October 6, 2026
Advising is the laziest job in the world
This is something I learned at Cornell.
Cornell has a huge entrepreneurship program, with incubators, resources, pitch nights, speaker series, and the thing every student founder bragged about getting... advisors.
The problem is, here's what an advisor actually does:
Sits leaned back in a chair. Asks if you've thought about market size. Gives a couple comments on your deck.
Then they ask for a percentage of your company.
Here's what an advisor does not do:
Write the code. Make the calls. Ship the products. Put their own name on something and let a room tear it apart.
It is the laziest job in the world. All of the credit, none of the risk. Nobody ever grades an advisor because an advisor never turns anything in.
By the time I graduated, I'd wasted countless hours on Zoom calls with advisors, none of whom pushed my software startup forward in any meaningful way.
College advising works the same way.
Most admissions counselors only tell you what's wrong with your work, or the "big picture" direction you should take your essay.
It's mildly useful advice that just doesn't give you that X factor you're looking for.
If you're shopping around for college help, give them one simple test.
Ask them to write one paragraph of your essay the way they think it should be written.
See if you like their work, or if they're even willing to do this.
Very few people in this process are actually in the weeds.
The only advice worth anything comes from someone who will sit down and write the thing themselves, in front of you, and let you tell them it's bad.
That is how I work.
I write model paragraphs in your voice so you can hear the target before you try to hit it.
Then you write.
Then I write.
And we go back and forth like partners, instead of someone making comments on your work.
Two ways to do that with me:
The self-paced masterclass has my entire process laid out, including how to use AI on your essay without risking your application.
1:1. Personal statement and narrative strategy, start to finish. Fill out the 2 minute form on my website.
If you only do one thing after reading this, stop asking people what they think of your essay, and start asking them to help you write it.
Most of them will change the subject.
- calvinXwrites