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College Essays

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If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

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Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

  • Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
  • Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
  • Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
  • Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Want to write the perfect college application essay?   We can help.   Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay to proudly submit to colleges.   Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now:

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

  • Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
  • Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
  • Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
  • Tell you what to say and how to say it
  • Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
  • Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

  • An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
  • An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
  • An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

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Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

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A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

  • If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
  • If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
  • If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

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What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

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Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

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If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

  • Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
  • Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
  • Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

  • Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
  • How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
  • Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
  • Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

  • Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
  • Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
  • Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
  • Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
  • What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

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Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

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  • You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
  • A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
  • A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
  • A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
  • All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
  • Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
  • If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
  • Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?   We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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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

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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

Princeton University

#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.

student writing college essay on laptop

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.

student writing college essay

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.

Harvard University

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!

Princeton University

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 .

Yale University

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!

college essay coaching service online

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

Ivy League schools

Top College Essay Posts

  • 14 Best College Essay Services for 2023 (40 Services Reviewed)
  • 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

college essay advisor near me

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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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 Replace adverbs with strong verbs when possible. love really like throwing out the garbage. Most teens dread the exhausting, two-minute trek to the curb, but I find solace "Solace in" is more idiomatic. in on my daily dumpster walk. Every night at 10 PM Every day , I hear my mother lock the entrance, cueing entrance. She cues me to empty out the garbage cans on the main floor. As I lug carry pounds of many losing lotto tickets, candy wrappers, and crushed coffee cups Use stronger imagery to paint a picture of your duties. drinks on my back, I take took a sigh of relief knowing that we’ve survived This is wordy. managed to make it through yet another night shift See extended comment. at the family business.

I’ve worked The tone here is a bit formal compared to the rest of your writing. laboured at the family business since I was being ten years old. Of course, Focus on what you did, not on what you didn't do. I wasn’t a fifth-grade student ringing up customers or reciting the day’s winning lotto numbers like my parents were. I spent Here, the simple past works best. The modal verb is unnecessary. I would've spent most of my time either restocking or eating from the candy aisle—to my parents’ parent's pride and disappointment, respectively. Not until my freshman year did they give me permission to man the cash register, which had mesmerized me for years.

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Hi John! This essay does a great job showcasing not only your knack for software development, but also how your family’s business allowed you to mature a bit quicker than others. However, I'd consider reconstructing the first two paragraphs. The opening of your essay leads me to believe that you'll go on to discuss your experiences at the family business, but from the third paragraph on, you mostly focus on software development. By the end of the essay, the introduction feels distant and irrelevant.

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

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We'll suggest ways to optimize the structure of your essay to best reflect your narrative.

We'll point out areas your essay falls short and suggest ways to improve your writing.

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

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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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Having gone through a rigorous vetting process, our consultants know how to craft a winning application. Many have professional writing experience and have graduated from the nation's most esteemed institutions.

Hana

At Harvard, Hana is involved with the Institute of Politics, Model Congress, and Women in Business. In high school, Hana spent her time getting involved in education policy work, winning a seat on her Board of Education.

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Julia

At Harvard, Julia served as the President of the Undergraduate Women in Law Association and provides mentorship to students as a Peer Concentration Advisor. In high school, Julia spent much of her time engaging in community service.

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Mikaylah

At Princeton, Mikaylah is a Visiting Scholar at the Nation's Service Initiative Fellow, where she is obtaining her master's degree in Public Affairs and specializing in Domestic Politics. She is a former Visiting Scholar at the U.S. Department of State.

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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!

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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.

Yes. We will not share your essay with any third parties or publish it online. Your essay will remain secure in our system.

Because of high order volume, you cannot choose a specific consultant for your essay review. However, our algorithm will match your essay to the optimal consultant based on availability and the schools you're applying to.

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After you receive your essay review, you can order a second revision through the Next Admit Portal for 10% off.

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If you are not satisfied with your revisions, please contact us at [email protected]. We will handle all cases on an individual basis.

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As a college essay consultant who specializes in helping self-motivated students gain admission to Ivy Plus universities, I want to transform the admissions experience. It is common for students to feel uncertain about college essays, which represent the last, best chance to differentiate themselves from other outstanding applicants. In a sequence of one-on-one meetings, I help students explore their personal values, identify meaningful themes, and write essays that will intrigue and impress admissions officers. As a personal guide for every draft of every essay, I create and manage a process that minimizes stress and maximizes success.

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Students, parents and I share a goal: acceptances to top universities. Every year dozens of College Essay Mentor students defy low admissions rates and get accepted to the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT and other top schools. Credit belongs largely to my students' academic accomplishments and endeavors beyond the classroom. My contribution is to understand what "works" in the college admission context, to identify ideas that will make an impact and to elicit insights. I then to teach students how to craft essays that create compelling, personal portraits.

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Why Study in Russia? 9 Captivating Reasons to Try Russian Study Abroad

Looking for reasons to study in russia learn how a study abroad russia program can change your life through its food, culture, people & more.

Goodwall Team

When you think of Russia, you probably think of cold and snow. Maybe images of glittering Moscow or charming Saint Petersburg pop into your mind. But have you ever thought of going to Russia for college?

Why study in Russia? While it’s not the most typical study abroad destination, it’s an incredible opportunity! Russia is a large country filled with historic cities, stunning landscapes, and friendly people. It’s also home to famous universities and many great scholars.

So dust off your parka and grab your mittens. Let’s explore 9 amazing reasons to study in Russia!

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1. Get a World-Class Education

Did you know that Russia boasts a  99.7 literacy rate ? It actually surpasses many Western countries in this aspect. The Russian education system is the perfect place to get outstanding post-secondary training!

You’ll find over 900 universities and colleges scattered throughout this expansive land. Even though many of them rank high, Moscow State University and Saint Petersburg State University are the best schools in Russia. Be prepared for tough entrance exams and specific requirements if these are on your list!

Last year, over  300,000 international students  chose Russia as their study abroad destination. They make up about 8% of the entire student population. The most popular areas of study were engineering, medicine, and business.

2. Explore Culinary Delights

Pelmeni, borscht, and caviar! Living in Russia means discovering a whole new world of gastronomy.

Russian food tends to be warm and hearty, perfect for the freezing winters. Meals are usually served in courses with a soup as a starter, followed by a meat dish. A nice, hot cup of tea rounds out the meal and sends you on your way to class toasty and satisfied.

But life in Russia doesn’t have to mean eating the same type of cuisine every day. Medium and large-sized cities have a range of food options available from every country. So whether you’re craving samosas or Pad Thai, you’ll be able to find it in your new community.

Related Read : 10+ Best Writing Websites, Forums & Writing Groups for Aspiring Authors

3. Discover the Masters of Literature

100 great works of literature every college student should read.

Read these essential books before starting university.

You’ve probably seen  these lists  many times before. One thing they all have in common is that a number of the authors are always Russian.

Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, and Nabokov are some of the great masters of literature you’ll discover if you study abroad in Russia. If your major is related to writing, literature, or poetry, this will be especially exciting!

Even if Russian literature isn’t your thing, walking around the same campus that Tolstoy frequented in his time is still exciting. That connection with greatness can be a real motivation when it comes to your studies!

4. Learn a Useful Language

Did you know that over  300 million people speak Russian  around the world? It puts the language in 8th place as the most widely spoken globally.

Learning Russian can be incredibly difficult but very rewarding. It also makes for easy travel in other ex-Soviet countries that still speak Russian. Beyond travel and making new friends, Russian is becoming an in-demand language worldwide.

If you plan on working in business, science, or tech in Europe, Russian is an  important language  to know. Many European career opportunities are influenced by Russia’s economy and an enormous amount of web content.

Related Read : List of 100+ Best Icebreaker Questions & Conversation Starters

5. Traverse a Giant Nation

Russia spans across Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. If you choose to study at Russian universities, the  travel opportunities  are enormous!

These are some of the most famous locations you’ll want to hit during your summer and winter breaks.

As Russia’s capital, Moscow is a must-see. The city is an exciting mix of green spaces, historic alleys, and modern architecture. Filled with art galleries, theaters, and shopping, you’ll be going non-stop all day.

Don’t forget to stop by the infamous Red Square, the Kremlin, and St.Basil’s Cathedral!

Saint Petersburg

For art and culture, head to this gorgeous city in Russia’s northwest. Bordering Finland and Estonia, this small city has a more European feel. With architecture, design, and beauty around every corner, it’s worth the trip.

Spend a day at the Hermitage and discover the world’s second-largest collection of art.

Lake Baikal

If you’re a nature-lover, Lake Baikal should be at the top of your travel list. As the world’s oldest, largest, and clearest lake, it’s a sight to behold. In the summer, you might even be able to take a quick dip!

Located in the Russian Tundra, near the Arctic Circle, this tiny town is the perfect place for viewing the Northern Lights. You’ll also be able to spot polar bears, seals, and wolves throughout the tundra. A friendly warning, this part of Russia experiences permafrost, so you’ll need to bundle up!

Need to warm your bones in the sunshine? Sochi is Russia’s summer resort town on the Black Sea. Head there on your summer break and enjoy the warm waters and pebble-filled beaches.

6. Save Your Hard Earned Money

Post-secondary education costs in Russia can be much cheaper than in Western Europe or North America. Most courses range from  $1,880 to $13,540  per year. So if your heart is set on colleges in Moscow, Russia, they’re more affordable than you think!

Cost of living is another factor to consider, and it varies widely based on location. Living in Moscow, for example, will be much more expensive than living in Vladivostok. To show how wide this scope is,  university dormitories  can cost as little as $7 a month to as much as $780 a month!

Many students choose homestays to save money and get a crash course in Russian culture. Others rent private apartments and houses. Regardless of your choice, your average monthly expenses will be much lower than in western countries.

Related Read : How to Save Money in College: 15+ Easy Ways w/ Tips & Advice for 2022

7. Study in High-Tech Classrooms

The Russian government pours a lot of money into producing highly-qualified university grads. Because of this, technology and research are emphasized in the university curriculum. Internships, research projects, and personal development are also encouraged.

No musty, boring classrooms here! Depending on your area of study, classrooms are well-equipped and campuses are welcoming. Students studying in areas of science, engineering, tech, and medicine will find their programs to be very fulfilling.

8. Experience Cultural Diversity

While Russian is the native language of the country, over  100 other languages  are spoken amongst 200 ethnic groups. At the same time, most students learn English throughout their school career. You’ll find a large number of polyglots in this country!

A stereotypical Russian person is often described as Caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Russia is actually  much more multi-cultural  than people realize. And a new generation of creatives is trying to show the world!

Related Read : How to Make Money in College (25 Ways to Earn Money as a Student)

9. Score a Scholarship

While Russian colleges and universities aren’t free, scholarships are plentiful. Last year, approximately 18,000 students received  free education  through government quotas.

If your country is very friendly with Russia or has a joint project in the works, you’ll have a better chance of getting funds. In the past, intergovernmental agreements with China, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan have benefitted students.

Universities and colleges in Russia don’t usually offer direct scholarships to international students. If you need help funding your education, these government quotas are your best bet!

Is Studying Abroad Right For You?

International experience is an important addition to any new grad’s resume. It shows that you’re culturally sensitive and aware of worldwide trends. You’ll also meet new friends, build global connections, and find once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

International education could be perfect for you if you:

  • Love a challenge
  • Want to learn a new language
  • Have international career goals
  • Need to expand your social network
  • Want a unique study experience
  • Love travel

Even if you don’t identify with every trait on this list,  studying abroad  might still be right for you. It’s important to explore all your options when looking for post-secondary opportunities. Once you’ve narrowed down your major and have a general career goal, you might find that international education is an advantage!

Related Read : Why is Travel Important? Here Are 7 Important Benefits of Traveling

So Why Study in Russia?

There are hundreds of reasons for participating in a study abroad program.

So why study in Russia? The food, the culture, the world-class universities, and exciting research projects! And so many other reasons, really.

Want to discover more reasons to head to Russia? Then it’s time to get started. To reach your full potential, you need access to a supportive community and exciting possibilities.

At Goodwall, we specialize in connecting young talent to opportunities. To learn more about the ins and outs of college life, check out the rest of the education section of the Goodwall Blog !

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How to Find the Best MBA Essay Consultant

MBA Essay Consultant

Looking for an MBA essay consultant? MBA consultants can be excellent professional tools to help you get into very competitive MBA programs, such as the Kellogg Business School . MBA essay consultants guide students on how to write MBA admissions essay, how to craft an essay that stands out and provides personalized, one-on-one feedback. Aside from your GMAT scores and your MBA resume , the MBA essay is the most important part of your application, so creating the best one possible is very important. Students often ask if hiring an MBA essay consultant is worth the investment, and while it may not be for everyone, it can be the right move for many students who need an extra hand with their MBA application. In this blog, we’ll look at what MBA essay consultants do, why the MBA essay is so important, how to write an MBA essay and a guide on finding the right MBA essay consultant for you.

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Article Contents 6 min read

What mba essay consultants do.

MBA essay consultants offer students professional help in applying for MBA programs, providing guidance and feedback on writing excellent admissions essays or MBA personal statements. Similar to college essay advisors , MBA essay advisors provide student assistance with the written sections of your graduate school application and focus specifically on MBA programs. You can find MBA essay consultants who specialize in essay help, or you can hire an MBA admission consulting service.

Plenty of students hire professional assistance when applying to college or grad school. But many wonder if hiring an admissions consultant or MBA essay consultant is worth it. If you want to know how to get into grad school or a prestigious and highly competitive program like an MBA, a grad school admissions consultant or MBA essay consultant can make the difference.

Want to learn how to write a stellar essay for Harvard MBA?

MBA programs are notoriously competitive, especially at the top business schools. Almost all will require you to submit an MBA admissions essay or other writing samples like a diversity secondary essay as part of the application. And the admissions essay is heavily taken into consideration for admissions decisions. Want to know how to get into Harvard Business School or the Wharton School of Business ? You’ll need an excellent MBA admissions essay, high GMAT scores and an overall strong application to stand out among thousands of applicants. In fact, admissions experts agree that the MBA essay is the second-most important part of your application, after your GMAT score.

How your MBA application is weighted

MBA essays are crucially important to getting that acceptance letter, so hiring an MBA essay can be well worth the time and money. Especially if you want to get into your top-choice school or avoid having to go through a long and grueling admissions process alone.

If you already know how to write a college essay , you’ll be familiar with the short essay format. An MBA essay is almost identical. Keep it short, with one paragraph for the introduction, a maximum of 3 paragraphs for the body and one final concluding paragraph. For an MBA essay, don’t exceed more than 2 pages. Aim to keep things concise, to the point and highly polished. MBA programs want to see that you can be detail-oriented, highly focused and persuasive in your writing. The MBA essay is your chance to demonstrate these skills. And luckily, an MBA essay consultant can guide you on writing one.

An MBA essay consultant provides professional help for students in three key areas:

An excellent MBA essay consultant will be able to teach you not just how to write a winning essay, they\u2019ll know how to turn a good essay into a great essay by trimming the fat and home in on the key details that really grab the attention of admissions committees. To set yourself apart from thousands of other applicants, your essay should be memorable and insightful on top of being well-structured with good flow. Read some Harvard MBA personal statement samples for an idea of how detailed your essay should be and what sort of content an MBA essay contains. MBA essay consultants can work with you to brainstorm what life experiences or personal traits have contributed to your motivation to study business. "}]">

Where do you look to find an MBA essay consultant? It’s different than looking for a tutor or writing coach. MBA essay consultants are highly specialized professionals, and they provide laser-focused advice and guidance on getting into MBA programs. They don’t show you how to write a short essay, they will coach you on writing specifically for MBA graduate programs.

A quick internet search will turn up hundreds of results for professional MBA essay consultants. But there are other options if you want great recommendations and to narrow the search a bit. It’s likely you have a set budget and short timeline to work with, so it’s in your best interest to hire an essay consultant early and quickly. Application deadlines approach fast, and you need time to write a killer essay on top of preparing the rest of your application. International students can also speak to their international student advisor to see if they offer essay writing help or have any recommendations.

Anyone considering hiring an MBA essay consultant or similar professional service wonders if college advisors are worth the cost and investment. Or they want to know how to sort through the hundreds of available consulting services to determine the best fit for them. With so many excellent services and hundreds of five-star reviews, how do you choose the best MBA essay consultant? How do you get excellent service on a budget?

These are important questions. And a quick internet search will reveal dozens of options. How do you sort through these to find the best choice for you? In general, look for a consultant that provides one-on-one coaching and personalized feedback, rather than just a formula to follow or a standardized guidebook. An MBA essay is meant to be highly personal and genuine, so look for those personalized services to match. Below is our quick guide on finding the right MBA essay consultant for you.

1. Think About Cost

Cost is a huge factor for plenty of students. An MBA is already a big expense, and there may be a tight budget for the application and admissions process. If you’re fortunate to have a scholarship or funding for your degree, there may be money specifically for consulting services. If so, definitely take advantage and use this part of the budget to hire a good MBA consultant service. Depending on the level of service you’re looking at, MBA consultants can cost anywhere from a few hundred for basic services to over $10,000 for comprehensive, multiple-school applications. For a basic MBA essay tutoring experience, expect to spend on the lower end of this estimate.

Reading reviews can be a quick way to determine the level of satisfaction an essay consultant provides MBA students. But there are dozens of five-star-rated consultants. How do you know which one is the best for you? Don’t rely on reviews alone to make your own evaluation. Check out a consultant’s services, prices and advertised expertise. Are they a former MBA student? Admissions expert? Communications specialist? Try to find an MBA essay consultant who knows their stuff and understands how MBA admissions work. To put it in perspective, don’t ask MBA students how they wrote a winning essay. Ask someone who has successfully coached MBA students just like you. To bake an amazing cake yourself, ask an experienced baker for their secrets.

Preparing for your MBA interview? Check out our tips:

3. Evaluate Your Options

Many MBA consultants offer free initial meetings for students to gauge their services. Take advantage of these initial consultations and ask plenty of questions! How many years of experience do they have? What’s their professional background? What’s their success rate? Their strategy for teaching students? What does their consultation process look like and how long does it take? Make sure the service you eventually choose matches your expectations and needs. Think of the initial consultation as a job interview where you are the interviewer. Grill them on their professional services and how they operate. Top consulting services will be able to answer all your questions without issue.

An MBA essay consultant can be your secret to success when applying to prestigious MBA programs. MBA essay consulting may not be the best choice for everyone, but it can be an excellent experience for students who want to improve their writing and communication skills or created a well-rounded MBA application to start their graduate degree off right. If you decide to invest in an MBA essay consultant, it’s best to start looking now and get started on your MBA essay writing early.

MBA essay consultants coach students on writing winning admission essays for MBA programs. MBA program admissions are well-known to be highly competitive and a well-crafted essay counts for a large part of your overall application.

An MBA essay consultant isn’t necessary for everyone, but they can make a huge difference for students who struggle with writing, international students or applicants who need to add an edge to their application.

MBA consultants charge anywhere from a few hundred for more basic services to over $10,000 for all-inclusive, comprehensive packages. Prices can add up quickly, but for simple MBA essay consulting, prices can be more reasonable.

MBA essay consultants help guide students on writing excellent MBA admissions essays, including planning structuring and editing your essay. They can also provide feedback on your writing and help you to brainstorm the personal anecdotes you’ll include in the essay.

Hire an MBA essay consultant if you want to offset weaknesses in other parts of your application or you generally struggle with writing. It’s also best to hire an MBA essay as early as possible, so you have the time you need to draft, write and revise your essay before the application deadline.

The internet offers plenty of MBA consultants with varying services. You can also ask your professors, university faculty or your college advisor for recommendations.

Finding the best MBA essay consultant can be tricky, but you want to evaluate your options based on price, services offered and the professional background of the consultants. Take advantage of free initial consultations and be sure to ask plenty of questions before you sign on.

Yes, there are services that offer to write your MBA admissions essay for you, but this is not a good idea. Admissions committees want to hear your genuine voice in your essay, and it will be clear to them during the admissions interview if you are not the same person who wrote your admissions essay.

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Bauman moscow state technical university, moscow state institute of international relations, moscow institute of physics and technology, national research university – higher school of economics, national research nuclear university.

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Physical Address: University of Idaho Bruce M. Pitman Center 709 Deakin Street Rm 117  Moscow, ID 83844

Mailing Address: University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 4264 Moscow, ID 83844-4264

Phone: 208-885-6326

Fax: 208-885-9119

Email: [email protected]

Web: Office of Admissions

Physical Address: University of Idaho Boise 322 E. Front St Boise, ID 83702

Email: [email protected]

Web: Boise Center

Coeur d'Alene

Physical Address: University of Idaho Coeur d'Alene 1031 N Academic Way Suite 242 Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814

Web: Coeur d'Alene Center

Idaho Falls

Physical Address: University of Idaho Idaho Fall 1776 Science Center Dr. Suite 306 Idaho Falls, ID 83840

Web: Idaho Falls Center

Application Process

College is an exciting time you’ll never forget. getting in takes work, but it’s easier if you’re proactive..

You’ve already worked hard to get where you are. Now’s the time to put in the effort — it’s time to get started.

Junior Year

Talk to friends and family about college.

This is a big decision, but you don’t have to do it alone; chat with friends or hold a family meeting to get your parents’ input.

Explore college options

Start narrowing your choices as you discover what you like. Research colleges online,  meet with recruiters ,  attend college visit events  and  tour campuses . Think about goals, finances and distance.

Prepare for college applications

Take the  PSAT ,  SAT  and/or  ACT  and think about what you might write for college essays.

Start thinking about paying for college

Identify  scholarship opportunities  and  explore financial aid options . Gather necessary tax information to get a leg up for  the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) .

Explore your passions

Begin  mapping out majors  you’re interested in. Consider your future career and earning potential.

Put in the work

Get a job and start saving for college. Do community service and learn about different fields and opportunities — it will all help you gain experience for a resume.

Senior Year: Fall

Narrow your choices.

Weigh your college options and write down  deadlines . Decide where to apply.

Fill out scholarship applications

Gather all the information you need and pay close attention to deadlines. Look online, ask community organizations and talk to your high school counselor to find scholarship opportunities.

Start your FAFSA

Get the most money out of your FAFSA by submitting it early. It opens in December. You’ll need your parents help filing your FAFSA, so plan time to work through it together.

Re-take the ACT/SAT as needed

Find out if you need a higher score to meet  admission requirements  or to become eligible for more scholarships. Don't forget to send your test scores to the Office of Admissions  for class placement .

Apply to college

Complete your applications and write admission and scholarship essays. Collect letters of recommendation based on who knows you best.

Tip: Give letter writers plenty of notice and help them out by providing your resume. U of I does not require letters of recommendation.

Attend our Envision event

At Envision , you'll get a preview our colleges and get a taste of college life.

Senior Year: Winter

Complete your application and submit your fafsa.

University of Idaho admits students, awards scholarships to qualified students and processes FAFSA applications on a rolling basis as they are received.

Celebrate all you’ve achieved so far

Take a moment to be proud of all you’ve done. You’ve worked hard and deserve a pat on the back.

Ask for $ for college or items for your future dorm room

Make the most of the holiday season — tell your loved ones you want to save for college this season. Or make a list of  what you’ll need for your dorm room  and ask for those items.

Receive acceptance letters

Watch for letters to begin rolling in. Start weighing options as they arrive.

Senior Year: Spring

Review financial aid award letters.

Keep track of financial aid offers and calculate how they’ll help you pay for college. For U of I, review and accept your financial aid awards on VandalWeb.  

Consider options

Think about the best fit financially, socially and academically. Hold a family meeting to discuss options and paying for college.

Pick a school and make a commitment

This is it! Time to make your selection and put down a deposit. If you choose U of I, we do not require a deposit.

Continue to keep grades up

Your final semester grades could affect your  scholarships . So, stay on it. Make sure your guidance counselor knows where to send your final high school transcripts.

Register for classes

Your college advisor will help you plan your  class schedule . Keep in mind popular classes fill up quickly, so register early. At schools that don't require a deposit, like U of I, registering for classes is how you confirm you're attending.

Follow next-steps checklist

Check in to make sure you’re on track . Write  orientation dates  in your calendar and do your tasks on time.

Senior Year: Summer

Secure housing for fall.

Pick a roommate and a housing option. At U of I, choose between  a fraternity or sorority with on-campus housing  or a  residence hall .

Set up your email

If you haven't already,  set up your email account . Check it regularly for important information.

Get a job to earn money for school

Continue to save for college by getting a summer job. Every dollar saved is an investment in your future.

Create a college budget

Develop a budget and stick to it. Monitor bills and make sure they’re paid on time.

Complete applications for any special programming

At U of I, the  University Honors Program  requires a separate application

Ask questions

There are lots of changes coming up in your life, so talk to your friends, family and  college representatives . Get advice and ask anything that’s on your mind. Lots of people want to help you succeed.

Attend orientation

Congratulations — it’s time to start your college adventure. It’s going to be awesome! At U of I, New Student Orientation is your time to move in and get settled on campus before classes start.

Financial Aid Abounds

From scholarships to student work study, learn what's available.

Learn more about aid

Visit Campus

Are you ready to see your options and explore Idaho's campus?

Choose your visit

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Russian Disinformation Videos Smear Biden Ahead of U.S. Election

Many of the videos are trying to appeal to right-wing voters with fake messages about President Biden, experts say.

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A wide cityscape of buildings in Moscow.

By Julian E. Barnes and Steven Lee Myers

Julian Barnes, who covers U.S. intelligence agencies, and Steven Lee Myers, who covers misinformation, have been reporting on Russian efforts to influence the 2024 presidential election.

Last month, a video began circulating on social media purporting to tell the story of an internet troll farm in Kyiv targeting the American election.

Speaking in English with a Slavic accent, “Olesya” offers a first-person account of how she and her colleagues initially worked in support of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Then, she says, after a visit by mysterious Americans who were “probably C.I.A.,” the group began sending messages to American audiences in support of President Biden.

“We were told our new target was the United States of America, especially the upcoming elections,” the woman in the video says. “Long story short, we were asked to do everything to prevent Donald Trump from winning the elections.”

The video is fake, part of an effort to cloud the political debate ahead of the U.S. elections.

U.S. officials say the video is consistent with Russian disinformation operations as internet warriors aligned with Russia appear to be honing their strategy. Some of the old tactics of 2016 or 2020 could be used again, with new refinements.

An analysis of the video done by U.S. intelligence agencies found that the voice of “Olesya” was synthetically generated, an intelligence official said Thursday, a potential sign of how Russian operatives are blending new techniques with old tactics.

While there has been much hand-wringing over the role that artificial intelligence could play this year in fooling voters, current and former officials said that videos were one of the most immediate threats.

Microsoft said the video featuring “Olesya” probably came from a group it calls Storm-1516, a collection of disinformation experts who now focus on creating videos they hope might go viral in America.

The group most likely includes veterans of the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-aligned troll farm that sought to influence the 2016 election. The agency was run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group who led a rebellion against the Kremlin and then was killed in a plane crash that American and allied officials believe was orchestrated by Russian intelligence agencies.

Microsoft said the group also included people associated with Valery Korovin, the figurehead of an obscure Moscow-based think tank called the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, a conservative organization affiliated with Aleksandr Dugin, an ultranationalist writer who faces U.S. sanctions for his role in recruiting fighters for the war.

Russian operatives are leaning into videos, many of them that falsely purport to be made by independent journalists or whistle-blowers. The videos, opposed to blog or social media posts, are more likely to spread beyond the conspiratorial fringes of America and become part of mainstream discourse.

On Wednesday afternoon, Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russia was the most active threat to the coming election. Russia, she said, tries to erode trust in democratic institutions, exacerbate social divisions and undermine support for Ukraine.

“Russia relies on a vast multimedia influence apparatus, which consists of its intelligence services, cyberactors, state media proxies and social media trolls,” she said. “Moscow most likely views such operations as a means to tear down the United States.”

China has a sophisticated influence operation and is increasingly confident in its ability to affect election results, Ms. Haines said. But she added that the intelligence community assessed that China did not try to influence the 2020 presidential election, and that so far there was no information that China would be more active in this year’s contests.

Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said that adversaries had a greater incentive than ever to intervene in elections but that the public had too often treated such meddling “as trivial or quaint.”

Clint Watts, the general manager of Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center, said pushing out written disinformation with bots was largely a waste of time — in 2024 it is disinformation video that has the best chance of spreading with American audiences.

The C.I.A. video, Mr. Watts said, was a classic Russian tactic: accuse your adversary of the very thing you are doing. “When they say there’s a troll farm operated by Zelensky in Ukraine going after the U.S. election, what they’re saying is this is what we’re doing,” Mr. Watts said.

Walter Trosin, a spokesman for the C.I.A., said the agency was not involved in the activities described in the video.

“This claim is patently false and precisely the type of disinformation that the intelligence community has long warned about,” Mr. Trosin said. “C.I.A. is a foreign-focused organization that takes our obligation to remain uninvolved in American politics and elections very seriously.”

At the Senate hearing, Ms. Haines praised the C.I.A. for calling out the video publicly, saying it was an example of how the government will identify disinformation by Russia or other countries during the current election.

Multiple groups in Russia push out disinformation aimed at America . In addition to the videos, researchers and government officials say, Russia has created a handful of fake American local news sites and is using them to push out Kremlin propaganda , interspersed with stories about crime, politics and culture.

Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, who retired from the Army this year and is the former director of the National Security Agency, said the best defense to Russian disinformation remained the same: identifying it and publicizing the propaganda push. The United States, he said, needs to expand its information sharing both domestically and around the world so people can identify, and discount, disinformation spread by Moscow.

“The great antidote to all of this is being able to shine a light on it,” said General Nakasone, who last week was named as the founding director of Vanderbilt University’s new Institute for National Defense and Global Security. “If they are trying to influence or interfere in our elections, we should make it as hard as possible for them.”

Some mainstream Republicans have already warned fellow lawmakers to be wary of repeating claims that originated in Russian disinformation or propaganda.

“We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor,” Representative Michael R. Turner, an Ohio Republican who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on April 7.

Russia’s information warriors have pushed fake videos to spread lies about Ukraine , aimed at undermining its credibility or painting it as corrupt. Republican politicians opposed to sending more aid to Ukraine have repeated baseless allegations that Mr. Zelensky has tried through associates to buy a yacht, disinformation that first appeared on a video posted to YouTube and other social media sites.

Most of the videos produced by Storm-1516 fail to get traction. Others come close. A video pushed out on a Russian Telegram channel purported to show Ukrainian soldiers burning an effigy of Mr. Trump, blaming him for delays in aid shipments.

The video was highlighted on Alex Jones’s right-wing conspiracy site, InfoWars, and other English-language outlets. But it was quickly discounted — the purportedly Ukrainian soldiers had Russian accents and were masked.

“This campaign has been working to advance some of Russia’s key objectives, particularly that of portraying Ukraine as a corrupt, rogue state that cannot be trusted with Western aid,” Mr. Watts said.

Since last August, Microsoft has identified at least 30 videos produced by Storm-1516. The first ones were aimed at Ukraine. But others are trying to influence American politics by appealing to right-wing audiences with messages that Mr. Biden is benefiting from Ukrainian assistance.

Intelligence officials, lawmakers and security firms have warned about the use of artificial intelligence by China, Russia and other nation states intent on spreading disinformation. But so far, Russian groups like Storm-1516 have mostly avoided using A.I. tools, according to security firms.

“Many of the A.I. campaigns are easy to detect or unwind,” said Brian Murphy, the general manager of national security at Logically, which tracks disinformation. “A.I. is getting better, but it is still not at the stage this year wherein it is going to be used at the scale and with the quality some predict. Maybe in a year or so.”

Both government officials and outside experts, however, have said that A.I.-altered audio had proved more effective than altered videos. At the hearing on Wednesday, Ms. Haines highlighted a fake audio recording released in Slovakia two days before its parliamentary election. While quickly identified as fake, news and government agencies struggled to disclose the manipulation and the target of the fake recording lost a close election.

Outside experts have said that artificial intelligence has been used in some Russian propaganda videos to obscure accents. It is not clear exactly why a synthetic voice would have been used in the fake video of the C.I.A. troll farm.

But on Wednesday, Ms. Haines said artificial intelligence and other innovations “have enabled foreign influence actors to produce seemingly authentic and tailored messaging more efficiently at greater scale and with content adapted for different languages and cultures.”

For now, though, basic videos like the C.I.A. troll farm or yacht video that purport to have authentic narrators with access to exquisite information are the most prevalent threat.

In 2016, Russian-controlled propagandists could push out fake news articles or social media posts and, in some cases, have an impact. But now, those old techniques do not work.

“No one will pay attention to that nowadays,” Mr. Watts said. “You have to have a video form to really grab an American audience today, which 10 years ago was just not even technically that possible.”

Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades. More about Julian E. Barnes

Steven Lee Myers covers misinformation and disinformation from San Francisco. Since joining The Times in 1989, he has reported from around the world, including Moscow, Baghdad, Beijing and Seoul. More about Steven Lee Myers

Our Coverage of the 2024 Election

Presidential Race: News and Analysis

Donald Trump and the Republican Party out-raised President Biden and the Democrats in April  for the first time in this election cycle, according to campaign officials. But Biden still has far more cash on hand.

Trump posted a video online that features images of hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 victory for him and referring to “the creation of a unified Reich”  under the headline “What’s next for America?”

Early in his term, Biden seemed to have struck an uneasy truce with the oil and gas industry. But the president’s decision to pause permits for gas export terminals has whipped up industry support for Trump .

Georgia’s Changed Landscape:  Biden’s narrow win in Georgia in 2020 was seen as a sign of the state’s emergence as a battleground. This year could be different .

A Candidate Like Few Others:  Maggie Tamposi Goodlander, the wife of the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is navigating a personal landscape with little precedent  in her run for Congress in New Hampshire.

Political Violence:  Public officials from Congress to City Hall are now regularly subjected to threats of violence. It’s changing how they do their jobs .

Trump’s Running Mate:  Trump’s V.P. search is still in its early stages, but he is said to be leaning toward more experienced options  who can help the ticket without seizing his precious spotlight.

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    Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced his defense minister and close ally Sergei Shoigu with a civilian economist, a major reshuffle of military leadership more than two-years after Moscow ...

  25. Russian Disinformation Videos Smear Biden Ahead of U.S. Election

    Many of the videos are trying to appeal to right-wing voters with fake messages about President Biden, experts say. By Julian E. Barnes and Steven Lee Myers Julian Barnes, who covers U.S ...