About Donna Kirschner, PhD.

Dr. Kirschner has coached hundreds of students in their writing.  She began specifically coaching college and graduate school applicants in their admissions essays in 2004. Dr. Kirschner loves to coach students through the admission essay process. The essay gives applicants a chance to create, in a short space, an in-depth picture of who they are and what they might contribute.  Dr. Kirschner enthusiastically draws on her talents as a cultural anthropologist and writing coach to usher students through the process of creating a compelling tale about themselves and perfecting how they tell that story.

Dr. Kirschner earned her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008.  While at Penn, she worked as a coach in the writing center and as a fellow and senior fellow in the Writing Across the Curriculum program from 1996-2002.  From 2002-2003, she trained and supervised instructors in Penn’s prestigious Nicholas Chimicles Writing Fellowship program.

Dr. Kirschner’s students have been admitted to a range of institutions including, the University of Chicago, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Colorado College, Drexel, the University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania undergraduate and Medical Schools, Wharton, George Washington University, the University of Texas at Austin, Temple University, College, Honors and Graduate programs and  Drexel University graduate programs. Her most recent crop of students have enjoyed admission to Columbia, Georgetown, NYU, Texas State University in San Marcos, Pace University, Wagner College, Cincinnati Music Conservatory, University of Delaware, University of Maryland, Penn State, the University of Miami, Tulane, Loyola University, Howard University, Moorehouse, London School of Economics and Temple University.

Dr. Kirschner looks forward to working with you on your admissions essay!