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The college essay is one of the most critical parts of your application. It goes beyond your grades and test scores to give schools a sense of your personality and potential—qualities that numbers alone cannot show. A compelling piece that exudes intellectual vitality, vulnerability, and humor can tip the admissions odds in your favor. We'll review your college essay to ensure it's one that admissions officers won't forget.

I am confined by my name. The active construction better captures the reader's attention. My name confines me. I am the latest iteration in a long line, the third to be exact, This is wordy. Consider this edit instead. third to inherit a dusty family heirloom: the name Ambrose. There are multiple reasons why I "Abhor" is alarming word choice. Perhaps use "dislike" or "disapprove"? abhor my name , whenever. Whenever my mom announces it in "Announces at" is more idomatic than "announces in." at a family gathering , three people answer , and my Dad opens all my mail thinking that its it's his. Yet the more pressing reason that I dislike my name is that it sounds The tone here is a bit formal compared to the rest of your writing. primeval , and I am constantly in the shadow of those who came before me This is commonplace way to describe the effect of a family's legacy on your identity. Be specific. compared to my dad and grandpa .

What is the context here? One day , trying to express anger at my name, I fixed the dangling modifier here. I complained to my father listened to my complaint without much of a reaction , who did not react much . He shrugged, saying names are just names; they don’t define who you are. I tried to argue, but I realized he might be right and I wondered if I was searching for meaning in the wrong place.

OVERALL COMMENTS:

Hi Ambrose! This is a thoughtful essay in which you discuss how your family’s legacy has impacted your sense of identity and how you overcame the burden of their expectations. For those reasons, this topic has promise to be a compelling personal statement. However, your essay requires some edits to achieve that promise. First, I recommend that at the end of your second paragraph, you add more detail as to why that conversation with your father was so pivotal, as it significance is currently ambiguous to the reader.

We'll check for errors like dangling modifiers, comma splices, and ambiguous pronouns.

We help you steer clear of overused phrases and common pitfalls that can weaken your essay.

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We'll offer ideas to deepen your main points and provide more compelling evidence or examples.

We provide guidance on organizing your thoughts and improving the overall flow of your essay.

We'll provide a 2–3 paragraph evaluation of the overall strength of your essay.

“If there was an option for 6 stars out of 5, I would give this service 10.”

Next Admit stuck with me as I sent essay after essay for review with such a small amount of turnaround time and I could never be more grateful for all the work they do. The feedback is both fair and kind, and I felt better trusting consultants that had just gone through the whole college admissions ordeal and gotten in rather than consultants who hadn’t been through the process in decades.

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Justine was amazing. Her feedback and detailed comments were very helpful. She not only pointed out what could be better, but she also provided solutions and tips to make my writing better. I'm glad she edited two of my essays, and I wish she had reviewed them all. She was outstanding and made my experience with Next Admit worth it.

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Very constructive and in-depth feedback! I really appreciate the positive comments alongside the corrections; it gives me confidence knowing that I can write a "decent" essay by myself. Thank you so much Natalia for polishing up my essay and for relieving my anxiety during this application cycle.

Lauren gave very insightful advice on how to improve the communication of my ideas and tweak the structure of my essay to focus on depth rather than breadth. Her comments were extremely detailed and thorough as well. She also returned her feedback on my essay a few days before the one-week deadline which was great!

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Lauren was really helpful in giving detailed feedback! I was really surprised to see how she went through each and every one of my sentences and gave me direct feedback on how to expand my ideas. I feel really confident about submitting my application now thanks to her comments!

I absolutely loved the feedback I received! I had actually worked with another college essay service for my personal statement, and they didn't provide me nearly as much feedback. The suggestions were thorough, and I gained a great understanding of how my essay is perceived.

Fred did a great job of putting himself into the shoes of an admissions officer and offering constructive criticism. He not only pointed out flaws, but also provided great suggestions for fixing them. Thanks for such a comprehensive edit.

Mahad thoroughly edited my essay, and his extensive comment inspired me to completely revamp my essay to make it more unique. I really appreciate his help, and would definitely recommend him.

As usual, these essay edits are incredibly thorough, understandable, and beneficial. I am able to fix mistakes that I would otherwise overlook. Thank you so, so much for the detailed insight and advice!

Super valuable feedback. The edits were very helpful and provided me insight into the parts of my essay that had potential for improvement. I definitely feel much more confident in my essay and more ready to submit my application!

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Frequently asked questions.

The college essay is one of the most important parts of your application. Put your best foot forward by having one of our consultants polish your piece, ensuring it reflects your story in the best light possible while maintaining your true voice.

No, but we are here to help you put your best foot forward. Since the admissions process is holistic and unpredictable, a strong essay alone is not enough to guarantee acceptance. However, our consultants will help you feel confident in your writing and tell an engaging story, all while keeping your voice intact.

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Yes. If, for example, you order a three-day review on Friday, you will receive your edits on Monday.

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The Write Stuff: 4 College Admissions Essay Editing Services Reviewed

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Looking for good news about the college admissions process these days? You won't find much of it. Not only has the cost of attending college doubled on average since the 1980s, but also it's gotten considerably harder to get in. The majority of colleges in America have witnessed a plummeting acceptance rate as the number of student applications has exploded. Fifty years ago you had a 20 percent shot at getting into Harvard (all things equal, of course). Now the Crimson's acceptance rate is about 5 percent. In the last 10 years alone, the acceptance rate at many major universities has been cut in half . It's almost enough to make a kid consider trying out for the rowing team .

As if applicants didn't have enough to stress about, colleges have been making it more onerous to apply—requiring additional interviews, recommendations, and SAT Subject Tests. But the most burdensome of them all is an old standby: the application essay.

Essay requirements vary widely from school to school. The 150-plus members of the Coalition for College (which includes Harvard and Vanderbilt) requires a single 500-word essay selected from prompts such as "Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution." Those with eyes on the University of California system must write a whopping four essays, with prompts such as "Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced."

Students can reuse essays with other colleges if the prompts are similar enough—or if the schools happen to be members of the same application partnership—but you'd be surprised how seldom this occurs. My daughter found that out the hard way, when she learned that she'd have to write 12 separate essays to cover just five schools.

What's a kid to do who doesn't have parents who both work full-time as writers and editors? Just run their essay through Microsoft grammar check and hope for the best? Good luck. The acceptance rate at the University of Chicago has dropped 81 percent in the last 12 years. It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to know that if you don't put your best foot forward, you may as well not even bother.

All of this led me to the curious world of online editing services. While you can hire a consultant to help guide your child through this overwhelming maze, these consultants are expensive and much of their work involves managing the complex application process, figuring out which colleges are a good fit, and brainstorming essay topics. If you just need help whipping an already written essay into better shape, an online editor might be a better (and much cheaper) fit.

To be sure, some of these services are exorbitantly expensive. Services like EssayEdge and TopAdmit can run you close to $200 for editing a single essay of fewer than 400 words. I've seen prices as high as $379 after various upsells. Word for word, that's more than what my editor at WIRED makes. (Hi, Mike!)

The good news is there are plenty of more affordable options available. I tested four of them, all reasonably priced and seemingly legitimate. Most of these services charge based on a combination of the word count of the original essay and the turnaround time required. I used the same raw essay from my daughter as a test piece for each of the four services, and requested the slowest turnaround time each of them offered to minimize the cost. I submitted her 383-word raw essay at the same time to each of the services, on a Wednesday afternoon. I gave all the services minimal guidance with my submission, noting only (when prompted) that this was a college application essay. All four of the services allow you to upload a Microsoft Word document and receive a red-lined and comment-filled Word document in return.

When I received the revised essays, I reviewed them along with my wife (also a professional writer) and my daughter, the author. The reviews were done blind, without indicating the source of any of the edits, and we all rated each essay on a 1 to 10 scale. I also threw in a copy that I roughly edited. For the sake of comparison, the raw essay scored an average of 4.8, while my edit garnered a 6.9.

Here's what the various services cost, and how well they performed.

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Total price: $13.91, 48-hour turnaround promised. Edit received within 24 hours.

Scribendi offers seven different turnaround time tiers, but its 72-hour and one-week turnarounds were the same price as the 48-hour turnaround. A four-hour turnaround was quoted at $28.53. Scribendi returned both a changes-tracked version of the document and a "clean" version with all edits accepted. Scribendi's edit was not just the fastest, it was incredibly thorough—almost nitpicky—with 16 comments or prompts to the writer suggesting avenues for additional content or revisions that were beyond the scope of a simple edit. Oddly, the final edit didn't resonate with readers, who largely felt it was somewhat awkward and clunky in its overall flow. That said, the editor's notes and the service's overall speed were a big plusses.

Readers' rating: 5.0

Total price: $13.90, three-day turnaround promised. Edit received after two days.

Elite Editing has an Advanced Editing service for $40, but the $13.90 plan I chose offers only "basic editing," which doesn't include "suggested rewrites to eliminate awkward phrasing, repetition, passive voice, etc." and "taking into account your original assignment." Three days is the standard turnaround; one-day turnaround for the Basic Editing plan would have cost $19.90. The site crashed when I checked out, but my payment and submission both went through successfully. As promised, Elite's edit was indeed basic. Its editor made the fewest changes of any of the services and left only three comments, one of which was about whether the use of indentations and double-spacing was appropriate. While Elite's edits were correct, they weren't terribly deep—although that was enough to propel it to a second-place finish from the readers.

Readers' rating: 5.7

Total price: $15.32, five-day turnaround promised. Edit received after four days.

Wordvice has eight different pricing tiers, with rates as low as 4 cents per word for a seven-day turnaround, though that tier was limited to materials longer than 3,000 words. The five-day turnaround tier was only marginally more expensive. When I received Wordvice's edited document, I was offered an upsell for a "second look" (basically another edit) for 30 percent off. Wordvice's embedded commentary was nearly as thorough as Scribendi's, though Wordvice was less obsessive over grammar and more focused on overall clarity. Turns out that was the right move: Wordvice's edit was the overall favorite of the quartet, and the finished draft reads cleanly and clearly.

Readers' rating: 6.3

Total price: $31.33, seven-day turnaround promised. Edit received after four days.

Scribbr initially quoted a price of $25.36, but I shelled out an extra $6 for both the "structure check" and "clarity check" options, despite not really understanding what those were. Prices include a 2 percent surcharge for using a credit card. For those in a hurry, 24-hour turnaround doubles the price. Scribbr seems more focused on editing academic coursework essays than admissions essays, with a relatively formal structure applied to its edits (removing contractions completely, for example). Editor's commentary was sparse, though on target. This draft was the most divisive of the services, earning high marks from my wife but very low marks from my daughter, who thought it stripped the writing of her voice.

Readers' rating: 5.3

Any good college essay has to end with a conclusion, so here are a few takeaways. First, all of the services sent back essays that were, on average, felt to be an improvement over the original draft, with all of them catching numerous spelling and grammatical errors—so students with no professional editing help may do well to consider them, especially given how affordable these services are. That said, also remember that when you engage with an editing service, you're really engaging with a single (anonymous) editor who you won't ever meet or be able to interact with. That editor won't have any level of understanding of the writer's personality beyond what's on the page, and quality will necessarily vary from one editor to another, even within a given editing service.

Further still, remember that editing quality is always going to be subjective, just like any piece of writing. Except for this story, of course. It's amazing.

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• 14 Best College Essay Services for 2024 (40 Services Reviewed)

Research conducted by Emily Kierkegaard , PhD, and expert-reviewed by Kevin Wong, PrepMaven Co-founder

Not sure which college application essay coaching and editing service is the best? We compared the top 40 services, created in-depth reviews for 14 of them, and narrowed it down to the 4 best that will help guide you through the process of writing amazing college application essays.

What is the Best College Essay Service?

• PrepMaven  – best college application essay service overall
• College Essay Mentor  – best for individual consultants
• The College Essay Guy  – best for unlimited essay assistance
• College Vine  – best of the big platforms

The best of the rest:

Individual essay consultants:

• College Essay Editor  – small editing team
• Allison Karpf  – former English teacher helping students
• Your College Vision  – former journalist with more affordable rates
• The College Guru  – good on paper but unresponsive
• Sofia Zapiola – budget-friendly application assistance

Mid-size teams:

• Lotus Learning  – focus on health sciences

Large platforms:

• Study Point  – larger platform with mystery editors
• Ivy Select  – larger platform with mystery editors
• Empowerly  – larger platform with mystery editors
• BeMo  – expensive and aggressive with wrong expertise

Schedule a college essay consultation

Best College Application Essay Services in 2024

#1 – prepmaven.

Our Verdict — Best College Essay Assistance Overall Price: $79–349/hour (minimum $510 package) PrepMaven’s one-on-one college essay assistance is the best option overall. Founded by brothers and Princeton grads Greg and Kevin, almost all of PrepMaven’s essay coaches have Ivy-League experience, primarily from Princeton and Harvard. All essay coaches also undergo a thorough training program in PrepMaven’s methods, developed by professional writers with deep understanding of the college admissions process, for helping students to discover the most compelling stories for their essays. Unlike other services, PrepMaven offers college essay assistance at several different price points. At the most accessible rate, students can work with current Ivy-League undergraduates who specialize in writing and have recently aced the college application process. At higher rates, students can work with coaches who are both Ivy-League grads and professional writers (screenwriters, journalists, editors) with many years of experience helping students to craft compelling essays. Interested students can even work directly with founders Greg and Kevin, who have over 15 years of experience helping students through the entire essay-writing process. PrepMaven’s services combine many of the best features of other good options into one, and it’s hard to beat their experience.

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help now

Any student wanting college essay help, at any point in the process, with a range of budgets.

At a glance:

• Cost: $79–349/hour (minimum $510 package)
• Writing coach qualifications: Princeton graduates and professional writers (or current Princeton students); all trained

What we like:

• Ivy League experience —most of their writing coaches are Princeton grads or current students, with some from Harvard and other Ivies
• Different pricing options to meet different families’ circumstances
• More flexible and greater capacity to take on new students compared to individual consultants

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help

#2 – College Essay Mentor

Our Verdict — Best of the Individual Consultants Price: unknown but high Some college essay consulting services consist of just one expert. Of these individual essay consultants, Chris Hunt at College Essay Mentor is our favorite. He combines writing experience as a journalist for the Economist and the Wall Street Journal with personal experience as a graduate of Dartmouth. However, he only works with a small number of students each year, and students need to apply to work with him — he only accepts students with top grades and test scores who are already strong applicants for top schools. Chris offers the option for one-time written feedback, but this only gives big-picture generalizations. (And written-only feedback is always limited.) In order for help with the essay process, students need to purchase a complete essay package.

Students with top grades and test scores who want to work with a one-person business, who have a sizable budget, and who are ready to get started early.

• Cost: $210 for a one-time written essay feedback (big picture only), then $110 per draft feedback; pricing for essay process packages unknown
• Essay coach qualifications: professional journalist, Dartmouth grad
• Professional writing experience as a journalist
• Extensive experience working with college applicants
• Partners with Debra Felix, former Director of Admissions at Columbia, for full application review

What we don’t like:

• One-on-one work is limited to very high-achieving students, who need to apply with a resume : “I limit my one-on-one work to students who I believe will be strong applicants to elite universities. As a rule, this means having high grades in challenging classes, a test score of ACT 34+ or SAT 1500+, and substantial activities outside of the classroom.”
• Works with a limited number of students (60 per year), so often no availability
• All-or-nothing packages don’t allow students to work with Chris for just a few hours or for part of the essay-writing process
• Secretive about pricing (he’ll only give pricing details once he’s reviewed the student’s resume and agreed to work with them), but we expect the minimum cost of working one-on-one to be several thousand dollars

#3 – The College Essay Guy

Our Verdict — Best for Unlimited Essay Assistance Price: $4900 for application to 3 schools, $8050 for application for 10 schools We’re fans of Ethan Sawyer, the original “college essay guy”— his book, College Essay Essentials , is a great guide to the essay-writing process. Ethan doesn’t work directly with many students these days, but he now has a team of consultants who help students follow his principles. Their assistance is really all-or-nothing — they prefer to work with students from the very beginning of the process, and their minimum package is $4900, which includes assistance with essays for three schools. If students are applying to ten schools (a more realistic number for students aiming at competitive colleges), the fee is a hefty $7400.

Students who want unlimited help through the entire process, who have a sizable budget.

• Cost: $4900 (supplemental essays for 3 schools) – $7400 (supplemental essays for 10 schools)
• Essay coach qualifications: mix of Ivy grads and former teachers, some writers/screenwriters; all trained
• Great free resources about the essay-writing process
• Their Matchlighters Scholars Program gives back to the community by providing admissions consulting for select qualifying students
• All-or-nothing packages have a high minimum fee and don’t work for students who want just a few hours of feedback or help with just part of the process

#4 – College Vine

Our Verdict — Best of the Big Platforms Price: $140–180/hour There are plenty of large platforms with large stables of part-time tutors and coaches available to work with students. Of these big platforms, we think CollegeVine has the best offerings. Compared to other large companies, CollegeVine provides more information about their tutors, and students can pick individual tutors to work with from their roster. However, this model is really just a way of finding individual tutors to hire. Tutors don’t receive any training and don’t share a common approach, so it’s a mixed bag. Their rates are fairly high for part-time tutors who don’t have specific expertise and training in college essay consulting. Because CollegeVine is really just a marketplace where individual tutors can find students, the quality and price will vary widely.

Students who want to work with a big company, or those who want a quick session or two to go over their essays.

• Cost: Typically $140–180/hour
• Essay coach qualifications: no specific qualifications, but a few are Ivy League graduates
• Possible to select individual editors to work with from their roster.
• Easy to schedule ad-hoc sessions with a tutor through the website.
• No training or common approach for tutors
• Editors are part-time , with no option to work with full-time college admissions experts
• Relatively expensive for this level of expertise

College Essay Editing Alternatives (that Didn’t Make the Cut)

Individual essay consultants, #5 – college essay editor.

Our Verdict — Small Editing Team Price: Roughly $5,950 for applications to 10 schools College Essay Editor comprises two graduates of Stanford. This means that they have personal experience applying to highly competitive schools. One member of the team also has a college counseling certification, which is a good background for college essays. Based on their website, they appear to focus on the editing and proofreading phase of the essay-writing process. This can be helpful to students, but we recommend working with a service who can help students to uncover their values and brainstorm really great material that allows them to really shine—and if this doesn’t happen at the beginning of the process, it’s much harder to add in later on.

• Cost: $195/1000 words for proofreading, $495/1000 words for 3 rounds of editing and proofreading, or $595/1000 words for unlimited rounds of editing and proofreading; for the purposes of comparison, complete applications to 10 competitive colleges would be around 9,650 words, or $5950.
• Writing coach qualifications: Stanford graduates, one of whom has college counseling certification
• Editors are graduates of Stanford University , and one is a member of NACAC, the national association of college counselors
• They focus on editing and proofreading only , not on the crucial earlier steps of brainstorming and strategy
• Small team with very limited availability
• All asynchronous editing so you won’t be able to cultivate a real relationship with your essay coach.

#6 – Allison Karpf

Our Verdict — Former English Teacher Helping Students Price: $385/hour or $3850 package for application to one school Another option for students looking to hire an individual consultant is Allison Karpf. Allison is a former high school English teacher and a graduate of UC Berkeley who also holds a Masters of Education from Stanford. Her rates are definitely on the higher side, especially for someone who doesn’t have a professional writing background, but she does have extensive experience working with students to craft their essays.

• Cost:  $385/hour or $3850 unlimited counseling (includes supplemental essays for one college)
• Essay coach qualifications: former high school English teacher; Berkeley grad, Stanford MEd
• Lots of experience helping students improve their college essays
• Very quick to respond to client requests
• No professional writing experience or Ivy-Plus undergraduate experience
• High rates relative to other options
• Limited availability , since she works alone

#7 – Your College Vision

Our Verdict: Former Journalist with More Affordable Rates Price: $180/hour, or packages starting from $3500 Laurie Lande is another individual consultant who helps students through the essay-writing process. She comes recommended by other consultants like Chris from College Essay Mentor . Laurie did not herself attend a highly competitive school, so she doesn’t have that personal experience of going through the selective admissions process, but she does have a professional writing background as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.

• Cost: $180/hour or packages starting at $3500
• Essay coach qualifications: journalism background
• Affordable pricing , relative to other options
• Not a graduate of a highly selective school

#8 – The College Guru

Our Verdict — Good on Paper but Unresponsive Price: unknown Yet another individual essay consultant is Geanine Thompson from The College Guru. Geanine attended Dartmouth as an undergraduate and also holds an MBA from Duke. She also has a professional writing background as an assistant book editor at Berkley Publishing Group. Like Greg and Kevin at PrepMaven , she combines experience in the business world and at Wall Street firms with experience in education.

• Cost: unknown
• Essay coach qualifications: former assistant book editor; Dartmouth grad, Duke MBA
• Dartmouth graduate and former book editor
• Not responsive to emails and client requests

#9 – Sofia Zapiola

Our Verdict — A budget-friendly, personal essay editor. Price: $80/hour Yet another individual essay consultant is Sofia Zapiola, who offers a mix of essay editing and college application counseling services.

• Cost: $80/hour
• Essay coach qualifications: M.A. from Harvard; certificate in College Counseling from UC San Diego.
• Individual approach, budget-friendly rates, commitment to working within families’ budgets.
• Very few testimonials, so it’s difficult to evaluate how effective she is.

Mid-size Teams

#10 – lotus learning.

Our Verdict — Expensive for Tutor Background Price: $165/hour Founded by a Harvard grad who is a former teacher and veteran of the publishing industry, Lotus learning offers college essay help in the Boston area. They have a small team of tutors, mostly recent grads from good but not Ivy-Plus colleges, and mostly with focus in health sciences.

• Cost: $165/hour (minimum 8 hours)
• Essay coach qualifications: tutors are recent grads, but not Ivy-Plus schools
• Reasonable pricing with flexible packages
• Essay editors aren’t graduates of Ivy-Plus schools and don’t have professional writing experience

Large platforms

#11 – study point.

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: Rates Between $60 and $120/hr Study Point is a larger essay editing service. They claim to have several decades of experience helping students to craft their college essays, but they do not give information about who their essay coaches are and what qualifications they might have.

• Cost: $60-120/hr, depending on tutor experience
• Essay coach qualifications: unknown
• Larger company with several decades of experience
• Unclear who the essay coaches are
• Lack of statistics about their results

#12 – Ivy Select

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: unknown Ivy Select makes a lot of big promises on their website about having the best college essay consultants in the business, but they offer no information on who these consultants are, or on their backgrounds. They also brag that each consultant “only” works 20 students in one application cycle, but in our experience, that’s quite high.

• Long list of impressive (but anonymous) testimonials
• Only work with “top students”
• No information on their website about who the editors are
• Each essay coach works with up to 20 students at one time

#13 – Empowerly

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: High, from $6000/year Empowerly has over 60 college counselors who each work with an average of 5 students per year, in order to have more time to devote to each student. Their counselors come from “different educational backgrounds,” and while they do not provide specific biographical details we can assume that most of their essay coaches did not attend highly selective schools.

• Cost: typically from $6000/year
• Essay coach qualifications: college counselors
• Counselors work with just a few students per year
• You have to upgrade to “Empowerly Elite” to guarantee a counselor with a more selective educational background
• No professional writing experience

#14 – Prepory

Our Verdict — Expensive but with Good Expertise Price: $325/hr Prepory is a college application and career counseling service that offers a comprehensive program for college applications at any stage of the process (including as early as 9th grade). They make a lot of impressive claims about the expertise of their coaches, but it’s quite difficult to actual find much information about their essay coach qualifications.

• Cost: $325/hr
• They have a comprehensive college application program that begins as early as 9th grade.
• Limited information about essay coaches
• High prices

Top 40 College Essay Services Considered

• College Essay Editor
• The College Essay Guy
• College Vine
• College Essay Mentor
• Study Point
• Allison Karpf
• The College Guru
• Lotus Learning
• Summit Prep
• Sofia Zapiola
• Ivy Global / New Summits
• College Essay Solutions
• Your College Vision
• Essay Edge*
• ServicEscape*
• PapersForge*
• QuickWriter*
• JustEditMyEssay*
• JustDoMyEsssay*
• ExpertWriting*
• SpeedyPaper*
• GradeMiners*

* A number of services will edit essays directly for students, or even write portions of the essay for students. We do not condone this. Admissions officers can tell when essays have been written or edited by adults and this can have severe consequences. We have excluded these services from our reviews.

Why are college application essays important?

Can a great college essay alone get you into Harvard?

No. You’ll need your grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities (as well as letters of recommendation and interview) to be outstanding.

But can a mediocre essay be the reason you didn’t get into Harvard?

Yes. There are thousands of amazingly-qualified students who graduate from high school each year. Great grades and test scores might be a prerequisite for admission to a competitive college, but they alone aren’t enough.

College essays are a key component of a student’s application . When done well, they transform a collection of numbers—GPA, class rank, SAT or ACT scores , number of AP classes taken, AP scores—into a glimpse of a real, individual person.

Essays do many things. Good college essays can highlight extracurricular achievements which otherwise would be overlooked in a sterile list. Strong essays often indicate the student’s future plans —how they plan to leave a mark on their college campus and on the world. They can shine a light on unique challenges that a student may have had to face on their journey.

College admissions officers only have a few minutes to spend on each application. College essays need to be original, interesting, and memorable . They need to grab the attention of the admissions officer and persuade them that this is the student out of hundreds or thousands of other similarly-qualified applicants who should be admitted.

College admissions essays are usually unlike any other kind of writing that students have done before. They’re a combination of memoir and marketing pitch, and they need to be creative but also highly strategic. That’s a tough assignment!

What’s more, students are left to figure this assignment out on their own. A thoughtful and generous high school English teacher may provide guidance or offer to read essays and give feedback, but these teachers are responsible for many students, and they’re (usually) not experts in admissions strategies.

There’s another reason college essays are especially important from 2024 on. After the recent Supreme Court decision, the application essay has become one of the main ways that you can communicate how your racial identity has affected your life.

In fact, the New York Times published an article about how important it can be for students to discuss race in their college application essays!

Why work with a college essay service?

You may want to consider a college essay service if:

• You have no idea where to start in order to write your college application essays
• You feel overwhelmed by all of the different ideas you have and don’t know what would be the most strategic for college admissions—and what topics to definitely avoid for college essays
• You don’t know how to craft a compelling stor y
• You’re not sure how to edit and refine what you’ve written
• You have a hard time keeping yourself on track and want an external structure to hold you accountable
• You’re tired of conflict between students and parents about college essays
• You’re aiming at a competitive college (not just the Ivy League!) and know that you need your essays to be outstanding
• Your grades, test scores, and extracurriculars aren’t exceptional, so you need your essay to make your essay stand out from the pack
• You’re unfamiliar with the US college admissions process (a common situation for international students and first-generation families in the US)

Any of these are strong reasons to consider working with a college essay service!

It’s also worth remembering that a lot of the free advice on college’s website isn’t always very clear. For example, NYU’s admissions Senior Assistant Director of Admissions says that “There is no right or wrong way to answer as long as your answer is genuine to you.”

While that’s true, that doesn’t offer much guidance on how to actually write the essay!

Though many college applicants might not mention it, more and more students are using professional college application consultants. Research at the University of Chicago has shown that over a quarter of high-achieving seniors employed private specialists to help with the college application process.

In fact, according to NPR , some companies are even offering college admissions counseling to their top employees as an incentive–that’s just how important professional help can be in the current landscape of college admissions.

It’s important to note that a good college essay service will not write your college application essays for you . This is unethical and illegal. That’s not just coming from us: take it from a school like Princeton, whose website insists on the importance of writing your own application essays.

A good college essay service will guide you through each step of the process , teaching you how to self-reflect and write well while sharing insider insight about admissions strategy .

What makes a good college essay service?

We strongly believe that students need to write their own college essays , and we do not condone plagiarism or “buying” a college essay.

However, writing college application essays requires a completely new set of skills that is rarely taught in high school!

Writing a personal essay is much more creative than simply writing a good paper for English class. It requires a compelling narrative and a great deal of writing craft . A good essay service will teach how to do this kind of writing.

There are many college essay services that will provide only written feedback to students, usually in the form of comments added to an essay draft. (Remember, it’s important that students write their own essays, so avoid any college essay service that will make edits directly to an essay document .)

Written comments can be an effective component of good essay coaching. However, writing college essays is a deeply personal process , and it’s incredibly difficult to guide a student through the process of self-reflection, brainstorming, and planning purely through written comments.

In addition, a great college essay coach will teach students how to do this entire process of brainstorming, planning, outlining, writing, and revising . It’s difficult to learn why an essay coach is advising certain changes through written comments alone.

For these reasons, look for a college essay service with live, one-on-one services , not just written feedback. These days, it’s easy to work with the best college essay consultants in the country over Zoom!

Students need to reflect on their goals, their passions, and what drives them to be the person they are. This requires a great deal of self-awareness and self-analysis . An experienced college essay coach can help draw these ideas out of students through tested introspection techniques and brainstorming exercises .

On top of all of that, students need to be cognizant of which traits and accomplishments will be most appealing to colleges , and which stories will be cliche and boring. Personal statements and supplementary essays need to fit together to tell a cohesive story, and they need to work together with the rest of the student’s application (extracurriculars, grades, and other accomplishments).

In other words, there’s a great deal of strategy here! An experienced college essay service can help students decide how to present themselves in the best possible light .

Furthermore, most students don’t know how to edit effectively . A really top-notch college essay service will also teach students how to edit their own writing —how to reorder sections for better flow, cut unnecessary words to meet a word count, eliminate passive verbs, and make their writing vivid and exciting. Our students are routinely amazed by how transformative this step can be, and how much they learn by doing it together with the essay coach.

Finally, the best college essay services can also help students to make a writing plan and keep them on track , so that parents don’t have to be involved directly.

Ready to work on your college essays? Schedule a free 15- to 30-minute consultation with Jessica or one of our founders.

Best overall: PrepMaven’s tutors offer the highest quality at the best price. With three tiers of tutors, they make it easy to work with an Ivy League undergraduate for as little as $79/hr. Or, families can work with education professionals or Ivy League graduates from $150/hr. PrepMaven’s track record means that you can be sure every hour is being spent productively, so that you can expect real results from the work.

Best for individual consultants: College Essay Mentor. In theory, College Essay Mentor would offer an unparalleled level of individual attention and guidance: his website boasts of some very impressive results. You might find it hard to actually schedule with him, however, since he’s very selective about his clients.

Best for unlimited essay assistance: The College Essay Guy might not offer that personalized attention you get from live, face to face essay coaching, but they do offer unlimited essay editing for up to 10 schools (if you’re comfortable paying a hefty package price).

Best of the big platforms: College Vine will always be a bit of a gamble. Because it’s a tutor marketplace, your results (and costs) will really depend on how lucky you get with your consultant. From our research, however, many of their essay coaches look to have solid track records.

Ready to work on college essays with one of our experienced writing coaches? Schedule a free test prep consultation with Jessica (Director of Tutoring) or one of our founders to see what would be the best fit for your family.

It’s always best to start early and not wait until the last minute to write your college essays! Remember that essays can be used to earn scholarships as well as college admission, so a few months of writing now can pay off with up to $300,000 in tuition saved later. 

We work with students at all stages of the writing process, from I-have-no-idea-what-to-write to final edits. To start working with an Ivy-League writing coach today, set up a quick free consultation with our team.

Schedule a free college essay consultation

Top College Essay Posts

• Qualities of a Successful College Essay
• 11 College Essays That Worked
• How to Answer the UC Personal Insight Questions
• How Colleges Read your College Applications (A 4-Step Process)
• How to Write the Princeton Supplemental Essays
• The Diamond Strategy: How We Help Students Write College Essays that Get Them Into Princeton (And Other Ivy League Schools)
• What is the College Essay? Your Complete Guide for 202 4
• College Essay Brainstorming: Where to Start
• How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays
• How to Format Your College Essay

Emily graduated  summa cum laude  from Princeton University and holds an MA from the University of Notre Dame. She was a National Merit Scholar and has won numerous academic prizes and fellowships. A veteran of the publishing industry, she has helped professors at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton revise their books and articles. Over the last decade, Emily has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the college admissions process, including the SAT, ACT, and college application essay. 

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We personally and thoughtfully recommend the best consultant based on your profile.

We start our work by getting to know you in depth. With the help of our Student Profile Questionnaire, we ask relevant questions about your academic profile, challenges, and admissions goals. To gain a deeper understanding, we also ask thought-provoking questions to get your insights about your formative years, personal interests, hopes, and dreams.

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Our matching process is carefully designed and consistently leads to successful consultant and student matches; as a result, reassignment is virtually never necessary. However, if the need for a reassignment arises, we are happy to accommodate such a request.

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The flexibility and availability offered to me by my selected tutor as well as her willingness to work with me until we perfected the things needed for my college journey. I would Highly recommend prepscholar to anyone looking for help or improvement in high school.

I really liked the personalized support for my essays and how my consultant took the time to understand me as a person to know how to best reflect myself in my essay. She was also very understanding when I needed more time to work on the draft before another round of revisions

Many of the people that reviewed my essay told me the same thing: show don’t tell. However, they never explained what they meant or how to accomplish that. Lily was really nice and helpful in demonstrating what I needed to change instead of just saying it needed improvement. She was also really nice!

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After many sessions, the application and essay writing became more natural for Mike. I’m glad to say that his voice fully shines through the essays. His consultant just helped him cut out unneeded information, and help hit the word limit and make the most important points. Shewas an expert at knowing how to position clubs and activities as well.

My consultant did an excellent job helping me tell my story. Over our first week, he provided very helpful feedback on my topic ideas and quickly identified a concept that ended up leading to a well-formed essay. He was also very helpful and encouraging throughout the process, and he provided accurate and specific feedback that helped me create an essay that felt very true to myself. Paradoxically, the essay we created together felt much more genuine than any of the attempts I had made at drafting an essay on my own beforehand!

Prepscholar’s personalized approach to the admissions process is invaluable. Eric’s “show, don’t tell” philosophy is practical and proven. Allen and the Prepscholar team embody this essential value with their own degrees and educational accolades. I trust them with my collegiate future. I would suggest that anyone needing guidance through the admissions process do the same.

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Personal Statement Essay (Common Application)

Supplemental essays, honors program essays, uc application personal insight essays, scholarship essays, summer program essays.

Meet Our Essay Team

Kevin Krebs

Founder and Managing Director

Despite the odds stacked against me, I find myself here today. My parents, survivors of World War II bombings and refugee camps, arrived in the United States with just $20, a single suitcase, and no knowledge of the English language. Their lack of formal education didn’t deter them from believing in the power of learning and its potential to create a better future for their five children.

I am Kevin Krebs, the founder of HelloCollege, the largest college planning company in the Midwest. My parents’ unwavering support, guidance, and strong work ethic empowered me to pursue my dreams. My father, a dedicated and no-nonsense bricklayer, served as a mentor through his actions. He woke up at 5:15 a.m. every day, never late, and never missed a day of work, even though he didn’t particularly enjoy his job. He approached his responsibilities with seriousness and determination, tackling every task with diligence. My mother, a kind-hearted lunchroom manager at a school for special needs children, passed away last summer at the age of 88. She encouraged me to set ambitious goals, reminded me to give my best effort each day, and provided unwavering support that boosted my self-confidence beyond measure.

My parents instilled in me the belief that I could achieve anything I dreamed of. I attended Hibbard Elementary, the most ethnically diverse grade school in Chicago, where students from over 50 countries, 90% of whom came from low-income households, gathered. Despite the overcrowded classrooms, I thrived as a strong student, fortunate to have exceptional teachers who cared deeply for their students and pushed me to reach my individual potential.

I successfully tested into Lane Tech High School, a renowned magnet school with over 4,600 students, known for its excellent academics and athletics. Surrounded by a group of motivated and aspirational friends, I set my sights on attending a Big Ten university and participating in sports. Before I knew it, we were seniors preparing for college. I earned a full scholarship to Northwestern University, where I played quarterback on the football team and pitched for the baseball team. Meanwhile, my friends pursued their education at prestigious institutions such as the University of Chicago, Northern Illinois University, University of Wisconsin, and CalArts.

Arriving in Evanston as a broke, first-generation college student could have been overwhelming, both socially and academically. However, it only fueled my focus and determination. The memory of my parents’ sacrifices and perseverance motivated me, especially during countless nights spent writing papers with tight deadlines or pulling all-nighters to study for finals.

Northwestern’s liberal arts curriculum and quarter system exposed me to a wide range of courses that expanded my worldview and honed my critical thinking skills. I had never worked so hard in my life, but I will forever be grateful to the incredible professors who shaped my future. As a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, I graduated with high hopes but without a job.

Despite my excellent grades, I found myself utterly clueless about how the real world, particularly the white-collar professional world, operated. My parents’ network consisted of plumbers, cleaning ladies, and carpenters, not investment bankers, Fortune 500 executives, or influential journalists. Like many unemployed college graduates, I turned to student loans and pursued a master’s degree, accumulating nearly $30,000 in debt.

A year later, I graduated from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, expecting my dream job of anchoring ESPN’s SportsCenter to materialize. However, I found myself unemployed once again, burdened with a Sallie Mae student loan payment each month.

At the age of 25, I felt lost, drowning in debt, and overwhelmed with frustration. How did I end up here? Why had no guidance counselor, academic advisor, coach, or anyone else prepared me for the realities and uncertainties that awaited me?

Driven by these experiences, I founded HelloCollege with the intention of helping students and parents navigate the college path while raising awareness about the escalating costs of higher education. Over the past 20 years, my team and I have had the privilege of sharing our college planning and career readiness workshops, curriculum, and guidance with over 10,000 families.

Looking ahead, we aim to leverage our expertise to assist more than 250,000 students in successfully navigating the college admissions process. Join our movement and discover how students, just like you have gained admission to their dream colleges using our S.A.F.E. method. Together, we are on a mission to shape the next generation of scholars, ensuring they graduate within four years, free from overwhelming debt and equipped with a well-defined career plan.

I am filled with immense gratitude toward my late mother, Mrs. Ursula Krebs, and my 89-year-old father, Mr. Karl Krebs. Their unwavering belief in my potential has been the driving force behind my journey.

Director of Tutoring

In high school, Ian had a diverse set of interests but was unsure of his future path. He loved music, raiding the library’s CD collection after school, playing trumpet in the school band and with friends. He loved English, finding solace in absurdist and surrealist literature, writing short stories and free-form poetry. He loved math, reveling in the real-world applications of each concept, enjoying the puzzle of each problem. He loved history, fascinated with other cultures, inspired by the wealth of knowledge in years past. Ultimately, he loved learning and craved a challenge, a dual passion that took him to the University of Illinois for engineering.

UIUC exposed Ian to the true beauty of math and science in action—the experience was both exhilarating and humbling. Ian graduated from UIUC with his BS in Electrical Engineering, specializing in semiconductor fabrication, analog/digital design, and audio engineering. After working in the field as a design engineer for many years, he took a chance and opened a private tutoring business, a decision that solidified his leading passion, sharing his love of learning with students and guiding them to achieve their true potential. 

Over six years, Ian’s business quickly expanded from just himself to a team of twenty-two trained tutors that helped students navigate the challenging terrain of academics, executive functioning, and college preparation. 

Today, Ian is, at heart, that same high school boy but with a much better head on his shoulders. He loves his wife and two cats. He loves mathematics and electrical circuit design. He loves the outdoors and backpacking in the wild. He still loves music and reading. But most importantly, he loves mentoring others and helping them find their passion so they can change the world. 

Chris Bench

Director of Essay Services

Chris Bench has known that words were his vocation since he first learned, bedtime-bound, that Horton’d heard a Who. Chris earned his BA in English from Kenyon College, writing poetry and combining his interests in systems theory and cognitive science with contemporary literature (wildly pretentious Honors Thesis title: Pynchon, Gaddis, and the Art of Artificial Life: Cybernetics, Nonlinearity, and the Recovery of Structure in the Discourse of the Novel ), before spending the better part of a decade in the University of Chicago’s English Literature Ph.D. program, teaching courses (both there and at Roosevelt University) on writing, literary analysis, and American literature (wildly pretentious undergrad course title: Wayward Shots from the Western Canon: Alternative Aesthetics of the US West). At UChicago, Chris realized his love of working with young people and, especially, his love of teaching writing. At the same time, he also worked a side gig as the UChicago Laboratory School’s in-house essay tutor, which allowed him to further deepen his love of writing instruction and to hone his editor’s craft. When Chris left academia, that side gig quickly turned – as side gigs are wont to do – into his central pursuit, and Chris has spent the last 15 years aiding students with essays (and tutoring them for SATs and ACTs). Since joining HelloCollege in 2018, Chris has primarily served as an Essay Coach, helping students to transmute experience lived in the world into pixels glowing on a screen – and into admission to institutions ranging from community colleges to Ivy League universities. He now serves as HelloCollege’s Director of Essay Services. When he isn’t ruthlessly pruning students’ superfluous modifiers, Chris enjoys cooking regional Mexican cuisine, binging kung fu films, and scrambling mountains. If you ask him about the time he was emergency choppered out of Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic National Park, he will briefly feign embarrassment before detailing every bumbling step of his ill-fated adventure.

Kimberly Shipman

College Counselor

Kim was born and raised in rural Virginia, dreaming of big city life.  She earned dual BS degrees in Human Development and Psychology from Virginia Tech and an M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration from North Carolina State University before taking the leap to live and work in the 3 rd largest city in the country—Houston, TX.

After graduate school, Kim worked in Career Advising at Barton College and Rice University. While at Rice University, Kim designed and implemented career programming specifically to support first generation students.  College access and success for all is a passion of hers.

In the 7 years prior to joining HelloCollege, Kim worked as a high school College Counselor and fell in love with the field.  She combines her experiences to help students discover careers they are passionate about and then plan and execute the path to obtain those careers.  Kim builds relationships with her students to get to know them as individuals allowing her to give every student a personalized experience.  She brings kindness, warmth, and joy to every interaction.

When applying to college herself, Kim had to figure it all out on her own so she has made it her mission to give her students the support she wished she’d had.  Applying to college can be complicated, but Kim strives to make it as approachable and fun as possible for her students. When not working, Kim loves spending time with her husband, son, and fur babies.  They enjoy camping, attending community theater productions, and trying new restaurants together.

Brooke Kent

College Counselor & Essay Coach

Brooke is a dual US-Canadian citizen who was born in Los Angeles, California; raised in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and Houston, Texas; and studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She understands first-hand how education can equip you for a global future.

Brooke received her bachelor’s summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in history, policy studies, and Spanish translation from Rice University. She graduated with the J. Venn Leeds Award for Excellence in Scholarship, awarded to Rice University seniors with the 10 highest cumulative GPAs.

As a Boren Fellow for the Defense Language and National Security Education (DLNSEO), Brooke studied abroad at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). She worked directly with the Buenos Aires City Legislature to pinpoint what led not-for-profit organizations to succeed or to fail as they interacted with the city government.

Brooke began her professional career by interviewing several White House chiefs-of-staff for the White House Transition Project, a non-partisan initiative that facilitated the transition between President William J. Clinton and President George W. Bush. Brooke later served as the executive writer for the director of Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was the director’s voice to a staff of 8,000 technical staff members, researchers, and professionals.

For the past two decades, Brooke has helped adults and students tell their stories in a personalized, persuasive, and achievement-focused way. A well-crafted application package can increase your chance of getting into the Ivies by up to 940%. Your application is more than just a chance to tell your story; it’s your opportunity to gain a winning edge.

Brooke’s oldest daughter attends the University of New Mexico on a full-ride Regents Scholarship; she’s continuing her national fencing career under 3-time Olympian and fencing coach Courtney Hurley. Brooke’s son and youngest daughter are also nationally ranked fencers, cross country runners, and discus throwers; she understands the demands and priorities of the NCAA and collegiate recruiting process.

Brooke is passionate about helping each student find the right academic, cultural, and financial fit. Her philosophy is simple: Your Story. Our Support. Your Solution.

Brooke lives with her husband and children in Colorado Springs. She enjoys baking, cooking, reading, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and visiting U.S. national parks (15 down, 47 to go!).

Will Wagner

Essay Coach

Will fell in love with the written word his junior year in high school, thanks to an English teacher named Mrs. Kelley. She exposed him to the magic of writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and especially John Steinbeck. Just like that, his future came into focus.

And while Will never became the next Steinbeck (darn!), he did go on to have a gratifying career in publishing as a writer and editor for everything from national magazines to websites. He even wrote a book of his own, Wrigley Blues: The Year the Cubs Played Hardball with the Curse (but Lost Anyway), published in 2004 by Taylor Trade. For the past several years, he also has worked as an essay coach at HelloCollege. His goal in this role is simple: to bring a little “Mrs. Kelley” to the game and help students down the path of fulfilling their passions and achieving their dreams.

Alisha Braun

Alisha worked in higher education for 13 years, having taught at Michigan State University and the University of South Florida. She is the author of 30 book chapters and research articles on diversity and inclusion, comparative and international education, and qualitative research methods. She has consulted for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and has led numerous independent and collaborative community-based research projects and service-learning study abroad programs in Botswana, Cambodia, England, Ghana, Malawi, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United States. Working on multiple college campuses domestically and abroad has made Alisha appreciate the diversity of collegiate experiences available to students. As an essay coach, she enjoys mentoring students and families as they navigate the college application process and step towards their college and career goals.

Alisha received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy from Michigan State University with graduate specializations in International Development and African Studies. She also holds a M.A. in School Psychology from Michigan State University and a B.A. Honors degree from the University of Calgary. In her free time, Alisha enjoys yoga, golf, Broadway, and most of all spending time with her husband and young daughters.

Sara currently serves as an Essay Coach at HelloCollege. She has worked as a high school English teacher for the past 15 years, beginning her career at The Dwight School in New York City. Sara later taught at EF Education New York, an international boarding school, where she taught students from more than 49 different nations.

Sara is a graduate of The University of Notre Dame and holds an M.A. in English from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She has been published in The Washingtonian, The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Chronogram. As an essay coach at HelloCollege, she is honored to be a witness to the students’ stories. Sara currently lives in Oak Park with her husband, son and Frankie (their terrier).

Andi Taylor

Andi graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics. She specialized in sociolinguistics, studying the wide variety of accents and dialects used by American English speakers in different regions and communities. Over one summer, she held a research assistant position for a project focusing on African American Vernacular English accents among speakers in an upstate New York community. Her approach to editing is informed by her background in linguistics; she values maintaining the unique voice and style of each student while also keeping each essay concise, clear, and appropriate to a collegiate setting.

Throughout her college years, Andi was a Student Visit Coordinator in the UChicago admissions office, helping parents and prospective students gain a better understanding of the application process. Working alongside admissions counselors gave her insight into the fine details that make college essays stand out. This role also ignited her passion for working with soon-to-be college students. Choosing a college to attend is a big decision, and she loves being able to support young adults so that they feel prepared and can focus on the excitement of having so many new possibilities ahead of them!

Andi has been living in Chicago since 2017, but she is originally from Los Angeles, California. She enjoys traveling in her spare time, and she makes it a point to try a few local specialties. Whether it’s a late-night pizza slice in New York City, gelato in Florence, or ahi poke in Honolulu, she loves trying out the classic flavors each location is famous for.

Andi has always liked to read, and her favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy. Her current favorite book is Exhalation by Ted Chiang. She recommends it to anybody who will listen! It explores themes of time, technology, humanism, themes which Andi would like to consider in her own short-form creative writing projects.

Nicholas Pizzo

Nick grew up a New York City native in Midtown, Manhattan. He attended the Bronx High School of Science despite his affinity for reading and writing. Wanting a change of pace, he took his talents to the Green Mountain State to study English and European History at the University of Vermont. After receiving his BA, Nick worked a variety of odd jobs before the world shut down in 2020.

Having (too much) time to reflect on his past, present, and future, Nick ended up applying to the University of Aalborg for an MA in International Relations. He spent a year in Denmark before pivoting back to the U.S. to complete his graduate studies. There, he received an MA in the Humanities, with a focus on creative writing, from the University of Chicago.

Nick spent the next year with the national nonprofit SADD working to push high school and college students to action in community outreach, mental health awareness, LGBTQA+ inclusion and support, and safe driving practices, among other initiatives. The job saw him traveling throughout New York State, from New York City, to Syracuse, to Niagara Falls, and even Whitehall (best bigfoot festival in the country!).

Now a member of the HelloCollege team, Nick is excited to get started on the next round of college essays! Outside of work, he spends his time hiking, writing, and getting disappointed by the New York Knicks. He’s always down to talk about obscure moments in world history or his new favorite fiction.

Sana Rahman

Sana Rahman holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stony Brook University, both in English Literature.

Her main areas of study were African American literature, critical race theory, Marxist theory, and film studies. During her undergraduate studies, Sana worked as a Resident Assistant and would regularly edit and proofread essays for residents writing on a variety of topics. In her graduate studies, Sana found a passion for turning complex, and sometimes difficult to understand ideas into writing that was approachable and accessible for readers and scholars outside of tight academic circles.

After leaving the classroom setting, Sana has continued to keep in touch with literature by reading, annotating, and critiquing essays and novels of interest to her, typically in the science fiction and speculative fiction genres focusing on authors such as Octavia Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Ursula K. LeGuin. Sana also regularly writes narrative essays and poetry, and is now attempting to write her first novel-length project.

Currently settled in New York, Sana works as an Essay Editor/Coach for HelloCollege. It is her goal to use the skills she has developed in her academic career, with reference to writing, editing, proofreading, and researching, to help college applicants through the difficult task of making the captivating stories unique to them fit for the admissions process. Sana believes it is vital to take a creative approach to this segment of the application, and is eager to assist applicants in turning what could be a boring personal statement into a work of art to be proud of.

Sarah Bellardini

Sarah is a comedy writer with nearly a decade of experience working in scripted television content. She is a native of Upstate New York and a graduate of Boston University where she studied screenwriting despite her mother’s pleas for her to “get into computers.” As a Film & Television major, Sarah enrolled in a program that brought her to Los Angeles for her final semester where she interned on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and in the writers’ office on the final season of AMC’s Mad Men.

After graduating, Sarah began her career as a writer’s assistant and script coordinator on several animated productions before landing her first staff writing job on the Adult Swim comedy Lazor Wulf. As a first time writer, Sarah wrote the pilot episode of the series, and three of the ten total episodes that season. Since then, Sarah has written on over 100 episodes of television produced by Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, TBS, HBO Max, Amazon and Paramount+. She currently works as a freelance scriptwriter while developing and pitching her original material.

Sarah has studied sketch comedy and improv at multiple comedy schools in LA, and spent many years writing, producing and performing weekly comedy shows for (sometimes!) sold out audiences at The Pack Theater. She later became a teaching assistant and co-teacher for the theater’s popular sketch writing program. Sarah is excited to bring her experience in storytelling and appreciation for comedy to her position on the essay team at HelloCollege!

Other things to note: Sarah enjoys volunteering with rescue dogs, is suspiciously good at ping-pong and has an unironic obsession with Guy Fieri. She currently resides in the beautiful San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles with her bull terrier, Nikki Peanuts.

Steven Flores

Steven Flores is a writer and educator based in Wisconsin, where he is currently an AOP Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Over the past decade, Steven has worked in higher education as a Teaching Assistant, English Advisor, Academic Writing Specialist, Director of Academics, and Director of the Milwaukee Office for a boutique college counseling company. In this latter role, he worked with approximately 100 students on 1,000+ essays for selective and highly selective colleges and universities. His deep love of learning motivates his passion for working with students as they plot out their futures in essay form.

Steven holds a BA in Philosophy and English (Iowa), an MA in Literature (UChicago), and an MFA in Fiction from the highly-selective University of Wisconsin-Madison Creative Writing. Steven’s fiction has been published in The Iowa Review and his book reviews have been published in the Harvard Review. He has received multiple fellowships in support of his novel-in-progress. Over the course of his writing career, Steven has been lucky enough to study with a number of internationally-renowned writers, including a Pulitzer-Prize winner. He brings his deep knowledge of narrative craft to each student, combining his writing experience with his deep knowledge of academia.

Outside of Hello College, Steven also works as a developmental editor for academic books and educational publications, and as a “book doctor” for aspiring novelists. In the summers, Steven teaches the Creative Writing Master Class at Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development. Away from the page, he enjoys swimming, cycling, yoga, traveling, and spending time with his fiance and their greyhound, Gigi.

Gina Twardosz

Gina Twardosz has always felt safest in an academic space. As a first-generation student, she felt most at home in her school’s library, surrounded by endless knowledge. This hunger for learning and natural curiosity led her to pursue journalism in college. She graduated from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN with a BFA in English Writing.

Gina has interned for both the Northwest Indiana Times and the South Bend Tribune; she won five collegiate press awards for investigative journalism while working at Notre Dame University’s student newspaper, the NDSMC Observer. As a student journalist, Gina investigated and reformed the tri-campus community’s mental health resources for students. She is passionate about making academic spaces safe and healthy for everyone.

Her love of storytelling led her to pursue her master’s in creative writing at Columbia College Chicago. While studying, she had the opportunity to teach two creative writing classes a year, and she fell in love with writing workshops and teaching students how to tell their own stories and share them with the world. Currently, she is working to transform the traditional style of writing workshops by making them more inclusive for students of color and LGBTQIA+ Students.

When not teaching, Gina is writing her memoir. She has had ten personal essays and poems published in magazines, literary journals, and zines. In 2022, Thimble Literary Magazine and Gotham’s The Razor nominated two of her pieces for the Pushcart Prize. She also hosts a monthly reading series called “Freshly Squeezed” that invites writers of color and LGBTQIA+ writers to perform their work for a crowd of Chicagoans.

She loves nothing more than to sit on the couch and watch a movie with her cat, Radar, who, despite being a black cat, is very scared of most horror movies. Radar’s favorite film is Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Elena Van Lare

Elena has enjoyed over 30 years of experience as a middle school and high school literature and writing teacher. She grew up in the Finger Lakes area of New York, where her very first high school job included tying grape vines for one of the iconic wineries in the area. She later earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Old Dominion University in Virginia. However, her love of theater, acting, and writing led Elena to share her passion with others; she completed her teaching credential and Master’s degree in Education at Nazareth College of Rochester in New York.

As she embarked upon a career of inspiring teenagers to realize their own potential, she also met her husband, moved from New York to Los Angeles, and had two children. After returning to New York to be closer to family, Elena taught English at the high school and college level for Brockport High School and SUNY Brockport for eleven years. As their children entered middle school, Elena and her husband decided to show their children the world by accepting positions as international teachers, which led them through the next ten years of their lives. They enjoyed teaching at top-tier schools in Myanmar, Jordan, Thailand, and Singapore, while their children graduated high school with IB Diplomas in Southeast Asia.

Elena currently lives in New York City with her husband, her adult children nearby, and the newest addition to the family: Dachshund Sammy. When she’s not working, Elena loves watching the Food Network, Master Chef, and any other platform offering cooking competitions (she is a horrible cook, but loves to eat)!  Elena is an Academic Dean and teaches full-time at Dwight Global, and she is truly excited to work with students at HelloCollege!

Bertrand Cooper

Bertrand spent most of his childhood in New Jersey but moved around a lot once he became a foster youth at the onset of high school. It was not until college that he discovered how much he enjoyed academic life: reading, writing, discussing, and repeating each until you find a niche for your own creativity within a field that interests you. The first year ultimately went down in flames since Bertrand did not understand financial aid and could not afford textbooks or tuition without it. Still, it was enjoyable enough to try again. 

After two years of working all manner of odd and menial jobs, Bertrand returned to school. He went from community college to a four-year and then from a four year to a Master’s program. Being a first generation student, he had to learn to navigate the financial aid process on his own, which led to becoming an informal FAFSA mentor for partners, relatives, and friends. There were many experiences like this that made it clear that teaching was something he wanted to do. Adopting an education major felt like the clear way forward. At the same time, graduate school put a greater emphasis on writing, and though he chose Education Theory, his closest friends chose film and screenplays, which fostered a group dynamic wherein writing appeared like a tool for every form of expression. 

Today, Bertrand lives in a sleepy part of Los Angeles county. He splits his time between formal education work and writing creative non-fiction. For eight years, he worked at an online education company, eventually heading academic content and development there before returning to tutoring. He continues to work as a freelance writer for outlets ranging from the New York Times to Current Affairs, and he plans to complete a book proposal soon. In addition to obsessively reading nonfiction on every subject, Bertrand is an avid powerlifter, martial artist, and beach bum.

Stewart Lewis

Stewart Lewis has published eight critically acclaimed Young Adult and Adult fiction novels, and several non-fiction essays online and in anthologies. His books have been translated into five languages, and called “Charming” by Elin Hiderbrand and “Spirited” by Augusten Burroughs. He has published with Random House, Sourcebooks, and Turner. His latest Young Adult novel, ONE STUPID THING, is now becoming a major motion picture from director Linda Yellen, starring Sky Katz and Corey Fogelmanis, set to be released in 2025. He has been a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Maryland and at Belmont University in Nashville for over a decade combined. In addition to writing and teaching, Stewart has toured and licensed his music as a professional singer songwriter, sharing the stage with such acts as Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Andy Grammer, and Better Than Ezra. His songs have been featured in the television shows Laguna Beach , Body of Proof , The Biggest Loser , as well as the feature films Firehouse Dog , Violet Tendencies , Shelter , and A Four Letter Word . He is married to Steve Swenson, an NPR executive, and has a daughter, Rowan, who is a commercial dancer. He enjoys traveling, investing in real estate, fine dining, and the cuteness overload from his French bulldog Oliver. 

Emily Phares

Emily is a writer and editor with a “creative and atypical storytelling” style, as a former colleague put it. Her forte is finding the interesting story, and telling it with a unique voice.

Originally from New Orleans, Emily’s background spans academia, journalism, and marketing— including roles at Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and America’s Test Kitchen, where she won the Leaders in Innovation award. She’s also worked as a freelance writer, with her work appearing in Eater , Boston Magazine , Metro , and more.

With a keen interest in both health and education, Emily earned a Master of Education degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education where two of her projects were awarded top honors—including a special commendation for her writing. Her curriculum also included coursework at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Prior to that she studied Mass Communication at Louisiana State University, minoring in French Studies, and also completed two study abroad programs with New York University: Italian Cuisine and the Mediterranean Diet (Florence) and Global Food Studies (Paris).

Emily loves teaching and tutoring, and has experience working with students of all ages–from elementary schoolers to college student-athletes.

Sam was born and raised in Houston and spent their high school years in North Carolina. Growing up, Sam played softball very competitively and was recruited by numerous colleges. They chose to play for the University of Chicago for its balance of athletic and academic rigor. 

At UChicago, Sam found their intellectual passion where they didn’t expect it to be. Sam started undergrad as a pre-med, fell in love with sociology their first year, switched majors, and never looked back. They now hold a Bachelor’s and Master’s in sociology and are earning a PhD in the same subject at the University of Michigan. 

During undergrad at UChicago, Sam studied abroad in Paris, became a Mellon Mays Fellow, and took several writing courses that changed their life. These experiences catalyzed Sam’s joy of travel, love for critical scholarship, and passion for writing and editing. As an undergrad and a PhD student, they have had the opportunity to share this passion with numerous students through teaching and mentorship. Sam works hard to guide their students to understand that the more clear, concise, and persuasive they make their writing, the better chances they have of achieving their academic desires. Sam always looks forward to making this learning process creative and inspiring. 

Sam finds great joy in live music, growing their own veggies, and spending as much time as possible in nature. They live in the northeast and can usually be found near the ocean, the mountains, or a river, no matter the season or weather. They take great delight in the small things in life that seem mundane and would eat ice cream everyday if they could. 

Growing up in Chicago, Emily Mack was a natural storyteller. Inspired by the city around her, she became “the writer girl,” editing her high school’s paper and lit mag and coaching their Louder Than a Bomb poetry slam team. By the time she left Chicago for Columbia University, the choice to study creative writing was instinctual.

At Columbia University, her official concentration was nonfiction which provided the chance to write criticism, essays, and journalistic features. She also learned to mine her own experiences for her work. One of those pieces — “On Belmont and Clark” — was published in The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook in 2019. The same year, she became an editor at The Columbia Review and, upon graduation in 2020, earned the program’s inaugural Ellis Avery Prize for Creative Writing. The award was for showing “exceptional promise” in the field.

Now, she is putting that promise to use.

First, Emily became a staff writer for Wide Open Media, a subsidiary of Publishers Clearing House, creating content for their Americana sites, Rare.us and Wide Open Country. She turned out several articles per day on topics ranging from pop culture to politics before stepping up to an editorial role at Agent Publishing, a national network of real estate magazines.

As senior editor there, she still writes — a lot — in addition to interviewing subjects, editing stories, training reporters, and planning the monthly print edition of Chicago Agent magazine. Every day brings a new challenge, which she loves. Outside of her nine-to-five, Emily seeks additional opportunities to write and edit.

As an essay coach for HelloCollege, she’s excited to help the next generation kickstart their academic journey. Emily knows everyone has a story to tell. She wants to help students find their own and craft their voice.

Willow Green

Willow is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and teacher. They grew up in a small town in the foothills of North Carolina, a place which fostered their lifelong love for cicada songs, Southern Gothic literature, and moody folk music. They earned a B.A. in Dance and English from Kenyon College in Gambier, OH. They have also taught and mentored in various roles including dramaturg, English teacher, and LGBTQIA+ student programming manager.

Intertwining their love for writing and dance, Willow has curated several entries for Movement Research’s Critical Correspondence publication. They are in the process of publishing a co-authored biography of Maggie Patton, the founder of Kenyon College’s dance program, in collaboration with Professor Julie Brodie and University of Akron Press. Willow is passionate about oral histories, embodied memory, storytelling, and archives, and they are inspired by their experiences with intergenerational community building.

As a 2022-2023 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant based in Jaffa, Willow co-taught courses at Talpiot College and facilitated immersive English sessions for Israeli and Palestinian students. This included workshops in partnership with TEC4Schools and the U.S. Embassy. Willow also studied and danced alongside local choreographers as part of Machol Shalem’s Creative Incubator, culminating in a festival premiere of their solo choreographic research. Their work has also been performed at 7MPR! at Arts on Site and MOtiVE Brooklyn. 

In all aspects of their life and work, Willow is drawn to storytelling practices that invite us to witness each other more deeply. In their free time, they do their best to go on adventures with their friends. They love adventures big and small, whether it be trying a new sweet treat at the local cafe or hiking through the desert to visit a world wonder.

When Meg was a child, if you asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, you

might get a different answer on any given day—the future was a grand adventure and

the possibilities endless—but the follow-up never changed: “…or a writer or a teacher.”

In the end, writer and teacher both won the day, and as an adult, Meg has built a life

and career that combines these two passions.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts in English and political science from Plymouth State

University, Meg took a job with an independent publisher near her hometown and began

a 20-plus-year career as a professional developmental and copy editor. Non-

professionally, she has worn many hats: homeschooling her children through middle

school, co-leading a Girl Scout troop, teaching writing classes at homeschool co-ops,

and facilitating coming-of-age and lifespan sexuality programs for teenagers at a local

UU church. These days, her work is focused primarily on tutoring and coaching as she

helps young writers learn how to tell their own stories, and after a long hiatus from

academia, she is looking forward to beginning an MFA in creative nonfiction.

A New England native, Meg now lives in Buffalo, New York, with her two teenagers, a

dog, a cat, and a semi-aquatic turtle. When she’s not reading, writing, or teaching

writing, she spends her time dabbling in artistic pursuits, training as a competitive adult

figure skater, teaching skating classes for children and adults, and binge-watching

Gilmore Girls with her daughter. She is excited to be working as an essay coach at

HelloCollege, helping students craft essays that highlight their unique perspectives and

experiences as they explore the endless possibilities of their own grand adventures.

Zee is a passionate educator, prolific writer, and community builder with an unwavering dedication to nurturing the talents of aspiring writers. With over a decade of experience in the field of education, Zee has found her true calling in inspiring and empowering individuals to discover their voices through the written word.

As an educator, Zee’s approach is marked by creativity, empathy, and a deep understanding of the learning process. Her enthusiasm for teaching extends beyond the confines of the classroom, as she constantly seeks innovative ways to engage with her students and ignite their love for literature and writing. Whether she’s leading dynamic workshops, facilitating stimulating discussions, or providing one-on-one mentorship, Zee strives to create an environment where every student feels valued and supported in their journey as a writer.

In addition to her passion for teaching, Zee is a dedicated writer with a diverse portfolio spanning fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Her writing reflects her keen observation of the human experience, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the intricacies of relationships.

Central to Zee’s work is her commitment to building vibrant communities of writers. Recognizing the importance of collaboration and shared experiences in the creative process, she actively fosters spaces where writers can come together to learn, grow, and inspire one another.

Why Choose Our Essay Services

Peace of mind, industry knowledge.

-Will Wagner, Essay Coach

We are dedicated to helping students and parents successfully navigate the college admissions process, providing a personalized experience based on your unique needs and goals.

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Essay review

Work with an independent reviewer to improve your college essays. Essay experts go beyond editing for grammar and language. They know what colleges are really looking for, and can help your teen write essays that actually resonate with admissions officers. They can help you develop the right topics, avoid clichés, and showcase yourself with the right narrative.

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What are families saying about collegevine.

“Sophie clearly went above and beyond, taking the time to absorb and reflect upon an essay that was complex in form.”

“Aja was extremely well-versed about the application process and UPenn's requirements. She also was patient to answer our random college questions.”

“Olga was terrific, she’s very knowledgeable and her response time was amazingly quick! She was a plaesure to work with!”

Where is CollegeVine available?

CollegeVine is available to students and families all over the world, though our focus is on colleges and universities located in the United States. Advisors are required to live within the United States in order to list services on CollegeVine.

What kind of services do advisors on CollegeVine offer?

Advisors on CollegeVine offer a wide range of services focused on helping students and families navigate the college admissions process. You can get help with building a school list, planning out college visits, crafting a resume, improving your extracurriculars, writing essays, preparing for interviews, creating a plan to pay for college, and so much more! To learn more about the services each advisor offers, visit their profile.

Can I work with multiple advisors?

Yes! You’re welcome to work with as many advisors as you like—thanks to CollegeVine’s collaboration tools, each advisor you work with will be able to access your profile and school list to help you make the best decisions on your journey to college.

I'm an IEC looking to expand my business—can I start advising on CollegeVine?

We're always looking for more advisors to join the network. You can apply to start advising on CollegeVine here!

Proofreading Services

Professional editing and proofreading services.

Submit your work with confidence, knowing it’s free of language errors and flows well from beginning to end.

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Become a better writer, 100% happiness guarantee, pick your proofreading and editing service.

Stand out from your peers with an error-free thesis that flows well from beginning to end.

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Impress your supervisor and graduate with a flawless dissertation.

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Earn higher grades on your essays with the essay checker. » Essay Checker

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Boost your grade with a well-structured, clear, and error-free paper.

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Improve your chances of publication with a polished manuscript.

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Demonstrate your expertise and obtain your degree with a perfect capstone project.

Secure funding or approval from supervisors with a well-written proposal.

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Sound like a native English speaker and communicate your thoughts clearly.

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Set the foundation for a great piece of academic writing with a well-written literature review.

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Boost your career with an outstanding resume, personal statement, or cover letter. » Professional proofreading

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Ensure that your business documents, including reports, presentations, and web content, are professional in tone. » Business proofreading

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Write your paper, thesis, or dissertation stress-free. Fix all your grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes instantly with 1 click.

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Improve your academic performance and write like a pro. Get access to free AI writing tools, useful ChatGPT prompts, the latest articles about AI, and more.

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The Scribbr editing service

This is how we improve your document.

Standard Proofreading & Editing is perfect if you’re confident about your writing but need a second pair of eyes to catch:

• Spelling and grammar errors
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• Overuse of passive voice
• Subjective or inflated language

For a more comprehensive edit, you can add one or multiple add-on editing services that fit your needs.

Add-on services

Customize your editing package to get the help you need, structure check, clarity check, paper formatting, citation editing.

Ensures sections and chapters are structured and focused and your writing is free of redundancies.

• Through in-text feedback, your editor will help:
• Organize and focus individual chapters and sections
• Eliminate repetitive and redundant information
• Perfect transitions between sentences and paragraphs
• Align titles and headings with the section’s content

You’ll also receive a personalized Structure Check Report meant to help you identify missing elements in each chapter or section and prioritize improvements.

Ensures ideas are presented clearly, your arguments are consistent, and your audience can follow along.

Through in-text comments and checklists, your editor will:

• Make sure your text tells a clear and logical story
• Check that you’ve clearly presented concepts, ideas, and key terms
• Make sure your key takeaways and conclusions are front and center
• Highlight contradictions within the text
• Ensure you’re keeping your audience’s needs in mind

Ensures a professional look for your document that meets your formatting requirements.

Your formatting expert will ensure consistency for the following:

• Margins, spacing, and indentation
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Choose our Paper Formatting service for a professional finish or our APA Editing Service for the most up-to-date APA formatting.

Citation Editing ensures your citations and references are consistent and meet your style guide’s requirements.

After you provide your document with a reference list, your citation expert will:

• Format the layout of your reference page (margins, indents, spacing)
• Ensure that your chosen citation style is applied consistently according to the guidelines
• Cross-check citations with reference entries
• Provide feedback on reference list entries that you need to complete due to missing information

Your expert is familiar with all common citation styles. Find more information about the service and our requirements in our FAQs .

Native academic editors

You'll only get matched with best editors.

At Scribbr, you can rest assured that only the best editors will work on your paper.

All our 800+ editors have passed the challenging Scribbr Academy, which has a passing rate of only 2%. To put that in perspective, Harvard has an acceptance rate of 3%.

We handpick your editor on several criteria, including field of study and document type. And we’ll even expand your team with citation and formatting experts if needed.

I have a doctorate in biology and studied a range of life science subjects. I specialize in editing academic texts.

I researched at Harvard, taught English with a Fulbright in Peru, and earned a master's from Johns Hopkins.

I am an academic editor and book reviewer. I am familiar with many style guides and have edited over 6 million words.

I have a bachelor's in electrical engineering and a master's in psychology and am pursuing a PhD in neuroscience.

I am an ESL teacher and academic editor with a research background in the humanities, arts, and culture.

Improve your writing with professional proofreading and editing services

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This deadline works automatically for the following document sizes:

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“Always feel empowered after the proofreading”

This is my third time using Scribbr. I find the proofreading and comments very helpful and caring. I always feel empowered after the corrections.

How it works

This is what you can expect from our proofreading service, upload any time.

Upload your document and easily select the pages that need editing. Next, choose your turnaround time and services, and explain your situation and needs to the editor.

Stay in the loop

After placing your order you can keep track of our progress. From finding your perfect editor to potential hand-overs to formatting or citation experts.

Revise and submit

You’ll receive your document back with tracked changes and feedback, as well as a personal letter from your editor. The last step is submitting your work with confidence!

Scribbr & academic integrity

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our proofreading service, our AI writing tools ( plagiarism checker , paraphrasing tool , grammar checker , summarizer,  Citation Generator ) as well as our free Knowledge Base content are designed to help students produce quality academic papers.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

Your questions, answered.

Scribbr specializes in editing study-related documents . We proofread:

• Research proposals
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The fastest turnaround time is 12 hours.

You can upload your document at any time and choose between four deadlines:

At Scribbr, we promise to make every customer 100% happy with the service we offer. Our philosophy: Your complaint is always justified – no denial, no doubts.

Our customer support team is here to find the solution that helps you the most, whether that’s a free new edit or a refund for the service.

Yes, if your document is longer than 20,000 words, you will get a sample of approximately 2,000 words. This sample edit gives you a first impression of the editor’s editing style and a chance to ask questions and give feedback.

How does the sample edit work?

You will receive the sample edit within 12 hours after placing your order. You then have 24 hours to let us know if you’re happy with the sample or if there’s something you would like the editor to do differently.

Read more about how the sample edit works

Yes, in the order process you can indicate your preference for American, British, or Australian English .

If you don’t choose one, your editor will follow the style of English you currently use. If your editor has any questions about this, we will contact you.

Yes, regardless of the deadline you choose, our editors can proofread your document during weekends and holidays.

Example: If you select the 12-hour service on Saturday, you will receive your edited document back within 12 hours on Sunday.

Our APA experts default to APA 7 for editing and formatting. For the Citation Editing Service you are able to choose between APA 6 and 7.

Every Scribbr order comes with our award-winning Proofreading & Editing service , which combines two important stages of the revision process.

For a more comprehensive edit, you can add a Structure Check or Clarity Check to your order. With these building blocks, you can customize the kind of feedback you receive.

You might be familiar with a different set of editing terms. To help you understand what you can expect at Scribbr, we created this table:

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Frequently asked questions

College Essay & Deferral Letter Help

Learn to craft impactful and memorable college admissions essays and deferral letters with guidance from writing experts

How our unlimited essay

Editing service works.

We offer a college admissions essay and deferral letter help package to assist high school students with the most important part of the college application process. Our expert editors have degrees in writing, attended elite colleges and universities, and have hundreds of success stories editing college essays. Our college essay and deferral letter review process goes further than editing for a missing comma or period. We dig deep to learn more about who you are and what you want to tell admissions officers.

Our college admissions experts help students craft a compelling college essay and deferral letter an unlimited amount of times (exclusive to essay edits — no resumes, activities section, or other CommonApp sections). Each enrollment is valid for 90 days from date of enrollment.

1 Access your MyPrepory account coach

Once you enroll, we’ll create your personal MyPrepory account within 2 business days so you can get access to our platform and begin submitting your essays right away.

2 Submit your college essay or deferral letter for review

Submit an unlimited amount of college essays or deferral letters drafts via our unique platform, MyPrepory.

3 Receive feedback from a Prepory college essay expert within 2 business days

Our college application essay experts will review your submissions and provide line-by-line, detailed feedback within 2 business days.

4 Re-submit your college essays or deferral letter an unlimited amount of times

Receive ongoing support in drafting your college materials until you confident in the story you’re telling the admissions committee.

5 START PERFECTING YOUR COLLEGE ESSAYS TODAY

Submit stellar college, application essays.

Draft essays that reflect your personality and individuality

Perfect your essay or deferral letter’s grammar and word choice

Brainstorm a memorable response to the essay prompt

What types of application essays

Can students submit, personal statement.

The personal statement is an essay about you. Most colleges will ask for a personal statement. While this essay has general prompt ideas, you can write about whatever you’d like. Admissions officers use this essay to get to know you on a personal level. We recommend writing a story that reflects who you are and what your values are.

Supplemental Essays

These essays vary by university; some colleges require many supplemental essays, others do not require one at all. These essays are usually shorter in length and ask questions unique to the university. Essay prompts range from “Why do you want to go to this university?” to “What books did you read this summer?”. As a general note, all Ivy League and highly selective institutions require supplemental essays.

Deferral Letters

Were you or your student deferred from their dream school after applying Early Decision or Early Action? We can help. Deferral letters are a key opportunity to affirm interest, impress the admissions committee, and stand out in a crowded field of applicants. Our team will help you get your deferral letter done right.

And more, such as:

Common application essays, scholarship essays, coalition application essays.

Increase your admissions odds

With an impactful deferral letter.

• 1 Learn to highlight your strengths and character through your writing
• 2 Establish a clear and consistent voice across your materials
• 3 Draft a letter that demonstrates interest in your dream school

Learn to highlight your strengths and character through your writing

Establish a clear and consistent voice across your materials

Draft a letter that demonstrates interest in your dream school

Our college essay

Review services, organization/structure, tone, voice, and style, proofreading.

Our essay coaches are trained to look at the overall structure of the essay. It is vital that your essay follow a logical thought progression. Personal statements should not veer too far away from the essay topic but should still explore vast swaths of your personality, background, and interests. It is a very special art form to master and our college essay coaches are eager to help.

With our help, your essay will be more focused |

Your college application essays are yours. You should write them with your unique voice and style. Unlike other formulaic essays you’ve written in high school, this essay allows you to be creative and show off your personality. College admissions officers will use these essays to understand who you are and what you’re like. The tone and voice of your essay should reflect that. If you’re soft-spoken and intentional with your words, how you write and what you write can convey those special qualities. Our counselors are attuned to your personality and will work with you to ensure who you shine through.

Learn to write college essays that will get you admitted |

After we have completed all of the content edits for your essay, we will proofread it together to check the flow. In other words, we will make sure the essay reads beautifully and is free of passive voice, clunky sentences, or difficult to read phrases. This is the last step in the revision stage.

Draft a misstake get you mistake | free essay

in contact-us-container headings since Avada tends to remove them-->Get started on your application journey!

Contact a Prepory college admissions expert to start your college success journey.

Our college admissions experts are here to guide you from where you are to where you should be. Through our comprehensive curriculum and individualized coaching, you are set for success as soon as you connect with us.

Please note that a parent or guardian must be on the consultation for high school students.

Have more questions? Contact Us

Frequently asked questions

How do i make my personal statement stand out.

Our advice? Try not to focus on test scores, GPA, or other things that exist elsewhere on your college application. All colleges, especially ivy league institutions, are looking for passionate and special individuals. Focus on stories that highlight who you are. Some students talk about extracurricular activities that changed their outlook on life, others talk about their cultural backgrounds. What’s most important is that you write about something that is important to you and reflects your values.

Is it illegal to have someone edit your college essay?

No it is not! It is illegal to have someone write your personal statement, common app essay, or any of your supplemental essays. Our team does not write essays for students, instead, we guide students through the whole process and help them write the best college essay they can.

Can a college essay get you in?

While a stellar college essay can certainly bolster your chances of admission, it does not stand alone in the admissions process. GPA, extracurricular activities, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a host of other things matter.

Do college essays really matter?

Yes! We have heard of admissions officers reaching out to students about their personal statements after admittance because they were so impactful. You do not want to leave your essays until the last minute. They are a very important part of the  holistic admissions process .

Who can review my college essay?

We recommend getting your college essays reviewed by high school english teachers, school counselors, counselors at a CBO, and/or independent educational consultants like Prepory.

How much does it cost to edit a college essay?

Our essay critique package includes unlimited submissions and reviews of college essays for $1095.

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Our experts are top college essay specialists who have supported hundreds of students in constructing meaningful essays that stand out about the competition. Our experts provide a highly comprehensive review with in depth suggestions — while assuring the student's work is their own and that their personal voice resonates to admissions officers who review essays in minutes. Our experts review:

The Common App Personal Statement

This critical essay is a major determining factor in top college admissions. The 650 word (max) essay can be extremely hard to master without the nuanced guidance of experts who have read thousands of essays and understand the difference between one that stands out and one that does not.

University of California Application Essay

If you’re planning to apply to schools in the University of California system, you’ll have to complete their Personal Insight Questions, choosing 4 out of the 8 questions to answer and writing up to 350 words for each prompt you choose. Each prompt requires a specialized approach, which our expert reviewers will help you identify and achieve.

Supplemental College Essays

College-specific supplemental essays are vital in convincing admissions officers that you have researched what their institution offers and why you will be a great fit for their institution. Detail is incredibly important, as is knowing exactly how to construct an essay that will resonate with that particular school.

Scholarship Essays

Many merit scholarships require one or more essays asking why you have applied for this scholarship, how your life experience relates to your application, and what you will contribute to campus if successful. Our experts understand what each application requires and how to maximize your chances of success via creative expression.

UCAS Personal Statement

For students applying to top UK universities such as the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, our UK experts understand the nuance of academically and experience driven essays that convince admissions officers that you are dedicated to their university and the qualified to undertake the course you are applying to.

Individual essay review from $70 USD

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Our expert editors correct mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling and improve the vocabulary, readability, and expression of your writing. Choose the editing service that works best for the needs of your document.

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College Admissions Counseling

Ai college admissions essay counseling, ai technology infused with our admissions expertise.

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How it Works

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AI Tech + 40 Years of College Admissions Expertise = College Acceptance Made Smarter

It's not just another AI tool. Our AI was designed in collaboration with our admissions experts.

Developed with Admissions Experts

Our college admissions experts have provided valuable input to develop the AI's evaluation criteria, ensuring exceptional essays.

Julia Moody

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A Tool That Never Writes for You

This is not an auto AI-generated full essay writing tool

No risk of colleges flagging your essay for using AI software

Rather, it relies on your essay, and you enhance it with instant feedback

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Our AI tool tailors its suggestions to your essay type, writing style, strengths, and areas for improvement.

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Identify your strengths, pinpoint weaknesses, and receive suggestions for improvement instantly.

Great work! Here is some feedback that would make your essay even better. Copy

The essay you've presented is touching, and it shows a sincere reflection on an individual experience during challenging times. However, there are some areas that could be improved:

1. Clarity and Cohesiveness: Your usage of the 'song' metaphor throughout the essay can be a bit confusing. When reading your essay, clarity is essential. Using a clearer approach to express your thoughts would serve you better. Instead of using a metaphor throughout your essay, use it only in certain parts to create an image or elicit emotion.

2. Set the Stage: While you mention your location change to Australia and your temporary assignment, you don't mention what it is. A sentence or two explaining what this temporary assignment entailed could give more context to your narrative.

3. Specific Examples: You refer to your experiences and lessons learned, such as finding comfort in journal writing and learning guitar. However, it would create a stronger impact if you discuss a specific episode that encapsulates these experiences. For instance, was there a particular entry in your journal that changed your perspective? Did you learn a specific song on the guitar that became your anchor?

4. Concluding Thoughts: Though you conclude with a reflection that you learned to listen to your "slow, warm, and soothing song", the profoundness of this realization might be underplayed. It might be useful to enrich your conclusion by explaining how these experiences will influence your future actions.

5. Word Count: Your essay is concise and does not exceed the recommended word limit. By making these suggested changes, your essay could demonstrate an emotional maturity and self-awareness that will stand out to any admissions committee. The resilience you gained through your experiences will undoubtedly serve you well at Georgetown University.

Great work! Here is some feedback that you would make yoru essay even better. Copy

The essay brims with passion and communicates a clear sense of what inspires the writer, i.e., music. It paints a vivid picture of how playing music exhilarates the writer and the role it plays in their lives. However, parts of the essay can still be improved to emphasize the candidate's qualities and the effects of their inspiration.

1. Informality: The essay is written in a somewhat casual and informal tone. While this makes the essay sound conversational and genuine, an overly casual tone might not be optimal for a college application. For example, phrases like "Hope that helps and brings a smile to your face." may seem too relaxed. Instead, strive for a balance where your unique voice and personality can still shine through, but where your words reflect mature contemplation and seriousness of purpose.

2. Lack of Personal Experiences: The essay mentions the enjoyment derived from playing the piano but lacks specific anecdotes or detailed experiences that would elevate the narrative. Details such as moments when you mastered a difficult piece, or when your music particularly resonated with a listener would make the passion tangible.

3. Non-Expanded Inspiration: While the essay tells us that the writer finds inspiration in music and revered pianists, it would be beneficial to explain how this inspiration influences other aspects of your life. For instance, does music inspire you to study certain subjects, engage in community service, or view the world in a particular way? This would provide a more well-rounded understanding of your inspiration.

4. Connection to Yale: Since this is for a Yale application, consider mentioning how this passion can be further explored at Yale. Maybe there's a specific course or extracurricular activity you’re excited about. This could help display your interest in the university and how smoothly you'd assimilate academically and socially.

5. Ending: The essay concludes on a slightly abrupt note. A concluding paragraph that encapsulates your source of inspiration and briefly hints at your future aspirations or goals, tying your passion for music back to your vision for your time at Yale or your career, would round off the essay well. This ties your inspiration to your future, presenting a holistic view of why your inspiration is crucial to you.

The essay is a good start. It provides a fair representation of your personality, showing a balance between academic and extracurricular interests, as well as a sense of humor. However, several aspects can be improved for more depth and specificity.

1. Show, Don't Tell: You've mentioned your interests, but it's better to offer relevant experiences that visually depict these activities. For example, instead of simply stating your interest in books and soccer, you could relate an incident where knowledge from a novel strategically played a role in a soccer match.

2. Harvard Reference: The mention about choosing Harvard appears generic lacking depth; it can be applied to any highly reputable university. Instead, illustrate distinct aspects of Harvard that specifically align with your interests or goals. For example, maybe there's a professor within your chosen major with whom you would love to work.

3. Anecdotes or Stories: Adding anecdotes or stories about your community work or your struggle with a bag of gummy bears will not only make the essay more engaging, but it will reveal more about your personality and character.

4. Clearer Transitions: The transitions between different parts of the essay can be smoother and more natural. For instance, you abruptly switch from talking about soccer to Harvard which may confuse readers momentarily. A transitional sentence could mitigate this issue.

5. Values and Character Traits: Try to provide implicit insights into your values or character traits through your experiences and interests. For instance, volunteering indicates a sense of responsibility and commitment to the welfare of others. Your fascination for books could demonstrate intellectual curiosity and open-mindedness.

6. Conclusion: The ending could be more impactful or persuasive. Instead of just hoping for great times at Harvard, you could express enthusiasm about contributing positively to Harvard and its community with your future roommate. Remember, the purpose of this essay is to demonstrate what you would contribute to the Harvard community and how you would engage with your future roommate. Tailoring anecdotes to reveal more about your character and aspirations will allow the essay to resonate better with the committee.

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• College Application

College Essay Review Services: Why You Need Them

Many students consider using college essay review services every year, but they aren't sure if their services are worth it. The short answer is yes; they are more than worth the cost. Whether you're trying to get into one of the  Ivy League Schools , a small college in your community, or one of the  best undergraduate business schools , you will likely be required to write at least one college admissions essay, and it will be an essential part of your application. This blog will talk about the different types of college essays, how important they are, and how college essay review services are your best bet for beating the competition and doing well with this application component. 

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Article Contents 7 min read

What exactly is a college essay.

There are several different types of college essays, but the most common college admissions essay is the personal statement or  common app essay . This is a short document that is supposed to tell the admissions board about who you are as a candidate and why you are a good fit for their college or university. 

Some schools provide a specific word count for the essays, but it should be between 400 and 650 words unless otherwise stated. It also doesn't follow the same structure as an academic essay. Even though it has an introduction, body, and conclusion, it is not about presenting and supporting an argument. Rather, it is supposed to tell a story that illustrates who you are as a person.

You can think of it as a cover letter for your college application. When you are applying for a job, your resume shows your work history and academic background in the same way that your school transcript and other application components show your GPA and grades for your college application. Your cover letter ( and personal statement) is a bit more personal. They communicate the soft skills and strengths that can't be easily quantified.

College essays also give you a chance to humanize your application and tell the admissions board about the person behind the grades and GPA. Many colleges, like  Columbia University  for example, have a holistic admissions process. This means that they care about your academic background and who are outside of your studies. Your personal statement allows them to learn more about your interests and what you could  contribute to your future campus community.  

College essays are an essential part of the college application process. According to the  National Association for college admission counseling , college essays are an important part of the decision-making process for most institutions in the united states. This information is not surprising considering the amount of information that the admission board can learn about a student from their personal statement and other supplemental essays.

Additionally, it is important to remember that college essays also give students an opportunity to talk to the admissions board. You get to share your story and tell the admissions board why you are a good fit for their school in your own words. You also get to address some of the weaker points of your overall application. For example, if you are trying to  get into college with a low GPA , you can use your college essay to explain the circumstances that led to your subpar grades and the steps you have taken to improve your grades.

College essay review services do a lot more than highlight grammatical inconsistencies in your writing (although this is one of the many things they can help with). They are actual human experts who can have a significant impact on the overall quality of applicants' college essays, thus increasing their chances of getting into college. College essay review services are typically offered by admission experts, such as  college essay advisors , who know the college application process inside and out. They review students' college essays and use their knowledge and training to provide personalized feedback and guidance to help students edit and polish their essays. The aim is to draft a final essay that will be more compelling, making the student a more attractive candidate to colleges.

Your college essays are a representation of you to the admission board. Except for college interviews, this is your only chance to talk to the admission board in your own words. This means that is also the first impression they will have of you. If you submit an essay with grammatical errors and typos, it tells the board that you either did not care enough to review your work or that you did not notice those errors when you did. Either way, it is not a good look for you.

This is where college essay review services come in. College essay advisors can thoroughly verify the grammatical syntax of your sentences, check that your essay is coherent and easy to follow and that it is free of grammatical or spelling errors. 

Highlighting relevant skills

Since college essay review services are run by admission experts, they have an in-depth understanding of the world of college admissions. These essay advisors have not only gone through the process themselves, but they have also helped other students go through it multiple times. Additionally, they are also trained to decipher all the "admissions talk" on college websites so they can actually help you figure out what values and traits specific colleges are looking for.

Furthermore, because they are an objective third party looking at the details of your academic background and experiences, they can easily see which activities and skills can make you a better candidate. For example, if you are applying for a philosophy major, you might think that your love for nature or hiking is irrelevant information to your application. College essay review services can help you understand how you can showcase your experience as a hiker in a way that will appeal to your chosen faculty.

Writing strategies

Writing college essays is not an easy task, and the truth is that most applicants aren't aware that their essay writing skills may be lacking. Unfortunately, high school classes rarely include lessons about writing academic admission essays or personal statements, so even gifted writers or A+ English students don't have the tools needed to write an essay that will impress the college admissions committee.

Without guidance, students often end up writing very generic essays that do not add to their overall application, or they simply go through the details of their high school resume without providing any new information. By working with college essay review services, students have someone at their disposal who can give them the tools and strategies necessary to brainstorm and write great, original college essays.

Developing skills

Most college students start improving their research and writing skills as they write essays in college. However, when you work with a college essay review service, you start with stronger skills than most in that department. Good college essay review services have advisors who will not write the students' essays for them. Instead, they will guide them through the entire process – from brainstorming to drafting and editing- and teach them how to research, write and edit. 

In other words, working with college essay review services allows students to not only improve the quality of their college essays, but also improve their research, writing, and critical thinking skills. All of which are skills that will serve them well during college and beyond.

Preparing college applications is a stressful process, and one of the most anxiety-inducing aspects of it for students is writing college essays. Not only is it time-consuming, but it can get quickly get overwhelming for applicants and those around them. Furthermore, because students do not have access to as much information about the college admissions process, they simply have to trust that the topic they chose and the tips they found online are not leading them astray. 

Working with a professional college essay review service can remove that extra layer of anxiety. Because you are working with an expert, you can rely on the tips and advice they give you because you know it comes from a good source.

College essays are a crucial part of the college application process, so if you want to maximize your chances of getting into a top college in this increasingly competitive climate, you need to do everything you can to ensure that you are submitting top-notch essays. The key to doing that is working with college essay review services. The college advisors who run these services can help you highlight your strengths and address any potential red flags in a way that still makes you look good. Furthermore, working with them will help you improve your research and writing skills, which you will definitely need when you get into college.

There are several types of college admission essays, and usually, at least one of them is compulsory. If you are applying to college through common app, for example, you will definitely need to write common app essay.

That will depend on the school you're applying to. Most colleges require one personal statement and one or more secondary essays. You should verify the admission requirements of the schools that you're interested in to find out how many college essays you will be required to write.

Not every Canadian university requires an admissions essay, but quite a few request one.  The University of Toronto , for example, is one of them.

You should stay away from advisors who will write your essay for you. This practice is unethical, and it can have severe consequences for both you, the applicant, and the person who wrote the essay for you.

We recommend that you spend at least six weeks on your college essay. That is enough time to brainstorm, write, review, edit and polish the essay before it is ready for submission.

These services are offered by admission experts who will review your essays and guide you through the process of editing and polishing them. The aim is for the essays you submit with your application to be as compelling as possible, thus increasing your chances of success.

Yes, there are. Not all college essay review services work with international students, but we here at BeMo certainly do. Schedule your free initial consultation to find out how our consultants can help you.

Good college essay review services have qualified advisors who care about helping students, good independent reviews, and a high success rate. Make sure you take the time to peruse the websites of the companies that you are considering.

Yes, they do. College essays are the only application component that tells the admissions committee how you see yourself. They give you a chance to show the admissions board the person behind the extracurriculars and the GPA and remind them that your application is a lot more than just a number.

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How To Submit Your Strongest Application: Tips From Michigan Ross Students

Applying to an MBA program can feel daunting. Tackling your essays, gathering letters of recommendation, and making sure your test scores, transcripts, or test waivers are all in order may feel like a lot to accomplish at first.

To help you submit your best possible application, we chatted with three current Michigan Ross students and asked them to share their tips.

What is your best advice to applicants trying to make their essay responses memorable?

“Personalize your responses: think about specific anecdotes and examples you can give to strengthen your essays. It's always better to "show" instead of "tell." For example, if you are writing about how Ross's action-based learning curriculum will support your education, think about times when hands-on learning opportunities were crucial to your development and how you can communicate those examples to illustrate your point. I spoke in my own essays about some of my patient care experiences in medical school and how they informed my desire to make a larger, positive impact on healthcare systems in a leadership role.”

— Jesper Ke, MD/MBA ’25

Why this is good advice: Jesper highlights the importance of authenticity and personalization in essays. The essays are the admissions committee’s lens into an applicant’s unique experiences and how they’ve been impacted by them. Consider using the STAR (situation, task, action, result) format to share specific examples. Writing a memorable essay is an iterative process that takes time and reflection. It’s helpful to view the essay-writing process as a way to “double-check” your career and personal goals as you explore your MBA program options.  

— Digna Patel Raj, Associate Director, FTMBA Admissions 

What admissions events or Michigan Ross-related activities would you recommend prospective students participate in before applying?

“I highly recommend attending events where you can connect with current students and recent alumni. I leveraged the student ambassador network to connect with students from similar backgrounds and/or career interests. Through these conversations, I was able to understand the Ross culture and what it was like to be a student at Ross. Additionally, if you have the means, I recommend visiting campus. I visited during Ross Women’s Weekend, and it allowed me to visualize myself as a student at Ross.”

— Shivanee Shah, MBA/MS ’26

Why this is good advice: This is top-tier advice because engaging with current students and recent alumni provides valuable insights into a school's culture, academics, and community beyond official materials. Their honest feedback on their experiences and challenges helps you understand daily life at Ross and evaluate cultural fit. Using the student ambassador network lets you connect with people who share your background or career interests, offering targeted insights. Visiting the campus gives you the opportunity to experience the environment firsthand and assess if it aligns with your expectations. 

— Lindsay DiAngelo, Assistant Director, FTMBA Admissions 

What is one thing you wish you had known when you applied to Michigan Ross?

“One thing I wish I had known is the significance of demonstrating leadership and how this impacts an application to the program. Most applicants often talk about their achievements in terms of results; however, Ross places a strong emphasis on applicants who have shown a history of making a difference in their professional and personal lives. That’s where leadership comes in. An applicant needs to think of ways they have demonstrated this in the past while achieving results. Reflecting on this will help you put your best foot forward as you prepare for your interview.”

— Adewale Asimolowo, MBA ’25

Why this is good advice: Adewale’s advice is wonderful from an admissions perspective because it highlights the importance of aligning with the specific values and priorities of the Michigan Ross MBA Program and focusing on the 'how'. This approach will help you to differentiate yourself as an applicant and is highly relevant to your application's essay and evaluative interview criterion. The recent revision of our MBA essays allows applicants to emphasize their leadership and impact further. 

— Andrea McHale, Director, FTMBA Admissions

What tips do you have for students who are invited to interview?

“Be yourself! Ultimately, your interviewers are primarily alumni who also understand the Ross experience and are looking to learn more about your interests and fit with the community. At the same time, take the interview as an opportunity to learn more about Ross, asking your interviewer about their experiences, the community, and how a Ross MBA empowered their future career path.”

Why this is good advice: Jesper emphasizes the importance of authenticity both on paper and in real life. In addition to demonstrating the research you’ve done on Ross and coming prepared with some targeted questions for your interviewer, make sure you’ve also reflected on your own experiences, both professional and personal, that you can talk about during your interview. A good tip for prepping for your interview is to create a workbook with examples you can use for different behavioral questions. And make sure you’re prepared to answer why an MBA makes sense for you at this point in your career. 

— Michelle Pava, Associate Director, FTMBA Admissions

How did you go about choosing your recommenders?

“Initially, I made a list of my recent managers, project managers, and anyone I worked closely with who can speak to my professional experience. To select my recommenders, I wanted individuals who could speak positively and tangibly about my work experience and work products and saw my growth professionally. I ended up selecting a project manager I had worked with on multiple projects and a previous direct manager/partner.”

Why this is good advice: Shivanee provides great insight on who to select for your letter of recommendation. The admissions committee advises choosing someone who is going to provide a comprehensive overview of your work experience and the impact you bring to a team, which is often a direct supervisor or someone in a managerial role who has worked closely with you. Be sure to also meet with your recommender one-on-one before asking them so they have a clear understanding of your goals before they get to writing.

— Melissa Coveney, Associate Director, FTMBA Admissions 

What’s your best piece of general advice to prospective students hoping to get into Michigan Ross? 

“Self-reflection is important. Spend time reflecting on your experiences, strengths, and areas for improvement. Self-awareness and a willingness to grow are qualities that interviewers and admissions committees appreciate.”

Why this is good advice: Adewale is spot on — self-reflection and awareness are some of the most important aspects of the application process and your overall MBA experience. We highly encourage everyone to take some time to reflect on why they want an MBA, why now, and what they hope to learn before applying. 

— Lysa Wang, Associate Director, FTMBA Admissions 

Be sure to check out more tips from the admissions team on our YouTube channel , and come ask any questions you may have at an upcoming admissions event. We’re excited to see your application and wish you the best of luck as you take this important step toward becoming a future Michigan Ross MBA.

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