No — and I'd rather say that upfront than have you wonder.

The majority of Wednesday night is real content: The magic number that unlocks automatic scholarships. What admissions officers are actually looking for when they read an essay. Why most families are building their college list the wrong way. You can take all of it and use it, whether or not we ever work together.

Toward the end, I'll spend a few minutes telling you about the Complete Your Essay in a Weekend workshop — because some of the families on that call will want to keep going. But it's a conversation, not a hard sell. No pressure, no follow-up calls, no countdown timer.

The families who have done this with me come back because what I share is genuinely useful on its own.

Because the college essay isn't a writing problem. It's a reflection problem.

High school English has trained your teen to write arguments — thesis, evidence, conclusion. The college essay asks for something completely different: their deepest story, in their own voice, written in a way that keeps a tired or slightly bored admissions officer reading from start to finish.

The Common App prompts are written for a 25-year-old. They require a level of self-reflection that most 17 and 18-year-olds genuinely cannot access on their own — not because they aren't capable, but because nothing in their biology or education has prepared them for this specific task.

Some of the strongest writers I've worked with struggled the most with this essay. And some of the students who "aren't writers" have produced extraordinary work — because we found their story first.

This is one of the most important things I share on Wednesday night, so I'll give you a preview.

State schools — the ones families are turning to for a strong education at a reasonable cost — have seen acceptance rates drop so sharply in recent years that some are now harder to get into than the Ivies.

Every applicant in that pool has a strong GPA, solid test scores, and a full list of activities.

The essay and the activities list are the only two places left where your teen gets to be a specific, actual person — not just another strong application in a very large pile.

That's true whether they're applying to Chapel Hill, NC State, or a school you haven't considered yet.

And some state schools have automatic scholarship thresholds or deadlines that many families never find out about until it's too late to close the gap. Wednesday night is where you get the info you need.

Three things you can use immediately, regardless of whether we ever work together.

First: the ACT and GPA thresholds that unlock automatic full-ride scholarships at several well-known schools — and the name of those schools. Most families never find out this number exists.

Second: a clear picture of what the essay and the activities list actually require — and why they have to be built together. Most families treat them as two separate tasks. Admissions officers read them as one story.

Third: a framework for thinking about school selection that goes beyond rankings and campus visits — including a free AI tool I've built that surfaces schools most families would never find on their own.

You'll also leave knowing exactly what the Complete Your Essay in a Weekend workshop delivers — so if it's the right next step for your family, you'll know it.

Yes — if you register, you'll receive the recording. That said, the live experience is where the real value is. The Q&A, the energy of being with other Charlotte-area families, the questions other parents ask that you didn't know you had — those don't translate the same way on a recording.

If you can be there live, be there live. Block it in your calendar like any other important appointment. Wednesday, May 20 at 7pm ET — I'll see you there.

As a thank-you for being there live, I'll offer a one-time discount that won't be available to those watching the replay.