My name is Jason Xie –the founder and developer of Penning Papers.

I graduated from the University of California, Davis with a Bachelor’s in English and worked at a private test prep center as an SAT/ACT English tutor for four years. I also worked as a college adviser and essay editor for three years.

During my career, something never seemed quite right to me: students with fantastic marks were getting rejected from their dream schools, but other applicants were accepted. Those overqualified for schools had to settle for what parents called “second-rate universities.” Obviously, things weren’t adding up. We realized, after much analysis of past and present student applications that we discovered the primary reason for this. 

Students simply lacked an optimized admissions essay. 

So it seemed simple enough to just tell our students to “write better content.” Unfortunately, we realized students of all aspiring majors and fields lacked the necessary writing skills to pen a good admissions essay. This was especially true with STEM-focused students. It wasn’t until after years of work, research, and exposure that I developed a perfect formula for my students for college admissions success: it’s called The Six-Pillar Editing Process. This process is an excruciatingly tedious journey that implements traditional writing conventions, experienced editing, years of evidence-based theories, and admissions optimization to make college application essays that shine.

Today, we still specialize specifically with admissions essays, as they’re one of the best factors in the admissions process an applicant can capitalize on to compensate for weaker aspects of their application like GPAs and SAT/ACT scores. (Which is exactly what we do!) The fact that the admissions essay section is the only part of the college admissions process that allows students to gain a competitive edge by “writing their way in” is a blessing. The fact that there is a section that can differentiate applicants from the rest is phenomenal. That you can be more than a statistic is such an opportunity that is not to be taken for granted, and here at PenningPapers, we plan to grasp that opportunity.