Helping students find their way through college applications
I help high school students develop their interests, make sense of their experiences, and write college essays they’re proud to submit.
You have more than you think
I work with students and parents who feel pressure around college applications and find the process too complicated, frustrating, or high-stakes to handle alone.
I’ve helped hundreds of students turn a life full of classes, activities, interests, questions, and unfinished ideas into a thoughtful college application.
Many of my students are bright, capable, and full of potential. They are also often overwhelmed.
They overthink.
They delay.
They second-guess themselves.
They worry they do not have anything interesting to say, or worry they don’t know how to say it.
I know these students well. I call them the Reluctant Applicant.
I help them organize what is already there, think more clearly, write more confidently, and build applications that are stronger because they make more sense.
How I work with students
The Application Runway
For students in grades 9–11 who want to explore their interests and make thoughtful choices about classes, activities, and summers.
College Essays
Individual coaching to help students find a topic, shape a draft, and write an essay that carries their language and personality.
When Starting Is the Hard Part
For students who put off an essay, hesitate over a choice, or want to try something new but doubt they can do it.
Starting with what the student already has
Students often think they need a dramatic experience or a fully formed idea before they can write a strong essay. I help them look more closely at the places, experiences, questions, and interests already in their lives, then decide what they want to say about them. The ideas and the writing remain theirs.
Begin with a place. See where it leads.
The Place Method begins with somewhere a student knows well: a kitchen, a bus route, a playing field, a laboratory. A place can bring back people, conversations, and moments they might not have thought to write about. We explore those memories, what they reveal about the student’s choices and interests, and where they might lead in an essay.
- A kitchen counter
- A playing field
- A bus route
- A laboratory
- A grandparent’s home
- A shop
- A bedroom
50 Things to Do This Summer
A useful summer doesn’t require an expensive program or an activity chosen to look good on an application. This guide offers 50 ways to explore an interest, make something, take on a responsibility, or try something new, most of which cost nothing.
Things you can work through on your own
I also make books, workbooks and practical tools that help students find material, begin, and work through the application process with more clarity and self-awareness than they started with.
The College Application Personal Essay A practical guide to finding a topic, developing your ideas, and shaping them into a college essay. View on Amazon 
The College App Essay Practical Workbook The workbook takes students from their first ideas toward a draft through Memory Maps, writing exercises, and examples. Try the Places Memory Map with a free excerpt. Get the free exercise 
Unslack A card game that helps students, parents, and friends talk about the things they keep putting off, from college applications to everyday tasks. Players choose a task, explore what’s getting in the way, and find a small action they’re willing to try. Explore Unslack
Who you would be working with
I’m Sofia Blake, the founder of Studio SB Coaching. I work with students who have plenty to say but aren’t always sure where to begin, helping them develop their interests, make choices about their applications, and write essays that feel like their own.
I’m also an essay coach with College Essay Guy and the author of The College Application Personal Essay and Journeys to the Heart. I studied at Brown, Sciences Po, and Georgetown, and have lived and worked in several countries. That experience has made me especially interested in how students describe lives that don’t fit neatly into one place or one educational system.
We can begin with where they are
Whether your student is exploring interests, preparing applications, or struggling to begin an essay, we can start with a conversation about where they are and what kind of help would be useful.