For twelve years the Ahujas and the Mulfords were next-door neighbors. Even though both families have since moved from Wire Mill Road to other streets in Stamford CT, they've remained good friends who get together regularly. So it was only natural that Anand Ahuja, (son of Paul and Sangeeta), by now 17 and a senior at Westhill H.S., would ask Maxene Fabe Mulford who's both a writer and a writing teacher (and, okay, if you must know, old enough to be his mother) to take a look at the essay he was about to send to eleven of the most competitive colleges in the country.
'On Target' Suggestions Tip Scales The following fall, Ahuja was bound for Princeton, with acceptances as well from Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Michigan, Northwestern, and Penn. But that summer, the two former neighbors were so sure that Mulford's on-target suggestions tipped the scales in his favor ("Has to have," Ahuja says, "My SAT scores were right at the Ivy cut-off line.") that they formed Uniquely U., a college essay writing consultantship, to help other college-bound seniors achieve similar success.
"Before I showed Mrs. Mulford the essay I'd written about my grandfather," says Ahuja, at the time an Honors English student, an award-winning columnist for nationally ranked student newspaper, The Westword. 'Then she broke it down in terms of structure, subtext and internal logic, explained that I could create dramatic scenes, even add dialog. She showed me the college essay is akin to a short story."
An Easy Form to Master"Despite all the anxiety attached to it," Mulford interjects, "the college essay is an easy form to master. The biggest mistake high school seniors make is under-estimating the amount of time it takes to write a good one."
"Tell me about it," says Ahuja. "I spent my entire Christmas break that year, cooped up by myself, working around the clock, first on the core essay about my grandfather, then on all the other essays, long and short, required additionally by each college.
"In the process I discovered that each step involved in rewriting is amazing. Cutting, tightening. Expressing things concisely. Before long I was saying, 'I don't care if every single one of these schools rejects me; at least I have the satisfaction of knowing I've sent them my best effort.'"
"Before long," Maxene Mulford grins, "I was saying, 'Too bad no college admissions officer will ever get to read the one essay you didn't have energy left to write: What I Learned About Myself From Penning 26 College Essays.'
Real Writing is Re-writing"Real writing is rewriting," Mulford affirms, noting that she had shepherded her daughter, and Anand's lifelong friend, Alexis, down the college gauntlet at Stamford H.S. the year before.
Nor were Alexis and Anand the only seniors Mulford voluntarily guided through the college essay process before deciding to form Uniquely U. That same winter, when computer whiz Simon Gutkovich, (and Anand's classmate at Westhill) heard about the essay help his classmate was receiving, he brashly "i-m"ed himself onto Mulford's monitor asking if she would look his over, too. A steady stream of e-mail laden with Gutkovich's progressively improving essay drafts soon ensued, without Mulford and Gutkovich ever even meeting, pointing the way toward Uniquely U.’s Internet assistance that was to come.
Presently a freelance graphic designer, Gutkovich continues to play an integral role in Mulford and Ahuja's essay-coaching enterprise. He is the designer of this website.
