My name is Paul Tran. I have been a high school AP English teacher since 2010 and an award-winning writer and journalist since 2005. I have combined both those experiences to help high school seniors write college application essays for over twenty years.

I have helped students gain admissions to every Cal State college, every UC school, and elite private colleges such as Stanford, Smith, Pomona, Claremont-McKenna, Berklee, Brown, Yale, MIT, and NYU.

I hold a BA in History and MA in Asian American Studies from UCLA, an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside, a teaching credential from UC Irvine, and an AA in Film Production from El Camino College.

I have published articles and essays in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Orange County Register, and two National Magazine Award-winning magazines, Alta Journal and Stranger’s Guide. For my writing at the Nguoi Viet Daily News, I was awarded two New America Media awards, which is considered the Pulitzer Prize of Ethnic Media. I was also a scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, named the “oldest and most prestigious writers’ conference in the country” by The New Yorker. My most recent awards include a Jack Hazard Fellowship from the New Literary Project, a Future Fiction Scholarship from General Motors, and the 2024-25 Teacher of the Year from the Long Beach Unified School District.

For more information about my writing career (using my pen name of Ky-Phong Tran) please visit ky-phongtran.com.