Melissa Tropp

Essay Coach

With a background spanning both theater and college admissions, it’s no wonder Troppy found herself helping thousands of students discover and tell their stories to college admissions committees.

What Families Are Saying About Working With Melissa

My daughter Melissa recently completed the 4 year college prep program through Hello College. I believe that this played a big part in helping her get her into one of her top college choices.

The Hello College team is top notch and was a key partner in navigating the college admissions process. They provide practical suggestions in terms of what to look for in colleges and how to find the right fit. They offer a variety of useful workshops for students on topics including SAT/ACT prep, filling out the Common App, and essay writing. It was very instructive to have professionals work with Melissa to edit and polish her essays. There are also helpful presentations for parents on paying for college and filling out the FAFSA form.

Our counselor Ms. H was very knowledgeable and has a wealth of experience in college admissions. She has been a great mentor and resource over the past 4 years. In our meetings she would always focus on what was important to Melissa. Ms. H provided very useful input in terms of choosing high school courses and putting together a college list. She kept Melissa on track with deadlines and focused on the most important elements of the admissions process, including developing a “stand-out factor”. The mock interview was very helpful too!

Overall we had a very positive experience with Hello College and would highly recommend it. We have already signed up our younger daughter to start in the fall and are looking forward to another great 4 years! Thanks!

Stephen Sloan

Parent

Lyons Township High School

American University

Profile

Originally from the Chicago area, Troppy holds a BA in Theater from Illinois State University and an MA in PR & Advertising from DePaul University. While living in Chicago, she ran two theater companies – working both onstage and offstage – and started a freelance business doing PR and marketing for many of the city’s independent theater companies.

Troppy has also worked in, and adjacent to, higher education since 2004, starting in the Alumni Relations and Development department at Northwestern University. At NU, she handled gift tracking and stewardship for its largest college, while learning a ton about fundraising. She later joined the lean, two-person admissions team at DePaul University’s smallest and most competitive college, The Theatre School (TTS). She stayed at TTS for twelve years, reviewing tens of thousands of applications and essays, running twice-daily info sessions, open houses, visit days, auditions, and interviews, all while mentoring an amazing gaggle of student workers in the admissions office – many of whom she is still in contact with today. Even now, Troppy is incredibly proud whenever she spots a TTS student she admitted on TV or film.

In 2016, finally over the long Chicago winters, she left TTS for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she has been freelancing online as an admissions essay editor for clients all over the world. In 2018, she happened to meet the principal of Puerto Vallarta’s top K-12 international school, where she now teaches Improv and Acting, directs school plays, and helps her students discover their performance “superpowers.”

When not teaching or editing, she can be found working on her Spanish, pretending to be a rock star at karaoke, or dominating her local trivia night.

More about Melissa

Location

Olympia, WA

Trusted Guidance Partner of Students Who’ve Been Accepted to:

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