Madeleine is the Learning & Development Lead at Prompt. She started as a Writing Coach in 2020 and stepped into her current role in 2025. In her early days at Prompt, she worked as an English teacher at a women’s center in Saudi Arabia, helping women pursue higher education and enter the workforce. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from Augsburg University and has worked on thousands of admissions essays. Her travels have also taken her around the world, including living in Mexico, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and most recently, Argentina.
What drew you to working in education?
Almost everything I have today I owe to getting access to higher education and my understanding of how to write an essay. I had an unconventional path growing up, and I was very close to not even graduating high school. Once I made it to college, my eyes were opened to paths and experiences I never imagined possible. More importantly, I could take advantage of those opportunities because I could write an effective essay. Giving others that same chance and ensuring they have the skills to make the most of it is what I care most about.
What did you write your college application about?
Oof, I plead the fifth. Being in a position to apply was a surprise to me, and neither of my parents graduated college, so I was totally unprepared for the process. My English teacher helped me wade through a few applications, and I attended the only university that accepted me. I wish I’d had Prompt’s help!
What’s the best piece of advice for a student in the college application process?
Always keep the goal of your application in mind.
Colleges want to know that you will stick with your ambitions and be successful in college and after you graduate. That’s really it! Whatever you find yourself debating about, whether it’s what activities to include or what to write about, ask yourself: Does this help prove I’ll succeed in college and after I graduate?
What’s your favorite thing about working with students?
The moment when students realize their experiences and insights are enough.
Many students come into the process with preconceived notions about what colleges care about or what will make them stand out. They don’t think their hobbies are impressive, or they think colleges only want one type of student.
But as we work through what they’ve done, we find throughlines and the traits that define them. We quantify their impact and, with the right questions, they reveal their understanding of how to be strong leaders, creatives, and community-builders. Then comes that wonderful moment when they realize those actions and impacts are enough—no fancy metaphors needed!
What do you look for in a fantastic Prompt Writing Coach?
I look for content assessment. One of our coaches' superpowers is being able to wade through an essay and find the right threads to pull on and the right threads to trim. We also need to find connections that might not be immediately apparent. If someone has that ability, they can coach a student to better writing, not just edit the essay.
What is the most memorable essay that you’ve read? What made the essay stand out?
The essays that stay in my memory the longest are the ones that create a distinct image of the student. What I am really remembering is the person, not the essay.
An example would be a student who wrote about a secret society she started at school. By laying out every action she took and how the project grew, I got to “watch” her create something. I don’t remember her telling me she was a leader or defining herself as creative, but after reading that essay, there was no doubt in my mind that she was. I could easily picture her stepping onto any college campus and building something new and drawing people into it because I’d already seen her do it once!
What makes Prompt unique in the world of admissions?
Many of our coaches return year after year, and we have over 1,500 pages of training and resources. We also have access to thousands of essays every year, which means we have an experience similar to that of an admissions reader. We don’t work in isolation, so we notice trends in content, structure, and lessons learned. You need that knowledge to help a student stand out!
Our coaches are also artists and educators in their lives outside of Prompt. They passionately pursue all kinds of interests, from theater to marine science, and yes, we’ve got more than our fair share of writers. But while our interests might vary, every coach is curious and excited about storytelling. They want you to grow as a writer, so when they make edits, they explain why. And when they ask questions, they’re excited to hear the answers!
And their ambition! In the height of the season, we have 14 hours of coverage Monday through Friday when a coach can discuss any essay or student with another coach, and the most common question we get is some version of, “Do you see any other ways to make this stronger?” Our coaches care, and because of that, they’ll push you to produce the best essays you can.
Kristina is the Director of Network Operations at Prompt. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Since joining Prompt in 2019 as a Writing Coach, she has worked on over 3,500 college essays, and she now supports our Writing Coach team in her current leadership role.
What drew you to working in education?
For a while, I actually planned on going into healthcare. I've always felt that knowledge was power, and I loved making complex topics easy to understand and, most importantly, helping people understand what that topic meant for them, specifically. After I realized that the part I loved about healthcare was educating, I started focusing on education in a one-on-one setting where you can really tailor a student's learning to their strengths and weaknesses. Now — as someone who hated writing all through high school — I love making nebulous essay ideas feel really concrete and easy to write about for my students.
What did you write your college application about?
I applied to the University of California system. The UC system asks for four shorter essays, and I'm sure I wrote about the things that I still remember from high school: how much I loved biology and genetics, the time that we changed marching band instructors and I helped rally all of the seniors to hold extra practices, and the volunteering I did at clinics and senior centers. Write about something that's important to you — you’ve got this!
What’s the best piece of advice for a student in the college application process?
Stay organized and start early! You might be juggling school lists, essays you need to write, different deadlines you have to meet, teachers you need to ask for letters of recommendation — it can add up to a lot! Take some time to set up a system, whether that’s a spreadsheet, checklist, or dartboard with your favorite schools on it — or you can keep it simple and use Prompt's essay list builder to keep track of any essays you need to write.
What’s your favorite thing about working with students?
I love that "aha!" moment when everything clicks for a student. Nothing is more exciting than when a student who was dragging their feet on their college essays tells me that they're actually excited to write them.
What do you look for in a fantastic Prompt Writing Coach?
Strong writing and teaching skills, a keen eye for detail — but I think the trait I look for the most is curiosity and a desire to push their students. It can be really easy for students to overlook their best or most impressive qualities, or to downplay what makes them unique and special. Our coaches are genuinely curious to learn more about their students and that lets them help students’ stories shine. By challenging our students to improve, we help them discover the best way to tell their story.
What is the most memorable essay that you’ve read? What made the essay stand out?
I worked with one student on an essay about how her love of math and art intertwined and how her math skills enhanced her creativity, rather than hindering it. The part I remember the most was how the student came to our call with just a single idea:
"I hate when people ask if you're an art person or a STEM person. Why can't I be both?" But she wasn't sure how to turn that idea into a personal statement. Working together, we found a lot of areas in her life where those aspects intersected: counting stitches and constructing patterns in crochet, dissecting gymnastics moves into degrees and angles, breaking down dance steps into beats and patterns. Her application was a mix of the arts and STEM, and by writing her personal statement around this idea and her contribution in each area, she showed the reader how those interests intertwined to make her the person that she was.
What makes Prompt unique in the world of admissions?
We genuinely care about our students. We want all of our students to succeed and get into the right school for them. But it's just as important to us that our students become better writers along the way, because being able to take an idea and clearly, succinctly, and effectively communicate it is a skill they're going to be able to take with them anywhere they go.
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