Yale Law Graduate & Public Defender | Personal Statement Strategy

Julie H.

I help students write elite essays for admission to top undergraduate and graduate institutions.

I treat tutoring as a distinct skill, not an automatic byproduct of academic or professional success. I graduated from Yale Law School and now work as a trial attorney, but I place equal weight on the ability to teach others how to think, write, and structure arguments at a high level. Many strong students struggle not because they lack ability, but because no one has shown them how to translate their ideas into clear, compelling, and well-structured work. I focus on making that process explicit—so students understand what works, why it works, and how to replicate it on their own.

I work with students individually on law school and college personal statements. My approach is ground up. Developing a specific but powerful idea or hook is the first step, and most students move through it too quickly. The hook must be specific enough to feel distinctive, but broad enough to support a compelling narrative. The strongest essays do not read as arguments or overt self-promotion. They operate as clear, engaging narratives that—almost invisibly—establish the applicant’s strongest attributes.

I began teaching well before law school and like to think that I still teach through my academic and professional work. In college, I volunteered as a tutor for elementary and high school students in Pennsylvania. During law school, I co-taught a full-year high school course on constitutional law and “know your rights” and designed the curriculum with a teaching partner. We led students from foundational concepts through applied analysis and ended the course with a moot court competition, where students developed and presented their own legal arguments. This experience shapes how I approach tutoring: I structure sessions deliberately, set a high standard, and push students to produce work that meets it.