college application essay coach

Susie Rinehart

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College Essay Coaching

Young people need a mentor and guidance to tackle the toughest part of the college application: the essays..

Even great young writers don’t know how to talk about themselves. That’s where I come in. My goal is for students to write essays that college admissions readers won’t forget, and that stay true to the student’s authentic voice. The whole process is fun, effective, and transformational.

I work 1-on-1 with only a handful of students each year, including a few on need-based scholarship. 

• Parents get to step back and focus on their relationship with their child
• I meet confidentially, 1-on-1, to brainstorm, structure, and fine-tune their essays
• My students discover who they are, what they value, and how to express themselves

Online Bootcamp: How to Write a Great College Essay

Enrolling now a four-part online course that guides you step-by-step in 20+ videos and one 1-on-1 call with me..

I’ve been an award-winning writer and a teacher of writing for 25+ years. As an English teacher and assistant director of the Mountain School of Milton Academy, I taught High School juniors and seniors the art of the personal essay, and oversaw their college application process. I also worked as the director of Where There Be Dragons, an organization dedicated to meaningful travel programs for teens. I am one of those rare people who LOVES teenagers. As a trained personal coach, I know how to interview them to get their best ideas powerfully told on the page. My system includes multiple tools, honed with experience, that they can use in college and beyond to write clearly and persuasively. The top five schools attended by the students I’ve advised are Brown, Middlebury, Yale, Bowdoin, and Cornell.

The Process

Pre-Meeting. Before we meet, I’ll send you a few questions to help me get to know you. This frees us up to dig in immediately when we connect and begin the 3-step process.

• Brainstorming.  This is a no-judgement space. I do a series of interviews and share my favorite tools for finding the story that makes you distinctive. We have fun diving in and uncovering your developing sense of self.
• Structure. With a topic in hand, how do you write in a compelling, focused way? How will this essay stand out from the rest? We work on creating a “storyboard” for each essay. I’ll challenge you to take risks. I’ll teach you how to take something that seems so ordinary, so mundane, and write it so vividly that it ends up extraordinary.
• Fine-Tuning . Plan to write 3-5 drafts. We work together to find the best hook, to end with a “bang” and to get rid of any prose that weighs down the writing. I’ll help you with grammar and spelling to avoid distracting errors. I’ll also provide that outside perspective: does this person come across as curious, open, likable?

Let’s Get Started!

Ready to Get Started?

If you’re curious about college essay coaching, try a session on me book a free 30-minute phone consult to gain instant momentum, and to see if working together is the right fit..

Schedule a Free Consult

I offer a few paths forward:

Standard package (for up to 5 colleges).

This is the worry-free package. It’s a flat rate. I work by phone or in-person, beginning to end, for all essays. You don’t have to count how many hours we work together. And you can trust that I have your back to brainstorm, generate uncommon ideas, create a structure, provide unlimited editing and revision feedback of the personal statement essay (for either the Common Application or the Coalition Application), plus all supplemental essays/questions for up to 5 colleges. Book a free 30 min consult to get started. $2,549

Personal Statement/Core Essay

This essay is the toughest because colleges are looking for insight into who this applicant really is in 650 words. It requires reflection, perspective, and a unique angle. The open-ended prompts are overwhelming: “share your story” “what makes you unique?” My system breaks the mountain of writing down into small hills and gives support for the three main steps: 1. Brainstorm 2. Structure 3. Fine tune. Book a free 30 min consult to get started. $949

Supplemental Essays (under 500 words)

For Returning Clients Only

These essays are shorter, but they need to be of the same quality as the core essay. Each school asks for 2-3 of these. Done well, these responses can pull an applicant out of the ‘Maybe’ pile and into the ‘Yes’ pile. $315

Review of Finished Essay

A close look at a polished draft from an outside, experienced perspective. This is to catch grammatical errors, flow, and to help find the best hook and the most powerful ending. Book a free 30 min consult to get started. $150/hour

By popular demand, I’ve added services:

Comprehensive college advising package .

Cover all the bases; Don’t miss a detail. One-on-one coaching every step of the way on all aspects of the college application process. Reserves your spot in my calendar (get first pick of coveted meeting times). Saves you money and includes the packages listed below. Book a free 30 min consult to see if this package is right for you. $5549

Find Your Path: Major/Career Coaching 

For any student who wants clarity on who they are, what they want to do, and where they want to go. One-on-one coaching on finding a college major and potential career path based on 25 years experience guiding high school students on their values, interests, and strengths. Book a free 30 min consult to see if this is the right package for you. $549

Make the Match: Build a Custom College List 

Identify the best-fit schools and d iscover programs you may never have heard of before. Strategize for family budget considerations. Build a custom, balanced list that emphasizes fit, plus complete the common app profile and learn how to m ake the most of college visits. This can be done as a 2-day intensive to use momentum to motivate through overwhelm. Book a free 30 min consult to see if this package is right for you. $1849

On Track & On Time Complete Application Support

Don’t miss a deadline!  Soup-to-nuts application support for all colleges on your list. Strategize for scholarships . Develop supplemental essays that stand out (this package includes brainstorm & design of supp. essays but not editing or fine tuning). T rack all school requirements and Honors’ program needs. Learn best practices for communication with coaches and department heads. Grow self-advocacy skills for on-campus accommodation or support services, if needed. Book a free 30 min consult to see if this package is right for you. $2549

Tips for Navigating Uncertainty  

Sign up here for FREE resources. NO Spam. No spam. As my gift to you, I’m sending over my “7 Steps to Overcome Perfectionism.”

• A Short Guide to Being a Friend in a Crisis
• 6 Steps to Reclaim Your Voice
• How to Thrive in a Crisis
• 7 Steps to Overcoming Perfectionism

Julie Frank

College application essay coach

Hi, I’m Julie Frank, college application essay coach and author of CRUSHING THE COMMON APP ESSAY: A Foolproof Guide to Getting into Your Top College (SparkNotes, 2018).

With warmth, humor, and rigor, I guide students as they brainstorm ideas, craft a story, and reveal the unique value they will bring to their college campus, resulting in an authentic, meaningful, moving essay written in the student’s own voice.

Students I’ve coached have been accepted at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Brown, MIT, Georgetown, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Northwestern, Vassar, Michigan, NYU, and 100 more colleges and universities.

If you would like to attend my free, virtual, 45-minute crash course on How to Write the Common App Essay, please email me to receive a list of available dates and times.

There’s No One Like You. We’ll Help You Prove It.

Our 1-on-1 essay coaching will make your application impossible to ignore. 98% of Prompt students get into one or more of their top-choice colleges.

• Get started
• See how it works

Prompt is the highest rated and most recommended essay coaching company.

• Half of Prompt students are applying to one or more Ivy or Ivy-equivalent colleges.
• Half of Prompt students are applying to every other college - selective privates, competitive publics and everywhere else.
• Gifted writers and struggling writers.
• Highly motivated and unmotivated.
• Go-getters and procrastinators.
• English learners. International. LGBTQ+. Learning disabilities.
• Athletes. Musicians. Thespians. Makers. Debaters.

Let’s make your admission essay impossible to ignore.

Your essays – what you say and how you say it – will set you apart from the tens of thousands of academically similar applicants, increasing your admissions chances by 10x. See the data.

We have the perfect Writing Coach for your student.

We hire the top 2% of coaches.

• Our coaches go through a rigorous training and evaluation process. Only 2% make it through to become coaches – i.e., it's far more difficult to become a Prompt Coach than to get accepted at any college.
• Our coaches are Prompt employees, each spending 100s of hours coaching students on college applications and essays every year.
• Every coach is trained on and follows the Prompt coaching method, proven to get your student accepted at their top choice colleges.
• Our coaches operate as a team. They often communicate with each other to further improve their coaching skills and discuss specific essays.
• Every coach has completed their undergraduate degree, and many have master's degrees, such as a Master of Fine Arts. Many attended top programs, such as Ivy and Ivy-equivalent colleges.
• Our coaches have varying backgrounds, such as playwrights, freelance writers, journalists, authors, educators, and researchers.
• We match your student to a coach by considering how your student's college list, personality, and ambitions match with the coach's interests, background, and personality.

People ask, "What's the biggest value Prompt provides?" Compelling content. Clear writing. Accountability.

1. developing your personal brand..

We help you tie your most compelling content into a cohesive narrative that relates to the 5 Traits Colleges Look For in Applicants: drive, intellectual curiosity, initiative, contribution, and diversity of experiences.

2. Identifying what to write about for every part of the application.

We help you brainstorm compelling content, match content to each part of each application (essays, activities lists, additional information, portfolios), and outline your writing for each part.

3. Making your ideas concise and compelling.

We help you identify how to shorten your writing (usually by 40-60%). Word count is at a premium. And being concise will help you fit in more content, providing a clearer picture of why you are extraordinary.

4. Making your writing clear.

We help you structure your essays and write in ways that admissions officers will easily understand. Admissions officers only spend an average of 8 minutes per application. So being clear and easy to read is critical.

5. Holding you accountable.

Procrastination is the #1 cause of not being accepted. Over 90% of students scramble to complete their essays, submitting their applications within 48 hours of the deadline. Prompt holds you accountable to the timeline you agreed upon.

We make completing your essays simple and low-stress.

• You agree on a timeline with your Student Success Manager, who keeps you on track to finish early.
• You work with your Writing Coach, who provides expert support through video calls and written feedback as you plan, write, revise, and complete every part of your essays.
• You submit your applications early and with confidence.

Here’s what Prompt looks like for a typical student.

Together, we'll make your story shine.

Prompt Satisfaction Guarantee

1-on-1 essay coaching, what you get with our 1-on-1 coaching.

• Your own support team: Student Success Manager and Writing Coach
• Access to Prompt’s platform to simplify the process
• A personalized timeline to fit your schedule
• Coaching on every written part of your applications
• Get as many video calls and reviews as you need to feel confident

Coaching options based on your needs

Common app bootcamp.

Group sessions for the Common App.

• Two 90-minute sessions for planning and writing your Common App Essay or personal statement.
• Two rounds of written feedback on your drafts.

Not sure which coaching option to select?

What our 10,000s of students and parents have to say.

Prove no one is like you.

Sign up for 1-on-1 application and essay coaching.

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• Free Resources

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

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

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

What is the Best College Essay Service?

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

The best of the rest:

Individual essay consultants:

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

Mid-size teams:

• Lotus Learning  – focus on health sciences

Large platforms:

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

Schedule a college essay consultation

Best College Application Essay Services in 2024

#1 – prepmaven.

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

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help now

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

At a glance:

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

What we like:

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

Sign up for PrepMaven’s college essay help

#2 – College Essay Mentor

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

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

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

What we don’t like:

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

#3 – The College Essay Guy

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

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

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

#4 – College Vine

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

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

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

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

Individual essay consultants, #5 – college essay editor.

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

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

#6 – Allison Karpf

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

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

#7 – Your College Vision

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

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

#8 – The College Guru

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

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

#9 – Sofia Zapiola

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

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

Mid-size Teams

#10 – lotus learning.

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

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

Large platforms

#11 – study point.

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

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

#12 – Ivy Select

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

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

#13 – Empowerly

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

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

#14 – Prepory

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

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

Top 40 College Essay Services Considered

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

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

Why are college application essays important?

Can a great college essay alone get you into Harvard?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why work with a college essay service?

You may want to consider a college essay service if:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What makes a good college essay service?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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A great option if you already know what you want to write about and you’d mostly benefit from an expert admissions consultant helping you perfect your style, tone, and message.

You’re a unique person, with unique experiences and ambitions, but how do you best show this in a response to an essay prompt? With Full Essay Coaching, your expert Admissions Consultant will guide you from beginning to end and make sure your strongest attributes come through clearly and concisely.

This is a great option for the Common App personal statement, reach schools, and other high-stakes situations.

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You have a good start on your essay, but you want an expert to help you perfect it? PrepScholar Admissions Consultants are top-notch writers who know exactly what colleges are looking for. No matter your background or school choices, they’ll help you wordsmith and perfect your essay so you can present your thoughts in the best possible manner.

This is an affordable option for lower-stakes situations and almost-ready essays that require some polishing before they’re submissions-ready.

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Curious to see the process in action? See two samples of our essay review and revision process for real essays. SAMPLE ONE | SAMPLE TWO

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To choose the right tier, identify the number of essays you would like to work on and select the corresponding option. We recommend fitting multiple essays into one package to save!

*We can also help you with the Common App activities list. All you need to do is count it as an essay.

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

Your questionnaire is personally reviewed by our Head of Admissions, a Harvard and Yale graduate with 10+ years of counseling experience. They have worked closely with all the consultants on our team and understand their areas of specialization and track record. Based on your answers, our Head of Admissions matches you with the best consultant to help you reach your goals.

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

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

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

Through the consulting sessions, Laura was able to hone in on Mike’s true values, and the best positioning to colleges.  She helped pick the best activities and way to word the activities on the applications.

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

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

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

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• Does your child need expert personal essay writing help  right now ?   Go directly to Intrepid Applicant.com , where I will virtually guide your kid through my  entire private coaching process in a uniquely gamified step-by-step course. It’s the fun, easy, efficient way to get your kid from procrastination to a finished essay!
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• Over twenty-five years of professional experience as a writer, teacher, college admissions expert, and speaker on the topic of parenting through college admissions.
• Admissions Committee Evaluator for seven years at two elite liberal arts colleges. Evaluated thousands of incoming applications. Deep and broad understanding of admissions criteria.
• Expert advice appearing in the news at Forbes, The LA Times, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and elsewhere .
• Author of College Admissions Cracked : Saving Your Kid (and Yourself) From the Madness (Little, Brown Spark), a month-by-month survival guide and support group from junior year through college drop-off.
• Teacher of college personal essay writing , creative writing, and expository writing at New York University, The New School, City University of New York, Gotham Writers Workshop.
• High school educator for both high-achieving and at-risk students in New York City, Iowa, and Massachusetts.
• Published personal essays in The New York Times, Family Circle, O the Oprah Magazine and many other national publications.

FEEDBACK FROM CLIENTS:

“Jill has the uncanny ability to help students distill the many experiences, unique perspectives, and ideas that are swirling around in their heads into a highly personal and cohesive essay. We really feel that the time spent with Jill was a master class in writing which went far beyond anything our daughter ever learned at school. Not only was our daughter accepted into her first choice college, she’ll be taking her new and improved writing skills with her!”

Pam , daughter at Duke University

“Jill, you are a total magician. I read my son’s essay and I think it’s great — and I also think it’s true! I’m so impressed with your process. I knew you were a great writer and I knew you’d be a terrific and compassionate coach in this process. But you do much more than that. My son was trying to say what he thought “they” wanted to hear in this whole application marathon, and I’ve been complicit in treating the process as a game. You turned it around by asking him to think about what’s actually true, what matters to him and moves him — and it is a much, much better essay as a result. He’s happy with it too, which is even more remarkable. So THANK YOU! You’re amazing at what you do.”

Eve , son at University of Pennsylvania

“Your help and assistance completely transformed my essays. Before speaking with you, I had many ideas of what my college essay might look like; however, with your insight into the college admissions process and great writing skills, you bring out the most unique and standout qualities of someone in an essay. I am extremely happy with my final essays, and I would have never imagined that my essays could represent me that well! I even had college admissions personnel call me and specifically comment on how great the essay was! Thank you!”

Asher , George Washington University

“Your guidance, counseling, and coaching have been invaluable. While he is not overly expressive with his parents, my son greatly appreciates all your wisdom and encouragement. I greatly appreciate the confidence he has in this process, mainly due to you.”

Theresa , Asher’s Mom

“Jill was amazing to work with. Her process of helping my son write his college essay was so impressive. He really enjoyed all parts of it, from the brainstorming to the editing. Working with Jill was a pleasure, and he ended up with an essay that was truly from his heart. Many schools actually commented on how touched they were by the story he told, and how they related to it themselves. We could not be happier with the outcome. Jill was also extremely knowledgeable about the college process and the colleges themselves. My son got into 16 of the 18 schools he applied to, and is attending his first choice, Bowdoin College, in the Fall. Thank you Jill!”

Christine , son at Bowdoin College

“Having our son work with Jill on not only his college essays but also how he presented his extra-curricular activities and his application in general eliminated a major point of stress in the process. She kept him on task with reasonable, but enforceable deadlines. He felt very supported, and as parents, we didn’t have to badger our son to get things done. He worked with Jill over the summer and went back to school in September with his essays and applications pretty much ready to go. Jill was a dream for our son to work with. She will be the first person we contact when our younger son is ready to apply to colleges!”

Kathy , son at Bates College

“We came to you after our son was deferred from an Ivy League school in the Early Action process. You showed us what was lacking in his application and what he should change to be more competitive. It worked! Our son was accepted to Dartmouth College, and we know it was because of his revised application. You were a true professional who could read a student’s Common App and instantly know what needs to be improved. Thank you!

Kristine , son at Dartmouth College

“Jill’s coaching work with both of our high school juniors was extremely helpful. Jill brings the relevant expertise to the table and has a useful and friendly, but structured approach to keep students working towards their vision and meeting the tight timelines. I particularly appreciated the way she encourages the student’s unique voice and compelling narration to shine through. As a family living overseas and somewhat removed from the intimidating US college application process, it was comforting to have guidance from someone so keyed in to what works. We can highly recommend Jill!”

Sarah , son at Williams College, daughter at Swarthmore College

“Everything you did to help me through this process is the reason why I am going where I am this fall. Had it not been for your feedback, or your boost of morale, I don’t know what I’d be doing or where I’d be going after graduation. Thank you for everything you did, and I hope that future college applicants choose to work with you, because they won’t regret it one bit.”

Luke , University of Maryland

“I was very nervous about applying for college and you helped me with my whole application, making the process so much easier and less stressful. In the end I was accepted to my first choice college and I can’t thank you enough for helping me get to that point! Thanks again for all your help!”

Claire , Wellesley College

“I think your suggestions are spot on. I’m amazed that you were able to give such thorough revision ideas so quickly! (I knew you were a pro, but this was rather dazzling.). Most of all, thanks for the encouraging words. This process can undermine the confidence of even the most well- adjusted kid these days.”

Tracey , daughter at Bowdoin College

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College Essay Coaches

We empower students to achieve more than they imagine possible., we reduce the anxiety families feel  throughout the college application process..

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The Common Application

Personal statements, supplemental essays, interview preparation, resumés.

Welcome to College Essay Coaches

Whether you are a student or a parent, you have found a supportive space to guide you and your family through the complete college essay writing process from the 650 word personal statement, to supplemental essays, and beyond.

Our success stories include students who are accepted—and thrive—at universities across the U.S. including UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Emory, Northeastern, NYU, Villanova and many more.

Our key is that we reduce stress so that the entire family feels nurtured while students are free to express themselves and discover their own voice. Yes, our students have an impressive roster of acceptances, but even more significant to us at College Essay Coaches, is that our students find their confidence and take pride in their work.

We customize the college process for each applicant. At our initial, one-on-one intake meeting, we brainstorm ideas by providing writing prompts to determine what is important to each student.

What do you think about the world around you? What inspires you? What makes you laugh? Cry?

We distill the most poignant and meaningful moments in our students' lives that result in impactful and powerful essays — in their own words.

From there, we design individualized plans to get essays completed before deadline. We create a sense of freedom and ease around writing.  One caveat: Expect to laugh a lot!

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Why Choose Us

Our founder, Renee Rosen, with a formidable background in documentary filmmaking, media and international development, knows how to craft a story. Through the proven College Essay Coaching process, Renee draws the most meaningful and salient stories out of college applicants.

Renee holds a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University, and an additional Masters degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution from NYU, where she studied identity politics and dispute resolution. This unique combination of studies and practical application have prepared Renee perfectly for the investigative process into telling each student's story... and establishing a peaceful and conflict-free environment throughout the process.

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Students complete the essay process feeling truly accomplished.  Their greatest takeaway is what seemed improbable, and daresay impossible, is not only achievable but can be inspiring and fun.

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During Empowerly’s free 30-minute consultation, an expert college admissions counselor will conduct a full review and offer you some valuable college application counseling. Then, they’ll show you a customized, designed-for-success college application consulting package that matches your goals and needs. It’s the risk-free way to see what our college admissions counselors can do for you.

How it Works

Overwhelmed by the college admissions process? Our team of experienced college admissions counselors make it easy, with personalized support that cuts through the confusion. From college search to application submission, you’ll have a dedicated college admission counselor keeping you on track.

We get results: Empowerly students are 11x more likely to get into their college of choice. Using data-driven technology and one-on-one consultation with former college Admissions Officers, our customized programs help you and your college application consulting stand out during the fiercely competitive U.S. college admissions process.

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Margo Bartsch, Founder

Margo Bartsch founded College Essay Coach in 2004 to apply her marketing and brand development expertise to assist students in developing exceptional essays and application strategies for college admissions (undergraduate and graduate), transferring colleges, and applying to prep school. She works with students to develop the college list, prepare for the ACT essay section and test prep, create the activities/honors resume (within the Common App requirements), and practice admissions and alumni interviewing.

Margo's Story

Margo's writing philosophy is that the story must have a compelling theme and organizational structure, whether in marketing or in essay writing. People remember how a story makes them feel, even beyond what is said. This big idea differentiates the student (or brand) and connects with the reader (or consumer). Writing is a life skill that can be fun-- even with word count limits and character count requirements (without spaces!). The Chronicle of Higher Education profiled College Essay Coach as the lead story in the April 27, 2007 special issue of  Admissions and Financial Aid.  Margo graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where she earned her B.A. in Economics and her M.S.J. from the Medill School of Journalism with a concentration in International Advertising. Margo was recognized as a Northwestern Luminary in January 2008. Margo has been an adjunct professor in business at Champlain College and has taught a January Term in Economics at Middlebury College. At Champlain College, she won the Francine Paige Excellence in Teaching award. Margo has won national awards for her work in international advertising.  In 1995, she was awarded the Silver EFFIE for integrated advertising campaigns from the American Marketing Association (AMA) and an ECHO Leader Award from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Margo has worked in Japan and has extensive travel experience throughout Asia, the South Pacific, Mexico, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Margo is a contributing writer for The Charlotte News in the Education section in Charlotte, VT highlighting college admissions trends. Margo works one-on-one with students either at her office at 181 Falls Road in Shelburne (next to Rustic Roots Cafe) or on conference calls with out-of-state students. All questions are good questions! Margo resides with her husband and daughter in Shelburne, VT. Margo can be reached by phone at (802) 985-3770 or by email to [email protected].  

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 )

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.

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?

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.

• 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.

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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Need help with your college application essays?

You probably know that if your application is to rise to the top of that massive pile of competing applications, your essays have to practically leap out and grab your readers by the nose.

No matter how high your GPA is, you have only 350 to 650 words to stand out, to illuminate the aspects of your character and experience not visible in your grades, your test scores, your extracurricular pursuits—350 to 650 words to breathe enough power into your application to catapult it directly onto that Absolutely Y-E-S pile.

But what if you can’t demonstrate fluency in twelve languages, show off an Olympic gold medal, and compose a concerto on par with Puccini’s?

Let’s work together to find YOUR most compelling stories, and tell them with skill and purpose.

Here’s what I provide you:

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• Brainstorming tools and facilitation to uncover your most promising essay material
• Evaluation and grouping of all your essay prompts so you work smart
• Big picture editorial advice
• Line-by-line editing
• Time and deadline management
• Ongoing communications with and between me, you, and, when appropriate, your parents

Depending on your needs, I also offer:

•   Standing weekly check-in calls to establish and maintain your essay-writing momentum
•   Ad hoc phone or video calls to help you over hurdles, answer questions,and brainstorm your best approach to the next essay on your timeline

What you get from working with me:

•   Memorable essays that represent you in the best possible light
•   A sense of calm and purpose instead of chaos and stress
•   A lasting awareness of your strengths and uniqueness
•   Insight into the deeper meaning of your experiences and challenges
•   Practice taking a piece of writing from rough to refined
•   Sharpened writing skill that will last a lifetime

Here’s my advice. Start Now. Call 888-729-5035

About Lesley Quinn

Lesley has coached hundreds of applicants through the creation of exceptional essays and personal statements. She is unusually skilled at uncovering qualities and stories that turn each applicant into a unique, fascinating, three dimensional individual.

She also understands the importance of breaking the project into small manageable components while keeping a steady eye on her clients’ deadlines and intentions.

What My Clients Say

The Ivy Coach Daily

• College Admissions
• College Essays
• Early Decision / Early Action
• Extracurricular Activities
• Standardized Testing
• The Rankings

April 25, 2024

How to Get Into Stanford University: The Ultimate Stanford Admissions Guide

We wouldn’t blame you for being interested in Stanford University , which ranks #3 among national universities in the  2024 US News & World Report annual college ranking . In 2014, Slate dubbed Stanford “the Harvard of the 21st century,” and for good reason! This private research university boasts one of the largest endowments in higher education (which most recently weighed in at $36.5 billion), a formidable range of world-renowned graduate schools and research facilities, and an entrepreneurial culture that has produced some of the biggest names in the tech industry.

What Is Stanford University?

Stanford is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Stanford, California. According to the  2023-24 Common Data Set , Stanford’s undergraduate student body consists of 3,789 men and 4,052 women, for a total of 7,841 full-time undergraduates. 37% percent of these students come from within California, while 14% are international.

How to Get Into Stanford University

Stanford university admissions requirements.

Getting into Stanford is not a matter of simply meeting certain grade point and testing requirements, as many students with perfect or near-perfect scores face rejection each year. Still, it’s helpful to understand the baseline requirements necessary to be considered a competitive applicant.

Stanford GPA Requirements

Stanford admissions counselors evaluate a student’s academic record in the “context” of their high school experience. No two high schools calculate a student’s GPA in the same way, so it would be disingenuous to claim that Stanford has a minimum GPA cutoff. However, students interested in Stanford should take the most rigorous coursework available to them.

Applications are reviewed through a holistic process. As  Stanford Undergraduate Admissions puts it: “In a holistic review, we seek to understand how you, as a whole person, would grow, contribute and thrive at Stanford, and how Stanford would, in turn, be changed by you.”

Does Stanford Look at Class Rank?

75.2% of students enrolled in the Class of 2027 had a 4.0 GPA, and 15.5% had a GPA between 3.75 and 3.99. 96.2% of enrollees were in the top tenth of their high school graduating class, while 99.5% were in the top quarter. The average GPA for an enrollee in the Class of 2027 was 3.9.

Stanford SAT/ACT Score Requirements

Stanford is  test-optional . However, after Dartmouth College , Yale University , Brown University , Harvard University , and Cornell University eliminated their test-optional policies, we at  Ivy Coach  have reason to believe Stanford will reinstate testing requirements soon.

Amongst members of the Stanford Class of 2027, 47% submitted SAT scores and 22% submitted ACT scores. 31% did not submit scores under Stanford’s test-optional policy.

Does Stanford Superscore Students’ SAT or ACT scores?

A  superscore  combines the highest section scores from each individual test sitting for admissions evaluation. Stanford only superscores the SAT, evaluating the highest scores reported for the Reading and Writing and Math sections. They do  not  superscore the ACT.

Submitting multiple test administrations shows Stanford that you had to work harder than many to achieve your scores when admissions officers much prefer students for whom great scores come naturally. Students should submit more than one SAT score report only for the purposes of superscoring.

What High School Courses Does Stanford Require?

Stanford Undergraduate Admission recommends the following  high school curriculum :

• “ English: four years, with significant emphasis on writing and literature.
• Mathematics: four years of rigorous mathematics incorporating a solid grounding in fundamental skills (algebra, geometry, trigonometry). We also welcome additional mathematical preparation, including calculus and statistics.
• History/Social Studies: three or more years, with courses that include the writing of essays.
• Science: three or more years of science (some examples include biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, human anatomy, and environmental science).
• World Language: three or more years of the same world language.”

Of course, it would be unwise to take only three years of science or history classes. Students interested in highly selective colleges across America, Stanford or otherwise, should excel in their core subjects for all four years of high school (and when it comes to foreign language, it is ideal to begin in eighth grade).

What Extracurriculars Does Stanford Look For in Applicants?

Stanford admissions officers prize students who demonstrate an “ exceptional depth ” of commitment to a singular pursuit, as opposed to students who are  well-rounded . This depth could take many forms, from prize-winning illustration to extensive economics research, but we at Ivy Coach caution against portraying an applicant as a jack-of-all-trades. 

An incoming class at an elite university should be dynamic, diverse, and unpredictable. The last thing admissions officers are looking for is homogeneity. Sure, a competitive Stanford applicant has excelled in all areas academically, but they have kept busy pursuing a unique passion, which shines through on the application. The student who has dipped their toes in a variety of pursuits without specializing, and who is admitted on the basis of this well-roundedness, is a myth.

Stanford University Application Requirements

Stanford applicants must complete The Common Application , the Stanford supplement, a counselor recommendation, and two teacher recommendations.

Let’s focus on each individual component and discuss how students should complete them to give them the best shot of admission.

Who to Ask For Letters of Recommendation

Applicants to Stanford should ask two teachers — ideally two junior year teachers in core subjects — in addition to their school counselor for letters of recommendation.

Does Stanford Require an Alumni Interview?

No, any interviews conducted with Stanford alumni are  optional . Students will only be given the option to interview with a Stanford alum if they live in a designated interview area. Whether a student accepts a proposed interview or not is not a reflection of the strength or weakness of a student’s application. Across all highly selective colleges, the interview component of any given application is one of the least important aspects.

What are Stanford’s Supplemental Essay Topics?

Essays, on the other hand, are one of the most important aspects of a competitive college application. In addition to The Common Application Personal Statement, Stanford applicants have to complete the Stanford supplemental essay questions , a.k.a. “The Stanford Questions.” 

The Stanford Questions  are as follows:

Stanford University Short Answer Questions

There is a 50-word limit for each of the five short answers.

• What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?
• How did you spend your last two summers?
• What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?
• Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family.
• List five things that are important to you.

Stanford University Short Essay Questions

There is a 100-word minimum and a 250-word maximum for each of the three essays.

• The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
• Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—get to know you better.
• Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University.” 

Stanford University Application Deadlines

Stanford’s two admissions rounds are Restrictive Early Action and Regular Decision.

Restrictive Early Action applications to Stanford are non-binding and due on November 1st of each year (unless a student applies with the Optional Arts Portfolio, which pushes the deadline up to October 15th). Regular Decision applications to Stanford are due on January 5th of each year (and on December 5th with the Optional Arts Portfolio).

Stanford University Acceptance Rate and Statistics

So how competitive is the admissions process to The Farm? 53,733 students applied for admission to the Class of 2027, and 3.91% were accepted.

How Much Does Stanford University Cost?

In the academic year 2023-24, the  full cost of attendance  for undergraduates at Stanford was $92,892, including their projected costs for personal expenses and allowances.

• Tuition: $61,731
• Housing and Food: $21,315.
• Student Fees Allowance: $2,400
• Books and Supplies Allowance: $825
• Personal Expenses Allowance: $3,225

How Ivy Coach Helps Students Get Into Stanford

Over the past five years, 78% of Ivy Coach ’s package clients have earned admission in Stanford’s Early Action round.

If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s assistance with your child’s case for admission to Stanford, directly with Ivy Coach’s  Jose Magaña , a former Stanford admissions officer, fill out our  complimentary consultation form , and we’ll be in touch.

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