English speaker and did not have experience with high school applications. Louise made the whole process so easy.
Phyllis, Parent
HS Admissions
I hired Louise because my daughter’s school had one college counselor for 500 students. Throughout the application process, Louise really listened to my daughter and motivated her to pursue what excited her; she made my daughter feel safe to explore and just try.
The biggest asset was support with writing. Louise introduced her to the writing process, making her thinking visible. Through their work together, my daughter developed a personal connection with -- and ownership of -- her writing. Reflecting at each stage, she saw how intentional steps could culminate into an amazing product. We absolutely LOVED her personal statement; it brought tears to our eyes, and we will hold it close to our hearts. In fact, she was so inspired that she signed up for a creative writing course -- the first and only class she selected for the pure joy of learning.
With Louise, this experience had meaning beyond getting into college.
Anita, Parent
College Admissions & Writing
Louise made the college process fun. She promotes the perfect environment when tackling college applications. Her approach, supported by her vast skills and knowledge of writing, allows for the college process to be as efficient and effective as possible. She structures each essay in a strategic manner that can be universal for all colleges and universities, depending on the essay prompt. This significantly reduces the workload, while also improving personal mentality and work efficiency. Additionally, brainstorming what factors to implement in the essay is no problem, as Louise has methods that encourages individuals to remember moments in time that were previously thought to be lost or forgotten.
Overall, the experience can be very stressful and emotional. Working with Louise helped me to forget the stress and be excited for the future.
Jared, Student
College Admissions
Louise's warmth through the college application process turned a daunting task into a road of discovering the traits which were intrinsic to my personality and the interests which brought meaning to my life. Her thoughtful approach to writing supplemental essays helped me bring out the parts of my voice which were unique and display them through my writing. We spent time planning out potential essay ideas, researching schools, and figuring out how my experiences could best be showcased through the various prompts. Her expertise helped me when I was struggling with coming up with ideas and when I needed to refine my phrasing. I think Louise's playfulness and empathy made the process more enjoyable and made me feel proud of the final product I had produced.
Samarth, Student
College Admissions
I cannot recommend Louise enough for assistance with college application process.
Louise got to know our son and his strengths/challenges as she was organizing his documents. Once she established a rapport with him, she coached him with writing and editing his essays, as well as addressing all his questions and concerns about the process. Louise is a naturally gifted coach who is kind, calm, and patient. Highly recommend her for College Admissions and Writing Support.
Amsale, Parent
College Admissions & Writing Support
I have had the pleasure of working with Louise for the past few months, and I can confidently say that she has greatly improved my writing skills. One of the things that I appreciated the most was her ability to give descriptive and detailed feedback on my essays both during our meetings and off schedule. Her suggestions helped me to add depth and complexity to my writing, making it more engaging and interesting for the reader.
Ahadu, Student
College Admissions & Writing Support
Louise is a gem. Under her encouragement and guidance, both my kids have participated in writing contests and performed exceedingly well.
We were introduced to Louise during the pandemic lockdown. She came highly recommended by another mom. My son had just started a new school for 6th grade. He was not doing well with distance learning and desperately needed help with executive functioning.
Louise quickly helped my son organize his workflow and get assignments completed. He came to trust and enjoy his time with her so much that we switched to have them focus on his writing skills. Even his sister noticed the ease and engagement he exhibited during his time with Louise and requested to have her own session with her.
Now, Louise works with both kids on polishing their writing skills. She teaches with great care and attention, not only encouraging my kids to express themselves creatively with writing, but also teaching them practical skills, such as how to reach out to professionals in their fields of interest.
Julie, Parent
Executive Functioning & Writing Support
Louise is determined to get to know you and adapt to your needs. Before getting started, she asked me a lot of questions about my values and personal characteristics. This way, right from the start she could understand my voice as a writer and have a sense of who I was. Moreover, she's very organized and professional. She took me step by step through the college application process. She made it feel manageable when I originally felt overwhelmed. Each meeting we worked hard, getting a lot done. She knew exactly what we needed to do in order for me to finish the Common App and supplements ahead of time for the early November deadlines. Additionally, she made the process fun! She knows that college applications can be draining for many students, so she went out of her way to make it a worthwhile and valuable experience.
As a result of the process, I have gotten to know more about myself and my accomplishments. I now know how to apply my interests to my goals and know how to make those interests appeal to colleges. I am so grateful for all of Louise’s help and really appreciate all that she has done for me.
Kate, Student
College Counseling & Writing Support
I sought out Louise because I was submitting transfer applications and needed help crafting my personal statement and supplementals. Having gone through this process before, I have worked with other counselors and can confidently say that Louise was the BEST one I have ever worked with.
Louise is a lovely person and so easy to work with. She is very creative and organized, which helped bring out the best in me. She took the time to get to know me personally and helped me feel that what I was writing matters, which I think is incredibly special. She also has a talent for helping organize your thoughts and enabled me to put them down on paper in a concise way, while maintaining my voice and essence. She brought out the best in my writing, and I am so incredibly proud and happy with what I created!