top of page

Expectations & Policies

 

Signing Up

Students must complete a brag sheet and payment must be issued before the first call is scheduled. The service is not officially booked until the invoice is paid. 

​

Communication

 

Students are expected to proactively communicate with Angie Bates and/or the coaches when they have questions or concerns and when their work is completed. We do not review any materials from students until they notify us via email that their materials are ready for review. 

​

Although we do follow up with students who have missed deadlines, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure we know they have completed revisions and are ready for review. If a student has not emailed us by the deadline to let us know their work is ready for review, that work will be considered late.

 

It is also the student’s responsibility to come to us with any questions or concerns about feedback or the process and with any scheduling problems. 

​​

Terms of service

​

Unresponsive student penalty 

​

The writing process is a collaborative effort that requires the full participation of all parties in order to be successful. This demands that everyone (Ms. Bates, the writing coaches, and the student) promptly and clearly communicates progress to one another, fully performs the required tasks, and closely follows the agreed upon schedule.

​

In recent years, we have encountered two major problems when delivering the service: (1) students who do not follow instructions, including failing to answer our questions and prompts, and refusing to follow our recommendations without providing a clear reason, and (2) students not communicating scheduling issues to us, such as missed deadlines with no notice or disappearing for weeks at a time without explanation.

​

Service may be canceled without refund after three (3) unexcused missed deadlines.

​

A “missed deadline” includes any incomplete work (completed work = fully addressed questions/feedback) or work submitted past a given deadline without prior notice to us.

​

We allow up to two (2) extensions with advanced notice. We may make accommodations to extenuating or unforeseen circumstances on a case-by-case basis. 

 

This policy is not meant to penalize students for unforeseen circumstances, such as an illness or a family emergency. The policy is meant to enforce accountability so that the students complete their work in a timely fashion, communicate with us ahead of time if they cannot meet an agreed upon deadline, or explain to us why the work cannot be completed as expected. As long as the student keeps us informed and completes the work as requested, there should not be any issues.

​

AI/ChatGPT use

 

Please do NOT use any AI checks; false positives are common and UCs do not conduct AI checks because of that. 

 

Please do NOT use any generative AI; content shared with any AI platform will typically be incorporated into the AI training and therefore be partially shared or become public. UCs conduct plagiarism checks and content shared online or with AI may get flagged for plagiarism.

​

Unfortunately, these issues have become so pervasive that we now must institute a new service policy: Euphony Coaching reserves the right to cancel the service without granting a refund after the student has three (3) unexcused missed deadlines. A “missed deadline” is defined as incomplete work or work submitted past a given deadline with no prior notice to us.

​

Call Scheduling Policy

​

Students must request phone calls in advance. At least 24 hours’ notice is required to schedule a call with Ms. Bates. Once a request is received, we will respond with her current availability. In general, phone calls are available between 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM Pacific Time, excluding Thursdays and Saturdays.

​

Calls are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to availability. All packages include a limit of one call per week. If a student misses a scheduled call without notice, the missed call still counts toward both the weekly and total call limits.

Exceptions

  • Exclusive package clients receive priority scheduling and a recurring weekly call slot. However, 24-hour notice is still required for any rescheduling.

  • Welcome Calls and Topic Development Calls are included with the Exclusive, Premium, and Standard packages. These calls are scheduled after the invoice is paid and mark the official start of the service. They may be scheduled in the same week.

​​

Schedule and Deadlines

​

At the start of the service, Ms. Bates will create a personalized schedule for the student that includes:

  • Due dates for each draft and revision round (for UC PIQs and, if applicable, Common App or other essays)

  • Expected turnaround dates for receiving feedback

​​

Typically, students are given 4–5 days to complete each draft revision, with schedules designed to include both weekdays and weekends whenever possible. We aim to return feedback within 3–4 days of receiving a draft.

​

Before we begin, Ms. Bates and the student will review the schedule together to check for conflicts and make any necessary adjustments.

​

Summer Programs and Conflicts

​

We do not expect students to work on drafts during COSMOS or other intensive summer programs. If a program overlaps with your service dates, we will mark that time as a break period on your schedule. While students may submit drafts during these programs if they choose, we encourage them not to feel pressured — we understand that those programs are demanding enough on their own.

​

If a conflict arises after the schedule has been finalized, students must email Ms. Bates as soon as possible to request an adjustment. If no communication is received before a due date, the schedule will not be adjusted retroactively, and any work submitted past the original due date will be marked late.

​

Final Deadlines and Turnaround

​

Please note: Application deadlines do not alter our standard turnaround times. If a student submits a revision late and may miss their application deadline as a result, we will not provide last-minute edits or feedback. No refunds will be issued in these cases.

​

Privacy Summary

​

Student materials are securely stored within a designated Google doc folder. Access to this folder is strictly limited to authorized individuals, including the student, the parents (if granted access with the student's consent), Ms. Bates, and any appointed writing coach responsible for the student's materials. No student materials, including essays, transcripts, questionnaires, writing exercises, or any related content, will be disclosed to any external parties unrelated to Euphony Coaching. As an additional measure, all writing coaches affiliated with Euphony Coaching have undergone a vetting process and have signed comprehensive non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) strictly prohibiting them from sharing any materials with external entities or individuals. No student data of any kind will ever be sold to third parties. 

 

The complete privacy policy is available here.

bottom of page