Even though I only had the chance to work with Cristina for a short period of time, I really admired her professional working style as well as her enthusiasm for her students. I highly recommend her for anyone who needs support with universities’ application.
Working with Cristina is the most valuable experience I have ever had. In the beginning, I was really afraid of writing because many other education agents required me to write a full essay on my own in a short time and they just edited it. Of course, I couldn’t. And when I told Cristina that I had no idea where to start, she helped me to acquaint with complicated essays by guiding me to write about my familiar topics. It was exactly what I needed and my writing skill was improved a lot.
She is a very dedicated consultant who can inspire students with her professional working style. No matter you can achieve your goals or not, working with her is a chance you never regret.
Tôi vẫn nhớ mãi lần gặp đầu tiên với Cristina vào một buổi sáng cuối tháng 12 năm 2018 tại cửa hàng Starbucks Coffee số 2 Tây Hồ, nơi tôi đến tham khảo và thảo luận với Cô về định hướng du học cho con trai, cháu Thượng Lâm.
Quả thực khi đó, gia đình và cháu chưa có định hướng rõ ràng về du học. Buổi nói chuyện khoảng một giờ đồng hồ nhưng đầy trách nhiệm, nhiệt huyết và cảm xúc với Cristina đã giúp gia đình tôi quyết định cho cháu nộp hồ sơ du học Mỹ, mặc dù quỹ thời gian chuẩn bị khá ngắn ngủi.
Sau mấy tháng nỗ lực, vất vả làm hồ sơ, viết luận, thi IELST & ACT, tham gia ngoại khóa với sự hướng dẫn tận tình, nghiêm khắc và đầy trách nhiệm của Cô, cháu đã nhận được thư chấp thuận cho nhập học của một số trường như: Penn State, Michigan State, Indiana Bloomington, Fairfield,.. và đặc biệt là ED từ trường Fordham với mức học bổng và hỗ trợ tài chính cao.
Hơn thế nữa, Cristina đã giúp cháu biết cách làm việc một cách độc lập cũng như làm việc nhóm, biết tự chịu trách nhiệm trước mỗi quyết định của mình.
Xin gửi lời biết ơn chân thành tới Cristina và các bạn trợ lý. Tại thời điểm viết những dòng chia sẻ này, tôi vẫn biết Cristina vẫn đang miệt mài cập nhật, trả lời email và đăng Youtube để giúp các con và các phụ huynh về tình hình các trường trong thời điểm đại dịch nCovid-19 đang hành hoành.
Cầu mong đại dịch sớm qua đi để các con có thể viết tiếp ước mơ du học của mình.
Một lần nữa, xin chân thành cảm ơn Cristina, các bạn trợ lý. Chúc Cô và các bạn luôn vui vẻ, hạnh phúc và thành công.
Cám ơn các Anh/Chị và các bạn đã bớt chút thời gian đọc những dòng chia sẻ này.
Working one-on-one on essays with Cristina stays one of the most treasured experiences I’ve ever had. Walking into her offices, I knew that there were no better places to work on my application. The cozy vibe, the snacks, the free-borrowing books, all inspired me to pitch incredible ideas for my essays. In each piece, she guided me to construct a set of ideas in the logical pattern. Cristina’s considerate and detailed edits also gradually improved my sentence construction and vocabulary use. The number of writing drafts decreased significantly from time to time, following with many well-written pieces. Furthermore, her tough-but-caring advice encouraged me to work harder, to trust in myself, and to be responsible for any decisions in my life. Therefore, I highly recommend her for students who desire to achieve excellent results in any universities’ application.
Working with Cristina is such an extraordinary experience. More than just a consultant, she is a great friend, a very inspirational person. She has always encouraged me to bring out the best of myself, to express my ideas with confidence, and prepared me to work college-style. She is also a really cool person, and her office is one of a kind. If anyone is looking for a great consultant, look no further.
Working with Cristina Bain for my application is a decision that I will never regret. She helps me to better express who I am in my writing; and thus, has helped me grow to become a more mature person in such a short period of time. I learn from her to be more organized with my schedule so as to boost my productivity and achieve great things that I have not thought of before. She is also an incredible friend: buying good food for everyone, lending good books, and giving advice that was so invaluable in the hardships of college application!
I might sound conceited here but I secretly take pride in working with Cristina over what might be the longest period of time among all her students. Cristina and I started working together since I was a sophomore in high school, circa 2016. I ended up taking the “abnormal” route, attending community college and later on transferring to a 4 year, resulting in an extended period of time working with Cristina. She was nothing short of supportive and amazing! She truly made the whole process so personal and fun. She is extremely informative and resourceful. Overall just the coolest, sweetest counselor ever. I could not recommend Cristina enough to anyone looking to start their college application.
I’m Huong, a freshman in Augustana University. I’m having the most thrilling and the great experience in my student life, and looking back, I still can’t believe that I’m now a part of the study environment that I always desired. It’s Cristina that helped me, pushed me and encouraged me to make my desire come true.
When I first met and worked with Cristina, I was actually far behind other students in the process of applying. I have only 2 months left to take TOEFL, SAT, write my personal statement, write the supplementary essays, ask the teachers for letter recommendation and a lot, a lot of others stuff to do that I can’t even remember now – all before the early application deadline. I was just freaking out, with no idea of how I will complete all of those things.
But Cristina made me believe that I could do it and that I could definitely accomplish it successfully. She set the road map for me, helping me to navigate what I should do first, and what could wait until later. She gave me me writing tips that I’d had no idea of before and it turned out to be really useful – my personal statement was something I was proud of. She arranged meetings, the information session and the interview with representatives of US schools so that I could gain more experience and make an early good impression on the admission staff.
Above all, what I appreciated most when I worked with Cristina is that she helped me how to communicate with others. I still remembered that very first day, I wrote an accidentally rude email like: ” I need this… When will u do this for me?” She taught me the norms of communication America, and how we are expected to email teachers and employers there. This is going to help me in the future, beyond the college applications.
These are just are a few things about Cristina that I wanted to share. She is definitely even better than that, it’s hard to explain. I’m really grateful for her help, and I love her a lot <3 and I know you will have the same feelings once you work with her.
Every time I met one-on-one with Cristina to work on my college application, from the moment she walks into the room, her energy level matches right up with mine, and I’m a highly energetic person! If you give her 110% of your time, dedication and energy, she will return with just as much dedication. Our conversation is never one-sided, but a bouncing of ideas off one another. But the absolute thing I remember the most about working with Cristina is the promptness with which she replies to my emails, even if it’s during Tet season!
Cristina was such an incredibly helpful and supportive force during the stressful college application process. She tirelessly worked with me to acknowledge and fix the problems I was facing in my test prep and especially in my essay writing. After everything, I felt even more confident as writer, a test taker and a student.
You helped me write one of the most important essays of my life, and what you did for me was really a great job. I was stuck with many ideas and when we work together, we easily figured out the best idea. Together, we make so many drafts, rewrite, revise, again and again. Finally, I complete my admission essay, I couldn’t have been more proud of that. You pointed out the strength and weakness of my essay, but you also help me to write such an impressive CV. I am always proud of that essay and store it carefully as a reminder of great achievement of my high school year, and everyone who’s read my CV admits that it’s awesome. It was the essay and the CV, two important things that helped me to get big scholarship from my school (Augustana College). Thanks to you, now I am studying in America.
A couple months a go, when I was confused and got stuck composing personal statement and study objective to apply for Fulbright scholarship, I was lucky to meet Cristina. She helped me constructing the ideas, logically and comprehensively, and gave thorough review and edition. With her comments and advice, my essays were leveled-up
Thank you for being one of the most passionate, helpful and caring (and probably the coolest too) teacher I’ve ever met! Trust me when I tell you without your lessons, I could never have achieved something like this. I always feel lucky to be your student, even just for a few months.
You have always been a role model in my mind: you’re diligent and driven in your career; you’re funny and easy-going with your students, but serious when it comes to work; and you’re beautiful as well! And now you are one of my favorite teachers, for supporting during the hardest choice in my education.
However, the truly important thing is that now I’m able to apply your writing lessons into real creative writing. When I first came to your class, I was a nervous student who had only studied English for months and didn’t even know how to describe in English. And I never thought I could achieve this far. Never. A public university with my intended major that my family could afford… I had never thought I could make this dream come true. But it’s real now. I’m even able to write my own short story “just for fun” under no pressure of application, in your last writing course. My achievement has you as an inspiring role model not only because you’re the person that I look up to, but also because you really know how to cheer your students up when they need. Just a few of your compliments motivate student to strive, and inspire them to work. That is, actually, the best part of your teaching. I always feel comfortable in your class. And I can see all of your students love you.
I took Cristina’s course in late 2013. At first, she pushed us to do “free writing” and creative writing assignments to enhance our writing capabilities. After that, she guided us to complete our Personal Statement (PS), Supplement Essays, and CV. She also explained a lot about how the Admissions process worked. The course only officially lasted for about 2 months, but she worked with me way past when the course was over (until I was officially admitted and I had the amount of scholarship I needed). In other words, she helped me because she cared about the results.
Apart from that, I learnt a lot from Cristina. I learnt how to be professional when I sent the emails and asked her for help. I am still grateful the day that I met her. Without Cristina, I may never have achieved this success.