“Anabel was more than important to our son’s grad school application process - she was absolutely essential. We expected help with essays, of course, but Anabel was so much more. She was an enthusiastic, patient motivator and organizer and indefatigable cheerleader, as well as a superb communicator. We are so very grateful for her skill, talent and energy and recommend her completely and without reservation!”
— Parent 2023-2024
“I’m a student who knows what I want to say but struggles with getting my ideas on paper and formulating and structuring my writing for the specifications of each essay. Anabel’s expertise helped me meet the expectations of specific schools and helped me create more engaging, purposeful and strong essays. Because of her help, my final essays are some of my proudest works and I would not have found as much success in the application process without Anabel!”
— Student 2023-2024
“It was a great pleasure working with Anabel. Her attention to detail and her creative expertise gave me the tools that I needed to write a successful personal statement. She came to every meeting with a plan and made the most of our time together. I highly recommend her services!”
— Student 2023-2024
“Anabel is really a teen spirit guide and incredibly knowledgeable about what colleges are looking for in the student essays. Our daughter is a great writer, but she knew that it would be hard for her to write about herself. Anabel used her magic to set her on a path of self-discovery that made the process fun, engaging and stress-free. Anabel’s insightful critiques and time management guidance were instrumental in our daughter finishing strong pieces of writing, very early in the process. Anabel truly invests in her students in ways that go beyond essay writing and our daughter has a special relationship with her. We feel so lucky that we found Anabel!”
— Parent 2023-2024
“Anabel created a strong report with our daughter which really helped her to come up with strong essay responses.
Working with Anabel was great as she kept us informed and was the right balance of encouraging, firm, and realistic.
Anabel definitely was able to draw out the best from our daughter.”
— Parent 2023-2024
“During the time I worked with Anabel, she helped me overcome the incredibly daunting college application process. I had a lot of trouble approaching the writing process because it was so different from the writing I am used to. Anabel was so supportive and helpful, her expertise really helped me to channel my ideas and create essays I felt represented me. ”
— Student 2023-2024
“Before starting them, I felt incredibly daunted by college applications. Luckily, I was connected with Anabel, and from that moment on, I felt as if I wasn’t alone in the process. Not only could we talk and laugh in our meetings, but we could also have open conversations about my ideas, wherein Anabel would give me honest and creative feedback that drastically improved my writing. Anabel helped me take what I wanted to say and showed me how to write it in a beautiful, effective manner. So far, I’ve gotten into all of the schools I’ve applied to, and I largely attribute this success to Anabel’s kind demeanor, brilliant writing skills, and constant support! Thank you!”
— Student 2023-2024
“It was such a pleasure working with Anabel. Her fast communication and ability to teach me how to feel more confident and comfortable writing essays was very impressive. With her understanding, Anabel is ready to listen and assess you with any issue or insecurity when it comes to writing. I will cherish everything she has taught me and never forget how she helped me get into multiple schools with her expertise!”
— Student 2022-2023
“I’m a student that has always had an interest in writing but never really had the confidence or the resources at my disposal to advance my craft in it. I was particularly nervous about writing a good college essay my senior year, but Anabel was a person that helped me evolve my own writing. She did this by giving me guidelines that made me feel more confident in my ability to write a good piece and suggestions that honed my understanding of the writing I was aiming for. I couldn’t t have been happier with my final product, and I know that I wouldn’t be anywhere close to as satisfied with it if it wasn’t for her help.”
— Student 2022-2023
“Working with Anabel has been an incredible experience!! She made the extremely difficult college process feasible and showed me how to reveal my authentic voice in my writing. Anybody would be lucky to work with Anabel!”
— Student 2022-2023
“Anabel was a lifesaver with my college application essays! Before her help, I was stuck on how to properly flow my essays in the strongest way possible. Thankfully, she was there to help me do just that X10—and in a short amount of time! She was super kind, helpful, and efficient throughout the process of working together.”
— Student 2022-2023
“Anabel jumped in after our daughter was dissatisfied with another essay tutor and has done a fantastic job. Anabel quickly established rapport with our anxious daughter. She provided great instructions on how to write the essays and to make our daughter stand out. and supported her all along the way.
While we had communication challenges with our senior, Anabel was able to get through to her and forge ahead. In addition to getting accepted to five schools already, another benefit of working with Anabel is that our daughter has become a much better writer.
Anabel deserves a medal for getting through more than a dozen essays! We are very grateful we found Anabel and have already been referring her to friends. Your student will be successful with Anabel’s guidance.”
— Parent 2022-2023
“Anabel Graff’s superpower is guiding students to write powerful pieces that both reveal who the student is and respond to the prompt. She is insightful and quickly gets to know your teen. Her support is invaluable.”
— Parent 2021-2022
“Anabel came to our rescue in the eleventh hour! She made time for us and worked closely with my son to help him get his essay done for the Early Action deadlines! He was accepted to all of his EA schools - and I believe that his essay made all the difference.
Anabel is incredibly kind, generous, and supportive. Her wealth of experience and knowledge allows her to cut right through with focused, constructive and clear feedback. Anabel knows how to work with teenagers and quickly established rapport so that my son felt comfortable receiving her support. AND...the most amazing part of the process is that she was even able to get him to accept my support for the parts that he and I could tackle together. Wow!”
— Parent 2021-2022
“Anabel worked with my high school senior S. on their college essay and I highly recommend her. Anabel’s approach is flexible — she kindly offers a free first conversation to see if there’s a fit and to suggest what the next steps might be, and then she’s really clear about what she thinks is needed in terms of time and effort. Her rates are really fair, and she’s never trying to upsell. She was very supportive of S. and at the same time offered direct and pointed feedback about where the essay could be stronger, and different ways to think about refining the approach for the most powerful result. As a parent, I found it hard to do that with S. without them getting defensive — somehow they were able to take it in from Anabel in a productive way. Both I and S. were super satisfied with the result of their work together — and so far so good on the college acceptance front! Also, from a parent’s perspective, Anabel is excellent at communicating with parents — she kept me in the loop about what was happening and when they were meeting while making sure that S. was always in the driver’s seat. Fantastic experience from start to finish.”
— Parent 2021-2022
“Taking on the task of writing a college application is known to be a stressful experience. Working with Anabel, however, grew my excitement to brainstorm, create, and edit my writing. Anabel helped me release my anxieties when it came to writing with her supportive and determined attitude. Her welcoming persona allowed me to express any questions or concerns I had with my writing without ever having the fear of being judged. Anabel’s creativity helped me bring my thoughts into vivid, descriptive words. We began and finished my essay in 3 meetings and I could not have been happier with the end result. Not only did my essay come out amazing, but my writing in general has improved immensely, as Anabel consistently provided me with analytical, grammatical, and structural feedback. So far, with every college I applied to, I have been accepted and even have been offered large scholarships. I thank Anabel for all of her help, and would definitely recommend her services to any person, at any experience level, that is writing an application!”
— Student 2021-2022
“Working with Anabel has been a pleasure. She was very supportive and understanding when it came to writing my personal statement for college. She was the perfect person to brainstorm ideas for essay topics, and I had a great time working with her!”
— Student 2021-2022
“Anabel was wonderful to work with for our daughter’s college essays. She has an amazing ability to meet you where you are - with our daughter’s anxieties and my wanting to be involved :). Anabel was very responsive, calming and empowering. My daughter left the experience with an engaging personal statement - which I’m sure led to her acceptance at her early decision choice - as well as feeling more confident about her writing skills for college!!”
— Parent 2021-2022
“My daughter would much rather write a scientific research paper than an essay that reveals anything about herself. Anabel was able to elicit information from my daughter and to challenge her to think deeply about what that information says about her as a person. What would have been a challenging process was made much easier because of Anabel’s approach and expertise. After the essay was complete, Anabel was always standing by ready to assist with supplemental essays and modifications. It was a great experience.”
— Parent 2021-2022
“We were extremely lucky to work with Anabel as she guided our son through his college essay process. She is extremely diligent, organized, creative, and caring. She guided him through essays that were original and perfectly written, always there for another brainstorming session, rereads as well as organizing all the deadlines. Looking forward to Anabel helping our younger children as well. ”
— Parent 2021-2022
“I worked with Anabel over the course of several months while writing my essays for law school applications. As someone who was 3+ years removed from college, I lacked confidence in my writing ability and was initially dreading the process. But working with Anabel made it fun. She is patient, encouraging, and dedicated, with an incredible talent for writing and coaching. She helped me regain my confidence and write a personal statement and several supplemental essays that I am extremely proud of!”
— Graduate Student 2021-2022
“Anabel is responsive, dedicated, and full of creativity. She was extremely helpful for me in formulating what I want to say into thoughtful, provocative, and cohesive essays. I was proud to submit every single essay I wrote for my MBA application. Essay writing for applications can be stressful, but Anabel has definitely made the process more enjoyable for me.”
— Graduate Student 2021-2022
“I had fun doing this.”
— Student 2021-2022
“Grad school was NEVER on my radar and yet there I was, age 40, applying for an MFA in sculpture. I hadn’t written an essay since 2003 and was paralyzed to put a pen to paper. Anabel helped me dig deep. She asked questions that got to the heart of the story I wanted (even needed) to tell. She transformed 30 pages of anxiety into a 500-word knockout essay. If you feel scared or stuck or creatively blocked, I guarantee Anabel Graff’s expert guidance (and intuition!) will bring your voice to light.”
— Graduate Student 2020-2021
“I came to Anabel Graff so late in the game, that other services did not want to work with us. My daughter was a having serious writer’s block, and I was worried that her hard work of 4 years would be for not. Anabel was so incredible patient, thoughtful, organizing, and serene. She contained both of my daughter and my own anxieties and kept her on task. I literally stepped away and Anabel took over planning and strategizing. It was such a gift. She applied to way too many schools at the last minute and got into all of them, including Ivy League and her dream liberal arts schools.
Anabel cares so deeply and her commitment to not only the completion of the essays, but to the success of her students is really incredible. I even asked Anabel to help me think about an academic paper, which she did and improved it tremendously.
We are Latinx and fortunate to be able to afford Anabel’s help. But I have to highlight that it is uncommon for a person in private practice to make a no strings attached offer to people with marginalized identities who cannot afford a session with someone like Anabel. One session with an expert can completely change a student’s approach and their chances of getting into their dream school.
I am a fan forever and will definitely come back to Anabel for my sons, and for my own work.”
— Parent 2020-2021
“I came to Ms. Graff with a messy, abruptly-ending 800-word college essay draft that even my parents agreed needed workshopping. She helped me to deliver my story clearly and concisely and develop layers of it that even I couldn’t see. The final product not only helped me attend my first choice college, but also made my parents cry!”
— Student 2018-2019
“Anabel’s input in writing my personal statement for college was invaluable! She helped me construct a concise, coherent, and interesting essay. She’s a great cheerleader and mentor for the college admission process. I can’t thank Anabel enough for all of her help and the way she helped me brainstorm and perfect my essays!”
— Student 2020-2021
“As a non-traditional transfer applicant, I struggled a great deal to articulate my thoughts in a thoughtful yet coherent manner. I reached out to Anabel a month before my deadline—completely stuck and with over a half-dozen essays still unwritten. She quickly helped me organize my thoughts and convincingly express them through my writing, and I was even able to submit my applications early. I cannot (and probably wouldn’t want to) imagine how my essays would’ve turned out if I hadn’t reached out to Anabel, and I’m immensely grateful for her help. Anabel is timely, flexible, and incredibly knowledgeable and skillful, so I could not recommend her enough!”
— Student 2020-2021
“I wanted my statement of purpose to be truly authentic and show a clear trajectory of my background, but had a hard time putting everything I wanted to say cogently. I knew I needed guidance but was very wary with finding the “right” editor. When I first came across Anabel’s Creative Connections Essays, I had my fair share of doubts wondering if this unknown person would be of help to me. I’m beyond happy I took the chance. Anabel is a creative, smart, patient, and trustworthy editor that every one working on a college or grad school essay truly needs. Trust her and even in dark moments of doubt, she will be right with you through the creative process. I would definitely work with Anabel again!”
— Graduate Student 2020-2021
“I highly recommend Anabel at Creative Connections. She is an exceptional asset to any student working on application essays. Anabel is spectacular at organizing and structuring the work to be done across multiple applications, and wonderful at helping the student be efficient and productive within time constraints. She is also phenomenal at bringing out the best in a student, who may not naturally think of the best topics and ideas, and not know how to write about themselves in a way that highlights their strengths. Anabel connects with young people in a very professional way - she gains their respect with her competence. She is very patient, kind, diligent, dedicated and very easy to work with.”
— Parent 2020-2021
“Before I reached out to Anabel, my draft essays were all sob stories, but Anabel helped me shift my perspective and create an amazing essay that captured my interests, passions, and strengths. Also, as an international student, the common app essay was difficult because I had to unlearn the way I am used to writing, but Anabel was extremely understanding and patient. I’m so grateful for her support, I really could not have gotten into my dream university without her!”
— Student 2020-2021
“I found Creative Connection Essays on the Park Slope Parents listserve and wasn’t sure what I was purchasing, but I knew my son needed a guide in this process that wasn’t me! Anabel is amazing. She is a master teacher and a writer herself. She is able to get at the authenticity of the student, which came through in my teen’s writing. My son’s personality was able to shine in his essay. She allows for review and proofreading as part of her service. The name Creative Connection Essays suits Anabel’s services because she able to ask creative questions that allow the student to be reflective and connect to their own story.”
— Parent 2020-2021
“I reached out to Anabel a few weeks before the early decision deadline, and I honestly don’t think I would have written my essays so well without her help. Before our first meeting, I wasn’t able to truly express my interests and make good connections between them. Along with her fast responses and her patience during our meetings, Anabel gave me the insights and tools to phrase and transform my abstract ideas into powerful and well-written essays. I am so happy and thankful for the opportunity I had to work with her.”
— Student 2020-2021
“I really enjoyed working with Anabel. She was extremely patient, kind, flexible, and helpful. She helped me turn my thoughts into a 650 word college essay. Before working with Anabel, I had draft after draft and I couldn’t seem to connect to anything that I was writing. Anabel helped me stay true to myself. With her help, I constructed my final essay and I love what I have written. I would 100% recommend Anabel and her services to anyone who is in need of assistance. She’s definitely got your back!”
— Student 2020-2021
“I reached out to Anabel a month before my deadline, and she was able to work with me despite the busy time. She is very flexible and meets you where you are in your application process.
Working with Anabel was a great experience, I tend to get writer’s block when writing personal statements, but Anabel was able to work around that, and she was able to help me craft a great personal statement in under an hour.
Anabel is very understanding of everyone’s situation, she offered me a great rate that worked with my budget and was super helpful in the sessions that we had. And for that I will always be thankful. If you’re on the fence about seeking help with your essays, don’t hesitate to reach out to Anabel, you won’t regret it! ”
— Graduate Student 2020-2021
“I worked with Anabel for the most challenging and important application of my life- applying to residency after medical school. Her help and support was invaluable and I can’t say enough great things about my experience. Before helping with my personal statement, she took the time to listen to my vision, understand the context and importance of the essay for my entire application, and most importantly, get to know me in order to make sure my personality translated into the writing. When we were working together on the essay, she was amazing at helping me articulate important experiences and frame my story in a powerful, authentic way. She reached out to contacts in her network for additional feedback and advice on my essay and introduced me to someone who could further council me on the residency process. Moreover, this was a super stressful process for me and Anabel was so supportive and encouraging. She was willing to meet as many times as I needed, for as much time as I wanted, until I felt the statement was perfect. And it was! I am so happy and proud of the final result and appreciate everything she did to get it there! I 100% recommend her services.”
— Student 2020-2021
“Before meeting Anabel, I was completely stuck with my personal statements and had no idea how to put my thoughts into words. Anabel was so patient and helped me phrase everything I wanted to say. I was feeling helpless before meeting her and I’m so happy I was able to find Anabel! She made my application process to graduate nursing so much smoother! I am so thankful for her!”
— Student 2020-2021
“Anabel was amazing to work with! She was always kind and understanding, and we got along very well. When we began, I had no idea what I wanted to write my essay about, but Anabel helped me come up with a few interesting topics pretty quickly. Her going over my ideas for the essay and revising it definitely made a huge difference in its quality. We also went over strategies for writing essays like the college essay, which has already prepared me for college writing! Anabel was very helpful with my essay and I honestly don’t think I could have written it without her!”
— Student 2020-2021
“I’m honestly not sure what would have happened with my daughter’s college essay if we had not been lucky enough to find Anabel. She guided her through the entire process, from brainstorming a variety of topics, to flushing a few of them out, creating outlines, asking probing questions and helping her weave together the different pieces of her personality that make her ‘her.’ My daughter is very proud of her finished essay and loved working with Anabel.
Anabel is extremely compassionate, smart, intuitive, and very easy to work with. She is super flexible with time and appointments, very responsive to both emails and phone calls and just a pleasure to work with. I HIGHLY recommend Anabel.”
— Parent 2020-2021
“I reached out to Anabel 5 days before the deadline of a Master’s program to complete a personal statement of 500 words as well as to polish a writing sample last minute. I’ve always had trouble expressing my thoughts and ideas, and Anabel helped me through it within a few hours! She is so concise with words and expressions, so my essay was no longer clunky. She is extremely efficient and pleasant to work with and she seems to be able to force the expressions out of you. I will definitely work with her again for my future applications. Thanks, Anabel! ”
— Student 2020-2021
“Anabel helped my daughter gain confidence in her ability to write her college essay and was able to connect with her so that the essay is truly reflective of who she is. Anabel has the ability to put teens at ease, so they are comfortable opening up and accessing their creativity. Thanks for making the college essay process seamless!”
— Parent 2019-2020
“Applying for graduate school while working full time is challenging, especially when you just made your mind by early August but you’re so ambitious that you want to apply to both MBA and Master’s (11 programs in total). When I reached out to Anabel, I had my full-time job, my GRE test prep and my essays going on at the same time, but with Anabel’s help, the entire process, especially the essays, was not as stressful as I imagined. She gave me a lot of advice and insights from idea generation to the final touch.
Anabel turned my essay into a cohesive and intriguing piece of writing. When I shared my essay with my peers, they all regarded it as powerful and well-organized. I couldn’t imagine running the marathon of 11 applications without her help.
I appreciate Anabel’s flexibility and understanding throughout the process. Due to my tight schedule, I was rushing for the deadline for several programs. Anabel accommodated my essay editing needs even during holiday seasons. ”
— Student 2019-2020
“ Anabel is amazing to work with. She’s great at making your ideas stand out to the reader. She helped me extract ideas I didn’t even realize myself. Anabel works in a quick, focused, and efficient manner, so every minute is very well spent!”
— Student 2019-2020
“Anabel Graff is an exceptional creative writer and writing coach. I worked with Anabel on my Statement of Purpose and a non-fiction personal essay for a Master’s application. This essay was a braided piece containing primary and secondary research and personal experience. Complicated in terms of structure but the story I told is a compelling read.
She is fast, creative and ideas-driven. Anabel is extremely talented and enthusiastic. She is a great sounding board and is strong both on technique and practical ideas to make writing better. She made herself available and is very flexible in terms of marking-up edits through to pushing me to go beyond what I thought I was capable of producing.
My writing improved significantly through working with her and not only do I feel proud of the end result but I learned so much from working with her. She inspired me with confidence and craft. I recommend Anabel without hesitation. Not only that she is great fun to work with.”
— Student 2019-2020
“Anabel is a brilliant writer, editor, and teacher, and has been a friend of mine for many years. I’m a fourth year medical student, and was recently having real trouble writing my personal statement for medical residency. Before I sought out Anabel’s help and expertise, I’d already written numerous versions of the essay, but none of them felt right. Anabel’s intuition as a writer and editor is her greatest strength; she helped me connect the ideas from each of my drafts into a beautiful and well-structured essay that feels like a true representation of the journey I’ve taken to becoming a physician. One of my advisors called the essay “powerful, vulnerable, well organized and cohesive.” I’ve never felt prouder of anything I’ve ever written.”
— Student 2019-2020
“Working with Ms. Graff on my college essay was truly a blessing. After I came to her, essentially in panic, with the mediocre essay I thought I was going to use, she was by my side every step of the way, inspiring me to write a different essay that I was ultimately extremely proud of. Her guidance was insightful and helpful without being overbearing; she expertly guided me on how to write an effective essay without writing it for me. As a result, I ended up with not just a better essay but better writing skills. I am forever grateful for her help and cannot recommend her enough to others going through this stressful process as well.”
— Student 2018-2019
“Before working with Ms. Graff, I had trouble articulating my thoughts for college essays into writing. After brainstorming creative ideas with her and actually talking through my drafts, not only did my writing improve, but I was able to articulate what I wanted to say.”
