Margin Notes: a practice app for college essay coaches | GrayTop Tech
Coaching apps · For college essay coaches
Margin Notes

Your students find their essay before they write it.

An essay coach that asks your questions between sessions and helps students find the detail only they could write about. It never writes for them, and you see every session in your dashboard.

$5,000 · Live in 4 weeks · 30 days of support included

The problem

The best essay ideas show up between sessions, or not at all.

You know the questions that turn “I learned the value of hard work” into a story about a grandmother at a pharmacy counter. But you only get an hour a week with each student.

In between, students stare at a blank page, or ask a chatbot that writes a generic essay for them.

What your students get

A practice partner that knows your method, available every day.

Questions, not ghostwriting

It asks what you'd ask, so the student does the thinking and the writing.

Margin Notes: Mid-essay session: your questions, their answers
Mid-essay session: your questions, their answers

Their words, arranged

Notes are assembled from what the student said. Nothing is made up for them.

Margin Notes: Before and after
Before and after

Scored on your rubric

Detail, voice, showing, insight, structure, or whatever you look for.

They can speak their replies out loud or type them.

Margin Notes: The report: scores, why, and the one thing to change
The report: scores, why, and the one thing to change
What you get

Know where every student is stuck before they walk in.

Who needs you

See at a glance which students have gone quiet or keep making the same mistake, so you know where to spend your time.

Margin Notes: Who needs you, and who's improving
Who needs you, and who's improving

Struggle summaries

One click reads every essay session and writes what a student keeps struggling with, what's improving, and what to focus on next.

Margin Notes: A struggle summary, written from every essay session
A struggle summary, written from every essay session

Every transcript, every rating

Progress on each skill over time, the full transcript of every essay session, and private notes for you.

Margin Notes: One student's ratings, essay session by essay session
One student's ratings, essay session by essay session

Try it as a student, then see the coach view.

About five minutes. No account, nothing to install.

The build

Four weeks from kickoff to your students using it.

01

Week 1: Map it

We turn your scenarios, questions and scoring into the script the app runs on.

02

Weeks 2–3: Build

Your app, in your branding, with your students' side and your dashboard. You review it every week.

03

Week 4: Launch

A few students test it first. We fix what they find, then it goes live.

04

Then: 30 days of support

Onboarding and support for your first month live, free. An optional retainer after that.

What you bring

The prompts your students write for, the questions you ask in sessions, and the rubric you use. Plus a kickoff call and a short review each week.

Investment

One build. Your method, in your students' hands.

$5,000

One-time build, live in 4 weeks.
30 days of onboarding and support included.

  • Built around your scenarios. The situations, characters and questions you already use with students.
  • Scored on the skills you coach. Your framework and your words in every debrief.
  • The student app. Practice with voice or typing, a debrief after every essay session, one tap to share it with you.
  • Your coach dashboard. Who needs attention, struggle summaries, progress, transcripts and notes.
  • Your branding. Your name, colours and voice, not ours.
  • 30 days of onboarding and support, free. Then an optional monthly retainer for new scenarios, changes and support.
FAQ

Questions coaches ask first.

Is this an AI that writes essays?

No, and that's the point. It asks questions and organises the student's own answers into notes they rewrite themselves.

Does it replace me?

No. It's practice between your sessions. You see every essay session, so your time goes on the coaching, not on running drills.

Is the demo the real thing?

The demo is scripted, so it plays the same way for everyone. Your build responds to what your students actually say.

Can I add scenarios later?

Yes. New scenarios, changes and ongoing support are what the optional monthly retainer covers.

What does the $5,000 include?

The full 4-week build, your students' app and your dashboard in your branding, and 30 days of onboarding and support after launch.

See it before you book the call.