Amye Day Ong

Amye Day Ong (she/her) is a creative nonfiction writer and essay coach. Her personal essays have appeared in The Offing, Image, CutBank, The Common, and Green Briar Review. Her essay “Chest Percussions,” for Image, was selected as notable in The Best American Essays 2018.

She received an MFA in creative nonfiction from Columbia College Chicago, a master’s in religion from Yale University’s Divinity School, and a bachelor’s in Spanish from Transylvania University.

Amye worked in higher education for 14 years. She taught undergrad writing courses, ran study abroad programs, wrote fundraising appeals, and directed operations for the board of trustees at a private arts college.

Currently, Amye guides high school students through the college admissions process via her private essay coaching practice, College Essay Guy (CEG), and CEG’s Matchlighters Scholars Program, which pairs students from low-income households with college essay coaches at no cost. She has coached students who were later accepted to Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, NYU, and many other great institutions.

Amye is a member of the Writers League of Texas. She is also an alum of the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops (2025) and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference (2018).

Essays

“When the Game Is Rigged in Your Favor”
The Offing, 2025

“Chest Percussions”
Image, Issue 91

“Painting Park Lake”
CutBank, Issue 89

“The Word and Its Afterlife”The Common, 2014

“Things I Failed to Mention”
Green Briar Review, Issue 4.2

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