Hi, I'm Daria.

I help determined and brave individuals get into top universities in the world. On this website, I write about master’s and PhD applications, scholarships, learning languages, and writing.

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About me

I spent the last decade building an academic portfolio of scholarships and admission offers from Harvard Law School, Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Cambridge, the New York University School of Law, and more.  I'm happy to share my experience with you.

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How I can help you

Expert Blog

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Stay ahead of the curve with the treasure trove of expert advice, insider knowledge, and university admission wisdom.

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Self-paced materials to teach you everything you need to know about writing effective motivation letters, applying for scholarships, and more.

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Maximize your potential with my personalized guidance, tailor-made strategies, and individual support.

What People Say

"Daria is the best one! She helped me change my ESSAY to 1 80 degrees. What was the most helpful for me was that she put the disordered flow of my thoughts into more accurate goals and helped me answer all questions clearly about what I wanted. I enjoyed her approach to me. She talked to me about every paragraph, was thoughtful of my telling about myself, and, after each session, gave me feedback and questions."
Mariia
"I was applying for the scholarship of the Government of China and asked Daria to help with motivation letters. She helped me understand how to write a letter like this, what vocabulary to use, and how to better present my experience and achievements. She also helped me draft and format a CV and supplied additional materials that proved to be truly valuable. Her help alleviated the psychological burden I felt when applying for the scholarship; I felt her support and experienced less anxiety compared to my other classmates. And I got the scholarship;) The most valuable part of our work together was seeing what the structure of the letter should be. After her consultation I was able to write and edit not this letter but other scholarship applications as well. Thanks to Daria’s help I later won a grant for the winter school in gender studies at the University of Tartu and the grant from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China."
Alisa
"Daria is a person who changed my life. Literally. First of all, she inspires. Her story on its own is an inspiration but what is even more valuable is that she can translate that inspiration and belief in yourself to other people. Daria convinced me that I had to try achieving my dream and that I had all the prerequisites to be accepted to any program I choose. She instilled in me the confidence and decisiveness that I needed so much. In addition to everything, she helped me prepare the documents. I discussed all the drafts with her. She gave me recommendations regarding the structure, the wording, and everything the admissions committee can expect from an applicant. She helped me find and highlight my achievements and advantages that I did not even perceive as such and had always taken for granted. Thanks to her, I was able to see myself differently and understand what was important for the admissions committee. Daria is extraordinary. She is remarkably able to make her point in a tender and respectful way, without excessive criticism. She supports, advises but does not impose, explains and provides arguments. She sees and knows from her extensive experiences the things that you simply can’t learn just by looking at the websites and lists of required documents. I am so grateful to her. Being completely honest, I don’t know if I would have resolved to change my life so dramatically if she did not convince me that I could actually do it. Thank you, my dear friend!"
Dinara
"I am an international lawyer aspiring to get another master’s degree abroad, and when I started my application process, I experienced a writer’s block. I think you can relate to that – highlighting your achievements and structuring the text coherently can be hard, and there are times when you don’t know where to start or feel like you have nothing to show at all. How lucky was I to find Daria’s program! The five-step method was extremely helpful, and I am so happy that I followed Daria’s advice from the very beginning of writing my statement; it saved me a great deal of time and nerves. Daria guides you through the process, in a very friendly and heartfelt manner, and upon completion of the course you have a clear understanding of the key elements of your own personal statement. The program is very informative and descriptive – you have slides and many examples in front of you, and a lot of extra stuff, like exercises and sample texts. Sometimes I had to stop the video because ideas for my personal statement suddenly hit me while listening to Daria’s words. By the way, to my mind it doesn’t matter whether you are expected to write a motivation letter, a statement of purpose or a personal statement, - Daria’s advice and methods will help you achieve in every genre. I am extremely grateful for this programme, as it allowed me to receive not only admission offers, but full scholarships (tuition fee waivers) at the Bologna University, University of Tilburg and most importantly - at the Global Campus of Human Rights master's programme, which I decided to pursue. All in all, highly recommended for everyone! Daria, thank you so much!"
Irina
"For me, the biggest difficulty was recommendation letters. I did not know who to approach for them, and when the recommenders asked me to provide draft letters, I had no idea what the letter should say, what the admissions committee is looking for, and, most importantly, where to look for guidance. I turned to Daria because I knew she was an expert, and she helped me tremendously. She pointed me to valuable resources, gave examples of effective letters of recommendation, and answered all the questions I had. She connected me with people in my industry who were able to help me further. She also gave me really valuable recommendations regarding personal statements. I am truly grateful for her support."
Ivan
"Daria is a person to whom I am extremely grateful for her help in preparing for admission to several European universities. And I am grateful not only for the direct support and corrections to the documents, but also for the inspiration and help in finding my motivation. I think this played a key role in getting my applications approved. As a result of working with Daria, I prepared four applications to two Belgian, one French and one German universities for English-language master's programs in law, and three of them were approved. This success would not have been possible without Daria's support. Sincere thanks to her!"
Evgeny
"I turned to Daria because, in spite of my experience drafting personal statements, I knew that I would need to challenge myself in order to write the best possible statement I could in support of my LLM applications. Law schools judge candidates differently from other graduate/ professional schools and given Daria's prior experiences, I believed she was the best person to ask for help. And I was right! I noticed right away that Daria's approach is unique compared to other mentoring services. At first I was not sure whether I needed brainstorming sessions, but after completing one session with Daria, I realized brainstorming together was exactly what I needed to find the thread in my story and to connect the dots between my past experiences and what I want to do next. Many of my experiences seemed trivial to me, or not worthy of a place in my personal statement. Daria, however, as an objective party helped me to get the most out of my story. Brainstorming ideas together is what I needed the most, even though I may not have guessed it at the time! I can only say: trust Daria's approach, because it works. It goes without saying that Daria is also great at providing feedback on written work. What I think really distinguishes her is her vision on mentoring and her approach to help applicants write a stellar application. This approach was great for me, a seasoned personal statement writer, and I can ensure that novices would benefit greatly as well. Daria really guides you from scratch! What is also worth noting is her professionalism. She takes notes during brainstorming sessions, provides materials before sessions, and follows up promptly. She also helped me with regard to accountability and was flexible when other obligations got in the way of my writing. All in all, I am very happy to have worked with Daria, and I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone needing guidance!"
Happy mentee
"I needed a guide to choose a particular topic for my personal statement and to deliver in an exciting way. Daria's materials helped a lot, as I structured my thoughts more comprehensively and selected one story, the most catchy one. Along with that, I am very grateful for the analysis of several personal statements, including Daria's one for Harvard. These were extremely useful in terms of helping me steer clear of some cliched phrases throughout the writing phase."
Dmitriy
"I am Political Science major, applying for Public Policy program at the Harvard Kennedy School. I really appreciated Daria’s work on my profile, where she thoroughly analysed my strengths and weaknesses and identified the best focus areas for my applications. Working on my CV has been crucial, as it will likely be a major factor in how I’m evaluated. Your insights about my work with UNDP, my experience in Uzbekistan, and my first degree in Intercultural Communication were especially helpful. I wasn’t sure how to include these elements without making it sound forced, as if I were trying to sway the admissions committee by emphasising that I grew up in Central Asia. Now, this aspect is much clearer to me. It was great working with her on my background profile as well, especially since I'm applying to Stanford, Harvard Kennedy School, Johns Hopkins, and Georgetown. You're also absolutely right about the typos—I plan to ask my friends to review my applications, as I have mild dyslexia and often miss my own mistakes. Thank you so much for your work! I’ll definitely be using all the advises she gave me as they were exteremely insightful and on point!"
Valeria

So Far

Applicants I have helped so far have gotten into top schools. Check out which ones:

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Expert Blog: Hints, Tips & Myths Busted

Stay ahead of the curve with the treasure trove of expert advice, insider knowledge, and university admission wisdom.

Courses & Guides

Everything you need to know about writing effective motivation letters and personal statements, applying for financial aid and scholarships and more.

1-on-1 Mentorship: Tailored to Your Needs

Maximize your potential with my personalized guidance, tailor-made strategies and unwavering support.