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15 Tips for Writing, Proofreading, and Editing Your College Essay

What’s covered:, our checklist for writing, proofreading, and editing your essay, where to get your college essays edited.

Your college essay is more than just a writing assignment—it’s your biggest opportunity to showcase the person behind your GPA, test scores, and extracurricular activities. In many ways, it’s the best chance you have to present yourself as a living, breathing, and thoughtful individual to the admissions committee.

Unlike test scores, which can feel impersonal, a well-crafted essay brings color to your application, offering a glimpse into your passions, personality, and potential. Whether you’re an aspiring engineer or an artist, your college essay can set you apart, making it essential that you give it your best.

1. Does the essay address the selected topic or prompt?

Focus on responding directly and thoughtfully to the prompt. If the question asks about your reasons for choosing a specific program or your future aspirations, ensure that your essay revolves around these themes. Tailor your narrative to the prompt, using personal experiences and reflections that reinforce your points.

• Respond directly to the prompt: It’s imperative that you thoughtfully craft your responses so that the exact themes in the prompt are directly addressed. Each essay has a specific prompt that serves a specific purpose, and your response should be tailored in a way that meets that objective.
• Focus: Regardless of what the prompt is about—be it personal experiences, academic achievements, or an opinion on an issue—you must keep the focus of the response on the topic of the prompt .

2. Is the college essay well organized?

An essay with a clear structure is easier to follow and is more impactful. Consider organizing your story chronologically, or use a thematic approach to convey your message. Each paragraph should transition smoothly to the next, maintaining a natural flow of ideas. A well-organized essay is not only easier for the reader to follow, but it can also aid your narrative flow. Logically structured essays can guide the reader through complex and hectic sequences of events in your essay. There are some key factors involved in good structuring:

• A strong hook: Start with a sentence or a paragraph that can grab the attention of the reader. For example, consider using a vivid description of an event to do this.
• Maintain a thematic structure: Maintaining a thematic structure involves organizing your response around a central theme, allowing you to connect diverse points of your essay into a cohesive centralized response.
• Transitioning: Each paragraph should clearly flow into the next, maintaining continuity and coherence in narrative.

3. Include supporting details, examples, and anecdotes.

Enhance your narrative with specific details, vivid examples, and engaging anecdotes. This approach brings your story to life, making it more compelling and relatable. It helps the reader visualize your experiences and understand your perspectives.

4. Show your voice and personality.

Does your personality come through? Does your essay sound like you? Since this is a reflection of you, your essay needs to show who you are.

For example, avoid using vocabulary you wouldn’t normally use—such as “utilize” in place of “use”—because you may come off as phony or disingenuous, and that won’t impress colleges.

5. Does your essay show that you’re a good candidate for admission?

Your essay should demonstrate not only your academic strengths. but also the ways in which your personal qualities align with the specific character and values of the school you’re applying to . While attributes like intelligence and collaboration are universally valued, tailor your essay to reflect aspects that are uniquely esteemed at each particular institution.

For instance, if you’re applying to Dartmouth, you might emphasize your appreciation for, and alignment with, the school’s strong sense of tradition and community. This approach shows a deeper understanding of and a genuine connection to the school, beyond its surface-level attributes.

6. Do you stick to the topic?

Your essay should focus on the topic at hand, weaving your insights, experiences, and perspectives into a cohesive narrative, rather than a disjointed list of thoughts or accomplishments. It’s important to avoid straying into irrelevant details that don’t support your main theme. Instead of simply listing achievements or experiences, integrate them into a narrative that highlights your development, insights, or learning journey.

Example with tangent:

“My interest in performing arts began when I was five. That was also the year I lost my first tooth, which set off a whole year of ‘firsts.’ My first play was The Sound of Music.”

Revised example:

“My interest in performing arts began when I was five, marked by my debut performance in ‘The Sound of Music.’ This experience was the first step in my journey of exploring and loving the stage.”

7. Align your response with the prompt.

Before finalizing your essay, revisit the prompt. Have you addressed all aspects of the question? Make sure your essay aligns with the prompt’s requirements, both in content and spirit. Familiarize yourself with common college essay archetypes, such as the Extracurricular Essay, Diversity Essay, Community Essay, “Why This Major” Essay (and a variant for those who are undecided), and “Why This College” Essay. We have specific guides for each, offering tailored advice and examples:

• Extracurricular Essay Guide
• Diversity Essay Guide
• Community Essay Guide
• “Why This Major” Essay Guide
• “Why This College” Essay Guide
• Overcoming Challenges Essay Guide
• Political/Global Issues Essay Guide

While these guides provide a framework for each archetype, respectively, remember to infuse your voice and unique experiences into your essay to stand out!

8. Do you vary your sentence structure?

Varying sentence structure, including the length of sentences, is crucial to keep your writing dynamic and engaging. A mix of short, punchy sentences and longer, more descriptive ones can create a rhythm that makes your essay more enjoyable to read. This variation helps maintain the reader’s interest and allows for more nuanced expression.

Original example with monotonous structure:

“I had been waiting for the right time to broach the topic of her health problem, which had been weighing on my mind heavily ever since I first heard about it. I had gone through something similar, and I thought sharing my experience might help.”

Revised example illustrating varied structure:

“I waited for the right moment to discuss her health. The issue had occupied my thoughts for weeks. Having faced similar challenges, I felt that sharing my experience might offer her some comfort.”

In this revised example, the sentences vary in length and structure, moving from shorter, more impactful statements to longer, more descriptive ones. This variation helps to keep the reader’s attention and allows for a more engaging narrative flow.

9. Revisit your essay after a break.

• Give yourself time: After completing a draft of your essay, step away from it for a day or two. This break can clear your mind and reduce your attachment to specific phrases or ideas.
• Fresh perspective: When you come back to your essay, you’ll likely find that you can view your work with fresh eyes. This distance can help you spot inconsistencies, unclear passages, or stylistic issues that you might have missed earlier.
• Enhanced objectivity: Distance not only aids in identifying grammatical errors or typos, but it also allows you to assess the effectiveness of your argument or narrative more objectively. Does the essay really convey what you intended? Are there better examples or stronger pieces of evidence you could use?
• Refine and polish: Use this opportunity to fine-tune your language, adjust the flow, and ensure that your essay truly reflects your voice and message.

Incorporating this tip into your writing process can significantly improve the quality and effectiveness of your college essay.

10. Choose an ideal writing environment.

By identifying and consistently utilizing an ideal writing environment, you can enhance both the enjoyment and effectiveness of your essay-writing process.

• Discover your productive spaces: Different environments can dramatically affect your ability to think and write effectively. Some people find inspiration in the quiet of a library or their room, while others thrive in the lively atmosphere of a coffee shop or park.
• Experiment with settings: If you’re unsure what works best for you, try writing in various places. Notice how each setting affects your concentration, creativity, and mood.
• Consider comfort and distractions: Make sure your chosen spot is comfortable enough for long writing sessions, but also free from distracting elements that could hinder your focus.
• Time of day matters: Pay attention to the time of day when you’re most productive. Some write best in the early morning’s tranquility, while others find their creative peak during nighttime hours.

11. Are all words spelled correctly?

While spell checkers are a helpful tool, they aren’t infallible. It’s crucial to read over your essay meticulously, possibly even aloud, to catch any spelling errors. Reading aloud can help you notice mistakes that your eyes might skip over when reading silently. Be particularly attentive to words that spellcheck might not catch, such as proper nouns, technical jargon, or homophones (e.g., “there” vs. “their”). Attention to detail in spelling reflects your care and precision, both of which are qualities that admissions committees value.

12. Do you use proper punctuation and capitalization?

Correct punctuation and capitalization are key to conveying your message clearly and professionally . A common mistake in writing is the misuse of commas, particularly in complex sentences.

Example of a misused comma:

Incorrect: “I had an epiphany, I was using commas incorrectly.”

In this example, the comma is used incorrectly to join two independent clauses. This is known as a comma splice. It creates a run-on sentence, which can confuse the reader and disrupt the flow of your writing.

Corrected versions:

Correct: “I had an epiphany: I was using commas incorrectly.”

Correct: “I had an epiphany; I was using commas incorrectly.”

Correct: “I had an epiphany—I was using commas incorrectly.”

Correct: “I had an epiphany. I was using commas incorrectly.”

The corrections separate the two clauses with more appropriate punctuation. Colons, semicolons, em dashes, and periods can all be used in this context, though periods may create awkwardly short sentences.

These punctuation choices are appropriate because the second clause explains or provides an example of the first, creating a clear and effective sentence structure. The correct use of punctuation helps maintain the clarity and coherence of your writing, ensuring that your ideas are communicated effectively.

13. Do you abide by the word count?

Staying within the word count is crucial in demonstrating your ability to communicate ideas concisely and effectively. Here are some strategies to help reduce your word count if you find yourself going over the prescribed limits:

• Eliminate repetitive statements: Avoid saying the same thing in different ways. Focus on presenting each idea clearly and concisely.
• Use adjectives judiciously: While descriptive words can add detail, using too many can make your writing feel cluttered and overwrought. Choose adjectives that add real value.
• Remove unnecessary details: If a detail doesn’t support or enhance your main point, consider cutting it. Focus on what’s essential to your narrative or argument.
• Shorten long sentences: Long, run-on sentences can be hard to follow and often contain unnecessary words. Reading your essay aloud can help you identify sentences that are too lengthy or cumbersome. If you’re out of breath before finishing a sentence, it’s likely too long.
• Ensure each sentence adds something new: Every sentence should provide new information or insight. Avoid filler or redundant sentences that don’t contribute to your overall message.

14. Proofread meticulously.

Implementing a thorough and methodical proofreading process can significantly elevate the quality of your essay, ensuring that it’s free of errors and flows smoothly.

• Detailed review: After addressing bigger structural and content issues, focus on proofreading for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. This step is crucial for polishing your essay and making sure it’s presented professionally.
• Different techniques: Employ various techniques to catch mistakes. For example, read your essay backward, starting from the last sentence and working your way to the beginning. This method can help you focus on individual sentences and words, rather than getting caught up in the content.
• Read aloud: As mentioned before, reading your essay aloud is another effective technique. Hearing the words can help identify awkward phrasing, run-on sentences, and other issues that might not be as obvious when reading silently.

15. Utilize external feedback.

While self-editing is crucial, external feedback can provide new perspectives and ideas that enhance your writing in unexpected ways. This collaborative process can help you keep your essay error-free and can also help make it resonate with a broader audience.

• Fresh perspectives: Have a trusted teacher, mentor, peer, or family member review your drafts. Each person can offer unique insights and perspectives on your essay’s content, structure, and style.
• Identify blind spots: We often become too close to our writing to see its flaws or areas that might be unclear to others. External reviewers can help identify these blind spots.
• Constructive criticism: Encourage your reviewers to provide honest, constructive feedback. While it’s important to stay true to your voice and story, be open to suggestions that could strengthen your essay.
• Diverse viewpoints: Different people will focus on different aspects of your writing. For example, a teacher might concentrate on your essay’s structure and academic tone, while a peer might provide insights into how engaging and relatable your narrative is.
• Incorporate feedback judiciously: Use the feedback to refine your essay, but remember that the final decision on any changes rests with you. It’s your story and your voice that ultimately need to come through clearly.

When it comes to refining your college essays, getting external feedback is crucial. Our free Peer Essay Review tool allows you to receive constructive criticism from other students, providing fresh perspectives that can help you see your work in a new light. This peer review process is invaluable and can help you both identify areas for improvement and gain different viewpoints on your writing.

For more tailored expert advice, consider the guidance of a CollegeVine advisor . Our advisors, experienced in the college admissions process, offer specialized reviews to enhance your essays. Their insights into what top schools are looking for can elevate your narrative, ensuring that your application stands out. Whether it’s through fine-tuning your grammar or enriching your story’s appeal, our experts’ experience and expertise can significantly increase your likelihood of admission to your dream school!

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

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: $85–349/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: $7400 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: $170–190/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. We also recommend working with college essay consultants with a clear code of ethics stating that they will not make edits directly on the essay documents for the students. It’s unclear to what degree the editors with CollegeVine follow these principles.

Students who want to work with a big company.

• Cost: $170–190/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
• 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 application 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 which 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

#6 – Allison Karpf

Our Verdict — Former English Teacher Helping Students Price: $300/hour or $3000 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:  $300/hour or $3000 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: $150/hour (minimum 10 hours), or $3800 package for application to seven schools 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: $150/hour (for 10 hours), or $3800 package for application to seven schools
• Essay coach qualifications: journalism background
• Affordable pricing , relative to other options
• Professional writing background as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal
• 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: From $65/hour Yet another individual essay consultant is Sofia Zapiola, who offers a mix of essay editing and college application counseling services.

• Cost: From $65/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 — Focus on Health Sciences 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: unknown 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.

• Essay coach qualifications: unknown
• Larger company with several decades of experience
• Unclear who the essay coaches are
• Secretive about pricing

#12 – Ivy Select

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: unknown Ivy Select is another larger essay editing service. They do not give information about who their essay coaches are and what qualifications they might have.

• Long list of impressive (but anonymous) testimonials
• Only work with “top students”
• No information on their website about who the editors are
• No professional writing experience

#13 – Empowerly

Our Verdict — Larger Platform with Mystery Editors Price: unknown 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: $3550 minimum package
• 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

#14 – BeMo

Our Verdict — Expensive and Aggressive with Wrong Expertise Price: $2997–12797 BeMo is a large admissions company based in Toronto, Canada. They focus primarily on admissions to medical schools and science graduate programs in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Their rates are expensive, and they justify these by pointing out potential high earnings decades later as a doctor. Past customers have commented that their “school selection consultation” doesn’t provide any information specific to the individual student or schools. They do provide a training process for their essay consultants, but their essay consultants do not have training as college counselors, do not have experience as professional writers, and did not attend Ivy-Plus schools . They have been known to be very aggressive with their marketing emails, and have included some strange language in their sales pitches that seems inappropriate for high school students.

• Cost: €2997/silver (one hour consultation and then unlimited written essay review for one application, no supplemental essays), €4797/gold (one hour consultation and then unlimited written essay review, incl. supplemental essays for up to 10 schools; waitlist letter, scholarship applications), €8797/platinum (unlimited consults), €12797/titanium (unlimited consults)
• They have more of an international scope
• High prices
• Not focused on undergrad admissions

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.

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 story
• 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 important to note that a good college essay service will not write your college application essays for you . This is unethical and illegal. 

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

Best for individual consultants: College Essay Mentor

Best for unlimited essay assistance: The College Essay Guy

Best of the big platforms: College Vine

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

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

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

Schedule a free college essay consultation

Top College Essay Posts

• 14 Best College Essay Services for 2023 (40 Services Reviewed)
• How to Get into Harvard 2023-2024
• Hot to Get into Princeton 2023-2024
• How to Get into Yale 2023-2024
• How to Answer the UC Personal Insight Questions
• 11 College Essays That Worked
• How to Start a College Essay
• The Diamond Strategy: How We Help Students Write College Essays that Get Them Into Princeton (And Other Ivy League Schools)
• What is the College Essay? Your Complete Guide for 2023
• College Essay Brainstorming: Where to Start
• How to Write a ‘Why This College’ Essay + Examples that Worked for the Ivy League
• 9 Ways to (Quickly) Improve Your College Essay

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

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Christopher Null

The Write Stuff: 4 College Admissions Essay Editing Services Reviewed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aarian Marshall

Brenda Stolyar

Eric Ravenscraft

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

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

Note: When you buy something using the retail links in our stories, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Read more about how this works.

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

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

Readers' rating: 5.0

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

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

Readers' rating: 5.7

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

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

Readers' rating: 6.3

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

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

Readers' rating: 5.3

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

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

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Upload your college essay, including your essay prompt. We’ll match your application essay to one of our admissions essay editing experts.

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You can communicate with your essay editor and ask any questions or provide instructions about how you would like them to edit your essay.

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Which Application Essays Is This Service For?

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Detailed features of our essay editing services, expert proofreading.

Essay proofreading includes:

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Wordvice guarantees 100% accuracy in grammar and spelling—your edited paper will be free of objective writing errors.

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Our editors enhance the style, readability, and tone of your essay in the following ways:

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Our essay editing services focus on improving your message and impact in application essays to help you get accepted into your school of choice.

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Our Premium Admissions Essay Editing Service is ideal for SOPs, personal statements, and other application essays that require multiple drafts.

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• Fiona S. "Essay content improved" It is great that the context of my essay was understood and the editor had provided revisions that could retain my authorial intent. Thank you for the overall feedback on my personal statement; I loved the vocabulary and sentence suggestions. The order process was simple and the staff helped me during the process. Overall, it seemed like the editor understood what I wanted to discuss and the focus of my essay.
• Issa Ngoy "Helped me focus my ideas clearly" I had so many great ideas I wanted to discuss in my application essay, but I was very worried about my writing because English is not my first language. It was really nice to have an editor with experience with college admissions and could explain to me what I need to focus on and what I should not include. I really like my revised essay and I think now I have a much better chance to get accepted into my program!

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Hourly Personal Statement Plans

Do you already have a personal statement or supplemental essays drafted, but you’re not feeling 100% confident about it? Then our hourly plan is perfect for you. This efficient service gets right to the business of fine-tuning your essay, and it’s priced by the hour, so you’ll only pay for what you need.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Broad Review

You’ll send the personal statement draft you’ve already created to your consultant. They will give it a once over, focusing primarily on readability and coherence. 

They’ll also be looking to ensure that you have: 

• Fully answered the question.
• Presented yourself in a unique and distinctive way.
• Organized your personal statement(s) supplemental essays logically.
• Developed engaging openings and effective conclusions.

Step 2: Detailed Edit

Now that your consultant has helped you shape your story on a macro level, it’s time to drill down. In this second round, your consultant will focus on the microelements. They’ll pay special attention to things like clarity, grammar, style, spelling, and word usage. Once they’ve finely combed through your draft, they’ll shoot it back to you with suggested corrections.

Step 3: Submit Your Awesome Essay

After you’ve made all the corrections, your essay should be in good shape for you to do a final read through and send it on its way. It’s that easy. If you’re wondering how many hours to buy, consider the number of drafts you want reviewed. Then think about the general quality of your writing and how close your current draft is to being application-ready.

You can use the estimate guidelines in the chart below to determine your needs and move forward with purchasing some time ASAP. Or, if you need further assistance in making the decision, you can  obtain a free estimate before purchasing.

How Many Hours Do I Need?

Choose how many hours you want to start:.

Our rates provide prompt two-business-day turnaround.

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Starting at $ 30 /mo with Affirm .

Have a question? Not sure how much time you need?

We offer complete application packages too, initial personal statement package.

When you purchase our Personal Statement Package, you’ll receive:

• Up-front guidance and advising to save you “churn time.” Your initial introduction to your consultant will be through a questionnaire. They’ll look over your answers and then schedule time to meet with you via video conference or phone call. This 'face-to-face' meeting will provide them with the opportunity to get better acquainted with you. You’ll brainstorm together in real time and determine how to best present yourself and your unique qualifications in your personal statement. In this session, you’ll go over the core idea behind your essay and how to approach structuring it, as well as any important life experiences you might want to include.
• An outline for your personal statement.  Based on your questionnaire responses and the ensuing discussion you had on the brainstorming call, your consultant will create an outline for your personal statement that provides structure and direction. It consists of bullet points and prompts and is not a full draft. Applicant feedback has been that between the meeting and the outline, our clients have the confidence and direction they need to start writing. This initial step saves them time in creating their first draft and ultimately helps to produce a superior final result.
• Personal statement editing.  Once you’ve completed a strong first draft, your consultant will dig into the copy and begin editing. They’ll be focusing primarily on clarity, word usage, style, grammar, and spelling. From there, you’ll receive a draft with suggested corrections and changes. You’ll revise it based on those recommendations and then shoot it back to them. At this point, you’ll likely do a bit of back-and-forth with your consultant, fine tuning and editing until you have a personal statement you’re 100% happy with. Note that most personal statements benefit best from 2-4 rounds of review, but there is no clock ticking.

Our thorough and individualized Personal Statement Package gives you the confidence of knowing you are submitting the strongest personal statement possible.

Personal Statement Package

Starting at $107 /mo with Affirm .

Our regular rates provide prompt two-business-day turnaround. Our rush rates provide maximum one-business-day turnaround.

Starting at $ 80 /mo with Affirm .

• One Personal Statement Package provides all the editing and consulting you need for ONE essay at ONE school. Using our assistance in modifying this essay for other schools will incur additional charges.
• Packages must be entirely used in one application year.
• If you request to change consultants or work with a second consultant, you will incur additional charges.

Have a question? Not sure if a package is right for you?

Boring but important stuff.

• All rates are expressed and billed in U.S. dollars.
• Our regular rates provide two-business-day turnaround for each round of editing. 
• Services are subject to availability.
• All prices are subject to change without notice.

Harvard Square Essays

America’s premier college editing services, the best admissions essay help since 2009.

Craft a compelling college application with help from our Harvard-educated editors . Your college admissions essay may be the most important essay you will ever write, and your personal editor will ensure that not a single word is wasted. With a track record of assisting over 10,000 clients , we understand the admissions process inside out. Trust us to help you create college application essays and personal statements that leave a lasting impression.

Experience our swift turnaround time, with Harvard-educated editors refining your essay within 24 or 48 hours . Maximize your chances of success with our expert guidance and unlock your potential today.

Harvard Square Essays played an instrumental role in my successful admission to Columbia, Stanford, and the University of Chicago.

We only use Harvard-educated Editors

Crafting an exceptional college admissions essay requires meticulous attention to detail, insightful storytelling, and the ability to convey your personality. Our team of esteemed Harvard-educated editors are here to help you create a compelling personal statement that stands out from the competition.

Escape the sea of mediocre essays that inundate admissions officers and stand out with our boutique editing services. At Harvard Square Essays, we guarantee your application essays will be among the select few that capture and captivate the discerning eyes of admissions officers.

My confidence in the strength of my application has soared, thanks to Harvard Square Essays

Make Your Essay Perfect

Since 2009, Harvard Square Essay has helped 10,000+ clients achieve their dreams of attending the university of their dreams. Let our experienced team guide you in editing your statement of purpose and other critical admissions essays, ensuring your application stands out in the competitive landscape of college and university admissions.

Invest in your future today and let our dedicated team of editors assist you in perfecting your college admissions essay and personal statement. Together, we will work tirelessly to elevate your application.

Our clients have been admitted to the world's most elite colleges and universities, including:

Elite Editing Service

Our standard service. No matter where you begin, your essay will rise to an elite level in every respect:

• Send us a draft version of your essay and we immediately assign you a personal editor.
• Your editor crafts a polished, Harvard-level version of your essay and brings you under the word limit.
• You receive both the revised essay and a detailed critique of how your essay has been improved.

Turnaround time: 24 or 48 hrs

Prices start at: $149.00+

Veritas Editing Service

Our most popular service. You get the highest-level treatment from the best editors possible. Includes:

• An entire Elite Service treatment, with both essay and critique
• A week of access to a knowledgeable experienced editor via email who will work with you to help improve your essay even more
• A second full Elite Service edit of the same essay, incorporating all of the changes you discussed with your editor.

Prices start at: $199.00+

CV or Resume Service

The equivalent of our Veritas Service for your CV or resume.

Letter of Recommendation Service

The equivalent of our Elite Service for a letter of recommendation. We ensure that you are portrayed in the best light possible.

Testimonials

Don’t just take our word for it: since 2009, we have worked with thousands of applicants to help them get into the programs of their dreams! Our clients have been admitted into the world's best universities.

--> Thank you very much for your editing. I especially appreciated your comments and critique. Your editing made my essay much more succinct and clear, and your critique helped me learn the weaknesses of my writing, which will help me in the future. -->

Admitted, University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business

--> Before, I was worried that my essay was something I would regret as the biggest weakness in my application. Now I feel like it's one of my greatest strengths. -->

Admitted, Princeton University

--> I did a Google search and found your service. I was not sure what I would receive in return after submitting my daughter's personal statement. My daughter and I were speechless with the feedback and edits. Our editor kept original concepts in place but made the statement more scholarly and said everything much more eloquently. -->

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The Admissions Strategist

Revising, editing & proofreading your college application essay: a guide.

Although it’s only 650 words , writing the Common App essay is a long and in-depth process.

That’s because these 650 words can have a major impact on whether or not you are accepted to the college of your choice.

The essay gives admissions officers insight into your personality, goals, and interests, plus an idea of how you will fit into and contribute to their college campus.

• For these reasons, revising and editing is an essential step in the college essay writing process. You want your essay to be clear, concise, engaging, and polished.

To accomplish this goal, use this checklist for revising and editing the college application essay.

11-Item Checklist

Revising means improving the overall piece of writing.

This includes enhancing clarity, word choice, and structure.

It may also mean adding new ideas, improving current ideas, or removing ideas that are unnecessary or off-topic.

When it comes to revising the college application essay, here are some items you should consider.

1. Does the essay clearly address the selected topic or prompt?

It’s very important that your college application essay fully addresses the topic you selected or were assigned.

This is the foundation of college essay revisions; nothing else matters if you don’t address the topic correctly.

For example, imagine you selected this prompt from the Common Application:

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

First, make sure that your essay is directly related to the selected topic. It should be focused on a challenge or failure you have experienced and the lessons you learned as a result.

Additionally, ensure that you answered all parts of the question.

• An essay addressing this prompt, for example, would not be fully on topic if it only described a challenge you experienced.
• You must also explain how this challenge affected you and what you learned from the experience.
• Key words from the prompt (in this case “challenge,” or “setback,” and “lessons”) should be mentioned in the essay.

If your essay is off-topic or doesn’t address all parts of the question, you will need to do some revising.

You want to check the soundness of your essay and how it expands on the topic and conflict during the  first draft revision .

The first draft is where you’ll make major changes, such as changing the structure, shifting the focus on the story, rewriting entire paragraphs, or even scrapping the entire essay.

2. Is the college essay well-organized?

The first paragraph of your essay should include some sort of thesis or main idea for the essay.

The rest of the essay should be organized around this thesis, with all additional paragraphs developing and supporting the main idea.

Each paragraph should also have its own subtopic, and all information within each paragraph should further develop and support the subtopic.

• For example, your introduction could mention a challenge (like being bullied growing up as a result of a speech impediment), how this challenge affected you (it was hurtful and made you self-conscious for a while), and the lessons you ultimately learned (to be confident in yourself regardless of what others say, to handle hardships with humor and positivity, etc.).

You could then have one paragraph focused on describing the challenge, one on discussing how the challenge affected you, and a third, longer paragraph explaining the lessons you learned as a result.

• You should also use transitions to smoothly connect ideas and help readers follow your thought process.

It’s important to note that an essay with a complex structure or storytelling arc still needs to have an effective and clear payoff. Complexity is no substitute for solid writing.

• If you think the story and its message are becoming too convoluted, chances are that it is. And if you already think it is, then your readers would definitely agree.

While there’s no need to write a five-paragraph essay (I really mean that), the following structure will help you write a clear essay with an easy-to-follow structure:

• Introduction (Keep this short and sweet; don’t get bogged down with the details.)
• Conflict (What happened? What’s the problem?)
• Solution (What did you do to proactively solve the problem?)
• Lessons learned (What did you learn from pursuing a solution or experiencing this conflict? How have your values changed? How have these changes shifted your perspective? How will you change moving forward?

3. Supporting details, examples & anecdotes

Each paragraph should be well-developed with specific details, examples, or anecdotes supporting your point.

The college essay is not the same as a typical academic essay, which may be dry and lacking in personality.

Instead, the college essay is intended to demonstrate your voice, personality, and uniqueness. It should be engaging and colorful.

• You should include vivid, specific details to bring your points to life.
• In this way, a college essay is similar to a more creative piece of writing.
• As you and your parents or high school counselor look over the first draft of it, find places to add colorful examples and concrete details to breathe some more life into your writing.

Make sure all details and examples help support and develop the main points you are trying to convey.

Having trouble coming up with details? Think of the following:

• Who was involved?
• What happened? What did you do?
• When did this occur? Is there an important chronological context?
• Where did this occur? Is the setting relevant to the story?
• Why did this happen? Why did you react or act the way you did?
• How did you go about solving this problem?

Important : There’s an important principle in writing called “Chekhov’s gun” – use this principle when evaluating whether details are relevant to your essay. So, what is Chekhov’s gun?

• If you’re going to mention something in your college essay, make sure it plays a role somewhere else in the story.
• Don’t describe the color of the sky and the sound of an instrument if they aren’t mentioned again in the essay or don’t influence the plot.
• If you describe a bully as “strong” or a problem as “habitual,” the conflict each is a part of should be influenced by the strength of the bully or repetition of the problem.

Chekhov’s gun is critical because it will help you trim word count and stay on message.

4. Voice & Personality

Another way to make the essay interesting and engaging is to ensure that it is written in your own unique voice .

• Of course, the essay shouldn’t include slang, and it shouldn’t read like a text message to your best friend. But it also shouldn’t sound stiff, forced, or unnatural.

It should read almost as if you are talking to a teacher you feel comfortable with, or to a favorite older relative.

• When revising the essay, make sure you didn’t include too many high-level vocabulary words in an effort to sound intellectual, as this can sound forced.
• You can even read the essay aloud to see if it flows naturally and “sounds” like you.

The essay should also give the admissions officer a glimpse of your personality.

• Does the essay accurately portray who you are beyond your GPA, SAT scores, and extracurricular activities?
• If not, spend some time making sure it captures your unique identity.

This is the climax of the entire process of the revisions process — your own voice, perspective, and lessons learned are the most important elements of the essay.

5. A Good Candidate for Admission

Remember that another key purpose of the college essay is to show your school of choice that you are a strong candidate for admission.

When reading your essay, the admissions officer should form an understanding of what you can contribute to a college campus.

Be sure that your essay paints you in a positive light.

The rest of your application has already provided information about your GPA, SAT scores, and other accomplishments, but what else should admissions officers know about you to see that you are a good candidate for admission?

• This could include your love of learning, curiosity, persistence, motivation, resilience, teamwork, kindness, work ethic, enthusiasm for the school, leadership abilities, etc.

Before you submit the essay, check that it highlights some of the qualities that will make you an excellent college student and an asset to any campus.

Also, consider sharing it with one or two friends or trusted adults to get a second opinion.

This is the Barebones Exercise, a helpful exercise to determine whether you told an effective story and demonstrated your personality, values, and themes:

• Grab a highlighter and print your college essay.
• Highlight the most important sentences of your essay. These sentences should include topic sentences, sentences that propel the story, and sentences that imply or state your values.
• Write or copy and paste those highlighted sentences into a new document.
• Organize the sentences by the order in which they appear in your college essay.
• Read the sentences in order. How does it sound?
• This is the barebones version of your essay. What message are you getting? Is your simplified story still a cohesive narrative?
• Does this barebones version of your essay still imply or state the newfound values found in the conclusion of your original essay? What will the college admissions officer learn about you?

All told, you want this barebones version to emit the same messages and important elements found in your real college essay.

The barebones version helps you momentarily remove complementary details and determine the central premise of your essay.

6. Do you stick to the topic?

We already talked about addressing the topic, but it’s important that you stick to it as well. Check the essay for any information that is off-topic or unnecessary.

• During the entire revision process, it’s important to keep this in mind: Do you stay on topic, and do you extrapolate values as the essay progresses?

An easy way to do this is to identify your thesis statement. Anything in the essay that does not support, develop, or relate to the thesis statement should be cut.

• It can be tempting to include unrelated information that you would like to share with admissions officers, but doing so will make the essay disorganized and difficult to follow.

Additionally, each paragraph should have its own subtopic.

• Anything that doesn’t support, develop, or relate to each paragraph’s topic sentence should also be cut or moved to another, more relevant paragraph.

Use the Barebones Exercise from the previous section. Here’s how it works when checking whether you stuck to your topic:

• Highlight your topic sentences.
• Underline the set-up sentences that immediately follow your topic sentences.
• Highlight your resolution.
• Now, read your highlighted topic sentences.  Ask yourself whether they are properly telling the story.
• Read your set-up sentences that follow your topic sentences.  Do they support the topic sentence or main idea of the story? Are you getting off track? Do you exaggerate or sound overconfident or doubtful? Are you providing unnecessary details? Your words are $100 bills. Spend your money wisely to abide by the word count.
• Read your resolution.  Does it properly end the story in your own image?  Is it a cliché? Are you using pop culture or literary phrases? Too many of these supplant your voice for an artificial one. Are you closing the loop? Open-ended endings are perfectly fine but difficult to execute. Make sure you’re ending the story on your own terms.
• Of course: Did you answer the essay prompt?
• Overall: Are you covering too much ground? If so, rewrite and decrease the scope of the essay. Your job is to write effectively, not compose the next Harry Potter entry.

7. A good mix of short and long sentences

Sentence variety gives writing rhythm and life. It can make essays easier to follow and more engaging.

For these reasons, it’s important that the essay doesn’t include too many short sentences or too many long sentences. Instead, it should include a mix of both.

• Read through your essay to be sure it’s not full of only short, choppy sentences or long sentences with many clauses. Try to add more variety to your sentence lengths before submitting the essay.

Still having trouble? Read your essay aloud by yourself or to a friend and ask how it sounds. Short and choppy? Or smooth and fluid?

Think of your essay as if it were a song. Songs with multiple notes sound far superior to songs with dull, awkward notes.

Editing means fixing basic errors like spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and word usage.

To edit effectively, try reading the essay backward. This helps you focus more on spelling and grammar without being distracted by the ideas in the essay.

Focus on one type of error at a time, and read slowly and carefully, sentence by sentence.

The last four items on our checklist will help you ensure that your college essay is error-free. This is the concluding chapter of the revisions process.

8. Are all words spelled correctly?

Spell check doesn’t catch everything. Homonyms, for example, go unnoticed by spell check.

Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings, like “pair” and “pare,” or “they’re,” “their,” and “there.”

As long as you have spelled the word correctly, spell check won’t notice that the word itself is incorrect.

• The same goes for wrong words, like using “martial” instead of “marital.”
• “My favorite hobby it fishing.”

So relying on spell check could result in you turning in an essay that’s actually full of misspellings and wrong words.

Read carefully through the essay, ensuring that all words are spelled correctly and that you haven’t accidentally used an incorrect word.

9. Proper punctuation & capitalization

Check for proper use of commas, periods, parentheses, question marks, quotation marks and, if applicable, semicolons.

If you’re unsure about punctuation use, see if your English teacher is available to read over the essay and offer some suggestions.

Alternatively, research proper use of punctuation on the Internet or at the library.

• Additionally, the first word in each sentence should be capitalized, along with proper nouns (names of people and places) and the word “I.”
• For the most part, all other words should be lowercase.

Similar to the issue with spelling, programs don’t always notice grammar errors. If grammar and usage aren’t your strengths, you might not realize you’ve written something incorrectly. For example:

“My hard work has positively effected my grades.”

This might be the kind of error many people miss. Do you know the difference between affect and effect?

If not, it’s a good idea to ask someone.

Because grammatical rules can be complicated, it’s better to get help than to risk not using them correctly.

10. Do you abide by the word count?

You need to follow the word count the prompt provides.

• This is non-negotiable.
• Not following the word count implies to college admissions officers that you won’t follow the most basic rules on campus.

At first, your Common App essay should be 800 or 900 words long. Extra details and paragraphs in the preliminary stages are OK.

Now that you like the essence of your college essay, here’s a step-by-step process on trimming word count:

• You can find the most “fat” here because you likely started writing your essay thinking about big ideas.
• That means you tried to explain things and give full but ineffective context to your situation.
• Clichés are usually abundant in this part. Don’t use clichés. You’d be drowning out your writing.
• Be sure to lop off parts that needlessly explain your ending, but be careful not to eliminate useful aspects of your resolution.
• Do you repeat things in different words?
• Do you use clichés?
• Are your quotes of appropriate length?
• Do you overuse aphorisms?
• Are your similes of appropriate length? Do you use too many?
• Are your metaphors of appropriate length? Do you use too many?
• Do you use too many analogies? Are any of them excessively clumsy?
• Are any of them excessively clumsy?
• Are you trying too hard to sound smart?
• Do you use these words in everyday writing? If not, they might not be a good fit for your essay.

11. Sentence Structure

Check that word usage and sentence structure is grammatically correct as well. This includes:

• Subject-verb agreement
• Consistent verb tenses (not switching back and forth between past and present, for example)
• Are there any run-on sentences or sentence fragments?
• Are the antecedents (Ex: my mom, Mr. Hughes) for all pronouns (Ex: she, he) clear, and do pronouns and antecedents agree in number?
• Does the essay include any unnecessary adjectives or adverbs?
• Have you unintentionally left out any words, or included words that should be deleted?

Critical Tips to Help You With Proofreading

After you consult the checklist above, utilize the tips below help you write a stellar and mistake-free essay.

Read Your Essay Aloud

• This is probably the best tip for any piece of writing you plan to show someone, but it’s especially important for the college essay. Most professionals practice reading their work aloud to a small audience or to themselves.
• When you do this, you are far more likely to hear the errors your eyes tend to miss.
• Reading to an audience of one or more people can also be beneficial, because they can catch the errors you didn’t hear.

While reading aloud won’t always help you with typos, it will give you a sense of whether or not your phrasing is awkward, or your sentences are too wordy.

• Simply put, if it doesn’t sound right, it usually isn’t.

Treat reading your college essay aloud like a process. The more you do it, the more chances you have to evaluate particular phrases and sentences.

Proofreading Requires Taking a Step Back

For most writers, time can be incredibly valuable when drafting their work.

Tired eyes often miss simple mistakes, and the more we look at something we have written, the more immune we are to its flaws. That seems counterintuitive, but it’s true.

• There is simply no substitute for taking a break from your writing and coming back to it later.

When you approach your essay with a fresh look, it will seem like a totally new piece of writing. It’s not always the best writing, but that gives you the opportunity to make the necessary changes.  

Print Your Essay

Like taking a break from your work, printing your writing allows you to see it in a completely different way . Most of us are used to only working on a computer, and we rarely print work out to edit.

• However, there is no substitute for marking up your writing with a pencil or pen.

Many people say that when they print out their writing, it seems like someone else wrote it. This is exactly the perspective you need to be a good judge of what’s on the page.

Proofreading With Different Eyes

Having another person proofread your work might not always be your favorite option.

Many of us aren’t very comfortable showing what we’ve written to other people, but having another person edit your work is incredibly helpful.

• This person could be a teacher, friend, or anyone else whose knowledge and writing expertise you trust.
• Y our current or former teachers have the advantage of knowing your writing well, so they are often the best people to consult.

Teachers have likely read many college essays in the past, so they are experts in correcting errors.

While your English teacher might be the obvious choice, consider showing your essay to a college counselor.

They, too, have read many personal essays, and they can help you with any stage of your editing process.

While your teachers know your writing, friends know you personally. They can be the best judges of whether you’re saying something in exactly the right way.

Of course, you are the writer, and it is entirely your choice which suggestions to take or leave, so consider the legitimacy of the advice you get before making any changes.

Save Multiple Drafts

Occasionally, you might proofread your college essay, making some changes to the original document without saving an original. Sometimes, those changes might not be what you want out of a final draft. In writing, it’s always helpful to see where you started.

• If you scrap something, keep the original version so you can remember how you expressed your thinking originally.

Make sure, when saving your drafts, that they are clearly marked to prevent confusion. You don’t want to make the mistake of sending the wrong draft in; there might not be any going back from that step.

Proofread Multiple Times

There is simply no substitute for putting the time and effort in to review your college essay. To maximize your editing skills, you need multiple opportunities to use them. By taking a break, printing your work, or reading aloud, you are automatically providing opportunities for multiple readings. You will probably find that when you do this, you will have opportunities to correct different types of errors. Keep going until your editing is complete.

Create the Ideal Setting

While this may sound obvious, minimizing distractions while proofreading allows for a sharper eye and better-focused attention on your work.

• If you are easily bothered by noise from other people or from music and television, find a quiet place where you can devote all of your attention to the task of editing. If music helps you focus, try that, too.

Editors thrive in the settings that make them feel comfortable and focused, so make sure to find yours.

Advice From a Writing Expert

Amy Ostroth, senior director of communications at Sweet Briar College, has this advice for students:

Proofreading and revising your college application essay — or even essays you might write for class — are important parts of the writing process. I use three strategies when I’m reviewing my own writing. First, read the piece backwards so you won’t be tempted to see what you meant to write instead of what you actually wrote. Second, read the piece out loud to yourself. Third, find a friend or family member and read the piece out loud to them. You’ll catch new things and they’ll be a second set of ears to hear things you might have missed!

Recap: College Essay Revisions, Edits & Proofreading

Plan, write, revise, and edit your college essay using this checklist, and you’ll be able to submit an engaging, precise, and polished final product. These items ensure the entire process of revisions is implemented in an even-keeled manner.

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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.

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Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will help you craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges.

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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.

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

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

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How our unlimited essay

Editing service works.

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

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

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What types of application essays

Can students submit, personal statement.

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

Supplemental Essays

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

Deferral Letters

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

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Common application essays, scholarship essays, coalition application essays.

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

Learn to highlight your strengths and character through your writing

Establish a clear and consistent voice across your materials

Draft a letter that demonstrates interest in your dream school

Our college essay

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

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

With our help, your essay will be more focused |

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

Learn to write college essays that will get you admitted |

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

Draft a misstake get you mistake | free essay

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

Have more questions? Contact Us

Frequently asked questions

How do i make my personal statement stand out.

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

Is it illegal to have someone edit your college essay?

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

Can a college essay get you in?

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

Do college essays really matter?

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

Who can review my college essay?

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

How much does it cost to edit a college essay?

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

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Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay

How to Write an Effective Essay

Writing an essay for college admission gives you a chance to use your authentic voice and show your personality. It's an excellent opportunity to personalize your application beyond your academic credentials, and a well-written essay can have a positive influence come decision time.

Want to know how to draft an essay for your college application ? Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing.

Tips for Essay Writing

A typical college application essay, also known as a personal statement, is 400-600 words. Although that may seem short, writing about yourself can be challenging. It's not something you want to rush or put off at the last moment. Think of it as a critical piece of the application process. Follow these tips to write an impactful essay that can work in your favor.

1. Start Early.

Few people write well under pressure. Try to complete your first draft a few weeks before you have to turn it in. Many advisers recommend starting as early as the summer before your senior year in high school. That way, you have ample time to think about the prompt and craft the best personal statement possible.

You don't have to work on your essay every day, but you'll want to give yourself time to revise and edit. You may discover that you want to change your topic or think of a better way to frame it. Either way, the sooner you start, the better.

2. Understand the Prompt and Instructions.

Before you begin the writing process, take time to understand what the college wants from you. The worst thing you can do is skim through the instructions and submit a piece that doesn't even fit the bare minimum requirements or address the essay topic. Look at the prompt, consider the required word count, and note any unique details each school wants.

3. Create a Strong Opener.

Students seeking help for their application essays often have trouble getting things started. It's a challenging writing process. Finding the right words to start can be the hardest part.

Spending more time working on your opener is always a good idea. The opening sentence sets the stage for the rest of your piece. The introductory paragraph is what piques the interest of the reader, and it can immediately set your essay apart from the others.

4. Stay on Topic.

One of the most important things to remember is to keep to the essay topic. If you're applying to 10 or more colleges, it's easy to veer off course with so many application essays.

A common mistake many students make is trying to fit previously written essays into the mold of another college's requirements. This seems like a time-saving way to avoid writing new pieces entirely, but it often backfires. The result is usually a final piece that's generic, unfocused, or confusing. Always write a new essay for every application, no matter how long it takes.

5. Think About Your Response.

Don't try to guess what the admissions officials want to read. Your essay will be easier to write─and more exciting to read─if you’re genuinely enthusiastic about your subject. Here’s an example: If all your friends are writing application essays about covid-19, it may be a good idea to avoid that topic, unless during the pandemic you had a vivid, life-changing experience you're burning to share. Whatever topic you choose, avoid canned responses. Be creative.

6. Focus on You.

Essay prompts typically give you plenty of latitude, but panel members expect you to focus on a subject that is personal (although not overly intimate) and particular to you. Admissions counselors say the best essays help them learn something about the candidate that they would never know from reading the rest of the application.

7. Stay True to Your Voice.

Use your usual vocabulary. Avoid fancy language you wouldn't use in real life. Imagine yourself reading this essay aloud to a classroom full of people who have never met you. Keep a confident tone. Be wary of words and phrases that undercut that tone.

8. Be Specific and Factual.

Capitalize on real-life experiences. Your essay may give you the time and space to explain why a particular achievement meant so much to you. But resist the urge to exaggerate and embellish. Admissions counselors read thousands of essays each year. They can easily spot a fake.

9. Edit and Proofread.

When you finish the final draft, run it through the spell checker on your computer. Then don’t read your essay for a few days. You'll be more apt to spot typos and awkward grammar when you reread it. After that, ask a teacher, parent, or college student (preferably an English or communications major) to give it a quick read. While you're at it, double-check your word count.

Writing essays for college admission can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. A well-crafted essay could be the deciding factor─in your favor. Keep these tips in mind, and you'll have no problem creating memorable pieces for every application.

What is the format of a college application essay?

Generally, essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. You don't need to include a title, which will only take up extra space. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next. Read the instructions and prompt for more guidance.

Most online applications will include a text box for your essay. If you're attaching it as a document, however, be sure to use a standard, 12-point font and use 1.5-spaced or double-spaced lines, unless the application specifies different font and spacing.

How do you start an essay?

The goal here is to use an attention grabber. Think of it as a way to reel the reader in and interest an admissions officer in what you have to say. There's no trick on how to start a college application essay. The best way you can approach this task is to flex your creative muscles and think outside the box.

You can start with openers such as relevant quotes, exciting anecdotes, or questions. Either way, the first sentence should be unique and intrigue the reader.

What should an essay include?

Every application essay you write should include details about yourself and past experiences. It's another opportunity to make yourself look like a fantastic applicant. Leverage your experiences. Tell a riveting story that fulfills the prompt.

What shouldn’t be included in an essay?

When writing a college application essay, it's usually best to avoid overly personal details and controversial topics. Although these topics might make for an intriguing essay, they can be tricky to express well. If you’re unsure if a topic is appropriate for your essay, check with your school counselor. An essay for college admission shouldn't include a list of achievements or academic accolades either. Your essay isn’t meant to be a rehashing of information the admissions panel can find elsewhere in your application.

How can you make your essay personal and interesting?

The best way to make your essay interesting is to write about something genuinely important to you. That could be an experience that changed your life or a valuable lesson that had an enormous impact on you. Whatever the case, speak from the heart, and be honest.

Is it OK to discuss mental health in an essay?

Mental health struggles can create challenges you must overcome during your education and could be an opportunity for you to show how you’ve handled challenges and overcome obstacles. If you’re considering writing your essay for college admission on this topic, consider talking to your school counselor or with an English teacher on how to frame the essay.

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6 Best Essay Writing Services: Review Of Most Legit Essay Writing Sites In 2024

E ssay writing can be intimidating for students across all levels of education, from high school to college. Often, they grapple with initiating or organizing their thoughts. Additionally, tight deadlines leave little room for thorough research and gathering credible facts. Without adequate assistance, students may submit poorly written papers.

Struggling students, especially those with declining academic performance, often face a crisis of confidence. Crafting a high-quality essay requires extensive research on the topic and strict adherence to guidelines. Depending on one’s proficiency, this process could span weeks or months. In these moments of need, essay writing services emerge as beacons of hope, offering a lifeline to students seeking respite from the academic whirlwind.

In this article, we delve into the various types of services, highlighting their benefits and risks.  So, buckle up and embark on this journey of discovery as we unravel the mysteries of essay writing services and navigate the academic maze together.   

Top 6 Websites For Online Writing Services

Through careful research and assessment, these are the best essay writing websites that meet our standards.

• ProwWritngCrew – Best College Essay Writing Service - 5/5 ✅
• EssayMasterz – Cheap Essay Writing Service - 4.86/5✅
• EssayScribez – Professional University Essay Writing Service - 4.85/5✅
• SkilledEssayWriter – Best Paper Writing Site for Students - 4.83/5✅
• EssayLegends – Fastest Essay Writing Service - 4.82/5✅
• QualityEssayWriter – The Most Affordable Essay Writing Service - 4.0/5✅

Each online writing service offers unique strengths and considerations. ProwWritingCrew stands out for its high-quality college essays, albeit at a higher price point. EssayMasterz prioritizes affordability without compromising quality, although ensuring consistency is crucial.

EssayScribez specializes in professional university-level essays with mid-range pricing, suitable for polished work. SkilledEssayWriter caters to student needs with a user-friendly interface, though its specialization may limit versatility. EssayLegends promise quick turnaround times, yet thoroughness may be sacrificed for speed. 

QualityEssayWriter provides budget-friendly options covering a wide range of topics, but quality assurance is essential. Consider your priorities, whether it's quality, affordability, or speed before making your choice. Here is a detailed analysis of these websites with prices, pros and cons.

1. ProWritingCrew.com

ProWritingCrew.com stands out as one of the top contenders in the realm of essay writing services. With a user-friendly interface and a team of experienced writers, this platform offers a wide range of services at competitive prices.

Additionally, ProWritingCrew offers clients a streamlined ordering process and direct communication with their assigned writers. This ensures that specific requirements are well-understood and met accurately. 

The platform takes pride in its punctual delivery, even for urgent orders. Whether you need help with essays, research papers, or any academic assignment, ProWritingCrew is committed to providing exceptional service customized to your needs.

Prices 

The company offers affordable prices for their services. To have your papers written, the cost begins at $32 per page high school level with a minimum of 4 hours of deadline. Pricing varies based on the assignment type and urgency. 

Additionally, they provide discounts through promo codes. For example, spending over $500 on the platform earns you a 5% discount. Rest assured, all payments are processed securely through reputable gateways, ensuring the safety of your personal information. 

The platform provides excellent customer service, with responsive support agents available round-the-clock to address queries and concerns. Here is the list of pros of this service.

• Original Writing – complete all papers from scratch.
• Money-back Guarantee – if your essay has any genuine issues.
• Timely Delivery – 97% of assignments are completed on time.
• Plagiarism Check.
• 500+ Expert Writers.

The website stands out as one of the best services that write papers for you. However, some users have reported occasional inconsistencies in quality and pricing discrepancies.

• Revision Policy – Some clients perceive the revision process as restrictive or cumbersome.
• Subject Availability – The availability of writers for specific niche subjects or specialized topics may be limited. 

2. EssayMasterz.com

EssayMasterz.com prides itself on delivering high-quality papers tailored to each client's requirements. With a diverse pool of writers specializing in various subjects, this platform ensures personalized attention to every order.  

From academic essays to research papers, EssayMasterz collaborates closely with clients to create meticulously crafted content that meets the highest standards. 

The pricing varies based on the type of paper. For instance, research papers begin at approximately $12 per page. While coursework writing services start at around $32 per page. If you require an essay writer, their services are available starting at $ 6 per page at the school level.

The website also offers you a 20% discount for your first order. It is a huge relief for someone who is trying paper writing services for the first time,

These are the pros of EssayMasterz.

• Impeccable grammar.
• Adherence to deadlines.
• Unlimited revisions after two weeks of completing the order.
• Available 24\7.
• Higher Pricing – some users find the pricing slightly higher compared to other services.
• Limited Discount Offers – offers fewer discount opportunities for loyal customers.

However, the best thing about them is they are continuously seeking customer reviews and improving their services.

3. EssayScribez.com

EssayScribez.com caters to students seeking reliable essay writing solutions with a focus on quality and professionalism. The platform offers a seamless ordering process and guarantees original, well-researched content.

Moreover, EssayScribez.com guarantees original, well-researched content that meets academic standards and helps students achieve their educational goals. Whether you’re facing tight deadlines or need assistance with complex topics, EssayScribez.com is your go-to destination for high-quality writing services.

EssayScribez provides a pricing system that caters to various needs. Their rates are influenced by factors such as urgency, academic level, and word count, ensuring affordability for all. Prices begin at $12 per page for college-level writing with a 14-day delivery. 

For more advanced levels (Master’s or Ph.D.), the cost ranges from $14 to $60 per page. If you require expedited service, you can receive your work within 24 hours for an additional fee.

EsasyScribez has gained a reputation within years of its launch. Their key to success is staying loyal to their customers by not compromising on quality.

• Transparent Pricing.
• Comprehensive research.
• Accept PayPal payments.
• 300+ Active writers.
• PhD level academic proficiency.

EssayScribez is a newly launched service despite the short period it has gained a lot of positive reviews. With a burst of positive reviews, there are a few neutral and negative reviews also present. 

• Interface Usability – Some users have recommended enhancements to the website’s interface to improve usability and navigation.
• Pricing Discrepancies – Although the pricing is competitive, there have been occasional instances where users noticed discrepancies in the final billing.

4. SkilledEssayWriter.com

SkilledEssayWriter is renowned for its commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction. With a team of seasoned writers, this platform delivers top-notch essays tailored to each student's academic level and requirements. 

They deliver customized essays that align with individual academic levels and specific requirements. The platform prioritizes customer satisfaction. Whether it’s prompt responses, revisions, or addressing queries, SkilledEssayWriter.com ensures a seamless experience.

SkilledEssayWriter takes into account students’ budget constraints. Their pricing structure is flexible, adapting to factors like urgency, academic level, and word count, ensuring affordability. For instance:

• An undergraduate-level essay costs $16 with a 14-day delivery.
• A Master level essay is priced at $60.
• For a PhD level essay, the cost is $80. If you require expedited service, the price will adjust based on your specified deadline.
• High-Quality Complex Papers – delivers excellent quality papers, ensuring attention to formatting, structure, depth, and uniqueness.
• Customizable Requests – Your requirements will be followed meticulously.
• Expertise Across Disciplines.
• Interactive Communication.
• Handling Challenging Topics – Writers adeptly manage challenging topics and meet specific requirements.
• Urgent delivery for complex papers can take a while.
• Some errors are found in the final draft.

5. EssayLegend.com

EssayLegend.com emerges as a reliable option for students seeking premium-quality essays at competitive prices. The platform boasts a team of skilled writers capable of tackling diverse topics with precision and expertise. 

From academic essays to research papers, their writers bring depth and insight to each piece. The platform maintains rigorous quality standards. Essays undergo thorough checks to ensure originality, coherence, and adherence to guidelines.

EssayLegend offers a flexible pricing structure, catering to students with diverse budgets. Their rates range from a minimum of $12 per page (for 550 words) with a 4-hour deadline to a maximum of $32 per page. 

Clients can conveniently estimate the cost of their order using the website’s pricing calculator, which provides a detailed breakdown of associated fees. Rest assured, EssayLegend delivers fair and affordable pricing while maintaining high-quality service.

• The platform provides informative writer profiles, enabling clients to choose the right person for the job. With various filters, you can find a writer who aligns with your requirements.
• Discounts – As your order contains more pages, the discount increases, allowing you to save up to 40%. 
• Urgent delivery – you can place an order for a minimum of 4 hours deadline.
• Plagiarism Reports – clients can request a free Turnitin plagiarism report for any order. This commitment to originality is commendable.
• Some users have reported occasional discrepancies in content quality and adherence to instructions.
• You cannot call the support team.

6. QualityEssayWriter.com

QualityEssayWriter.com is synonymous with professionalism, reliability, and excellence in essay writing services. With a focus on customer satisfaction, this platform offers a plethora of benefits, including personalized assistance, round-the-clock support, and free revisions. 

Whether it’s the middle of the night or the crack of dawn, QualityEssayWriter.com is there for its clients. The 24/7 customer support team promptly addresses queries, concerns, and urgent requests, providing peace of mind to students navigating tight deadlines.

QualityEssayWriter offers competitive pricing for academic papers. Starting at $12 per page, the cost depends on your academic level, field of study, and project submission deadline. Additionally, their refund policy provides reassurance.

Upon registering with your email address and placing your first order, you’ll receive a 9% discount. However, one challenge faced by the company is sourcing enough native American and British speakers for their services.

• Swift Delivery – Need an urgent essay? QualityEssayWriter has you covered. Their rapid delivery option can have your essay ready in as little as three hours, without compromising quality.
• User-Friendly Website – The intuitive website design ensures a seamless experience, and the order form presents clear and concise questions to guide you through the process.
• Extra Features, Beyond writing, QualityEssayWriter provides essential features at no extra cost. These include formatting, an outline, a professional-looking title page, and even a plagiarism report.
• Expensive for tight deadlines.
• Occasionally, there might be a short delay in receiving a response from the writer as they could be occupied with other tasks.

Conclusion of Best Essay Writing Service:

In conclusion, as students explore their academic journey, they encounter a wide range of choices for obtaining essay writing help. From exploring the best paper writing services to seeking out top essay writers, this journey has been both enlightening and empowering. Quality, affordability, and reliability are key considerations as students confidently choose from the best essay writers online and top essay writing service providers. 

Without a doubt, leveraging platforms such as ProWritingCrew to QualityEssayWriter for essay orders provides multiple benefits. These services act as a vital support system for students as they tackle the challenging requirements of academic success. 

In this dynamic landscape, the pursuit of excellence remains crucial. As students navigate the academic maze, legitimate paper writing services and reputable essay writing providers offer valuable guidance and support.

However, with a plethora of options available, choosing the right essay writing service can be akin to navigating a maze. Each platform promises impeccable writing, timely delivery, and unmatched quality, leaving students perplexed and overwhelmed by the abundance of choices. In this competitive landscape, it becomes imperative to discern between the myriad offerings and select the service that best aligns with one’s academic needs and preferences.

Throughout our investigation, we’ve encountered a diverse range of essay-writing websites, each with its unique strengths and considerations. Whether you’re searching for the best online essay writing service or evaluating the top essay writers, students now know how to make informed decisions based on their specific requirements.

The Non-Ac Career: Establishing a Freelance Writing and Editing Career

A writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, Kat Howard (PhD 2009) didn’t think seriously about writing professionally until a year before she graduated. “It is still kind of amazing to me that I get to make part of my living telling stories,” she says. Howard is the author of An Unkindness of Magicians , which won a 2018 Alex Award, and its sequel A Sleight of Shadows (2023). A 2019 short fiction collection, A Cathedral of Myth and Bone , includes work that has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and anthologized in "best of" volumes; her debut novel Roses and Rot was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Howard was the writer for the first 18 issues of The Books of Magic , part of DC Comics' Sandman Universe. She graciously answered our emailed questions.

Would you describe your career path? 

I’ve always loved reading, and thinking about books and writing. My time as a grad student in the English department was very much the result of that; I loved being a graduate student and having the time to think deeply about words and language, and I’ve definitely taken that with me into all aspects of my current career.

Freelancing full time was a bit of a shift for me. I hadn’t intended to write fiction at all—I thought my home was in academia. Then, even when I realized that I could write professionally, I had thought that my day job (most writers have one) would be in academia. The shifting of professional academia meant things didn’t play out according to my plans, and I jumped into full time freelancing much earlier than I expected to. When I’m not writing, I’m a freelance developmental editor—I work with other writers on a one-to-one basis to strengthen and polish their work. I still use the skills that I acquired in graduate school—the ability to research, to revise, to write to deadline, to analyze various components of fiction—every day.

What has surprised you most about your current role?

In a way, the fact that it happened. I wasn’t someone who knew from an early age that they were going to be a writer. I never took any creative writing classes while in school. I thought academia was going to be my home—I was a year away from defending my dissertation before I attended the writing workshop that made me think that writing professionally was a possibility for me at all.

What do you wish you had known as a graduate student?

I wish I had known, or known more deeply, that there’s value in learning what you don’t like as well as what you do. I used to have a mindset that trying something and realizing it wasn’t for me meant that I had wasted time or money. Whereas now I think, “Okay, it’s good to know that even though I thought I might like this thing, I actually don’t. Now I can put my energy toward something else that I might like better.” Figuring this out has actually made me more likely to try new things.

What advice would you give current students embarking on their postdoctoral careers?

I don’t think it’s any secret that the job market in the humanities is difficult right now, and has been tricky for a while. So the first thing I would say is to have some compassion for yourself as you go through the process—offer yourself grace.

Perhaps more practically, I’d say have a backup plan or three, and also know that it’s okay to throw those out or change them if they’re not working. Realize that you have more skills than you think you do—you’ve learned valuable and useful ways of thinking and seeing the world. And that it’s okay to go for the thing that seems a little unusual or maybe just out of reach, because you never know.

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WI Courses in Professional Writing

Wrtg-21300 and 31700 (fa24).

The Department of Writing will offer two professional writing courses in Fall 2024.

Designated Writing Intensives (WI) for the Integrative Core Curriculum (ICC), both provide students with marketable skills for their future careers.

Technical Writing (WRTG-21300-01, CRN 21379) Tuesday-Thursday: 1:10 PM to 2:50 PM

Technical Writing teaches the fundamentals for communicating technical, medical, and scientific information to general and specialized audiences. Students cover the foundations of technical writing, various formats and applications, context-specific writing strategies, basic visual design, and ethics. They also address such practical challenges within the field as job-hunting, group work, institutional demands, and market forces.

Prerequisites: WRTG-10600 or ICSM-10800. (4 credits)

Past Syllabus: https://www.ithaca.edu/file-download/download/public/24926

Proposal and Grant Writing (WRTG-31700-01, CRN 21386) Tuesday-Thursday: 9:25 AM to 11:05 AM

Proposal and Grant Writing teaches how to write in the nonprofit sector. Students address problems in the local community while studying the interplay among business, education, government, and nonprofits. Attentive to civic responsibility in the marketplace, the course teaches research and assessment, project management, editing, and document design. as well as the history and politics of the U.S. third sector.

Prerequisites: One 200-level course in Liberal Arts and WRTG 10600 or ICSM 10800. (4 credits)

Past Syllabus: https://www.ithaca.edu/file-download/download/public/24929

Edit for Scribbr

Join the top 2% of academic editors worldwide. Apply to become a Scribbr editor now:

• Pass the Scribbr Academy
• Double your editing speed and learn new skills
• Exchange knowledge with a community of editors
• Help students become stronger writers
• Make extra money

• Our editors
• Become an editor

About Scribbr

We believe that all students deserve guidance as they learn how to communicate effectively and put their ideas on paper. With every edit, we provide personalized feedback to help students learn from their mistakes and become better writers.

Did you know that we have a Trustpilot score of 4.7 out of 5 ? We take pride in the quality of our service and our highly skilled editors .

What makes Scribbr unique?

• Passionate team of experts
• New orders every day, all year round
• 24/7 support by phone, email, and chat
• Courses, mentorship, and skills development
• Open community and community events

Flexible work on your terms

As a Scribbr editor, you’ll help students all over the world from your home office. All you need is a laptop and a wifi connection.

How does it work?

• Set your availability calendar.
• Accept or decline assignments.
• Edit with track changes.
• Share constructive feedback.
• Work whenever, wherever.

We have transparent per-word fees and pay you every two weeks. You can earn an average of €145 for reviewing a 10,000-word thesis .

Our support team and community of editors are available every day to help you. You’ll have the best of both worlds: the flexibility you’ve always dreamed of and an awesome team that has your back.

Develop and grow

We value growth, and it’s at the heart of everything we do. As part of your application process, you will join the Scribbr Academy, where you’ll learn how to perform our services and receive personalized coaching. If you’re successful it doesn’t stop there. A lot more is waiting for you!

Learning culture at Scribbr

• Skills roadmap for editors
• Courses and mentorship opportunities
• Bi-weekly newsletters with valuable tips
• 24/7 help with editing questions

Freelancing simplified

As a Scribbr editor, you’ll receive work directly to your inbox. Our HQ team works behind the scenes to keep the work flowing.

Here’s what we do for you:

• Our support team handles customer communication and logistics
• Our marketing team drives new customers to our platform
• Our finance team does the invoicing to pay you every two weeks
• Our operations team collects and implements your feedback

Let us handle the business, so you can focus on editing.

Make a real impact

See how you help students every day!

After students review your feedback, they can send you a digital thank you note. We receive words of gratitude from students all the time.

As a qualified editor, you’ll be able to see the positive difference you make in students’ lives on your thank you wall. Until then, check out these Trustpilot review from happy customers.

Join the community!

Welcome to the Scribbr community!

As part of this community, you’ll be in the top 2% of academic editors worldwide.

Tap into this network:

• Ask questions and get advice
• Meet fellow editors all over the world
• Participate in workshops and events
• Help other editors realize their untapped potential

We are on a mission to make Scribbr a place where freelance editors love to work. When you join our team, you join a supportive and thriving community of like-minded editors from all over the world!

Qualifications

Do you want to join our editor team? We’d love to invite you to start the application process !

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree or higher
• Interest in a wide range of subjects
• Microsoft Word skills and tech skills
• Availability to edit 10,000 words per week
• Prior academic editing experience
• Freelance and remote work experience
• Interest in a long-term collaboration

Why the top 2%?

We promise students that we work with highly skilled editors—and to keep this promise, we’ve developed a unique (and admittedly demanding) application process for our editors.

Out of every 100 applicants, we only qualify 2 new editors. We use our challenging language quiz to identify the applicants who are the best fit for our team. As you advance through the process, you’ll receive more support and feedback from our Academy Coaches. With every step, you’ll get closer to becoming a qualified editor.

Do you have what it takes? We look forward to welcoming you to our team!

Language quiz

Only 2% of applicants pass our challenging grammar and style quiz. If you’re up for the challenge and make the grade, we’ll invite you to apply.

Test Document

You’ve proven that you know your grammar — now, we want to see how you apply that knowledge through three short sample edits.

Scribbr Academy

This is the final stage of your application process. During the Scribbr Academy you will learn how to edit according to Scribbr guidelines, and get tested via simulation orders (the quantity depends on your performance). Throughout this stage you’ll receive support from our Academy Coaches every step of the way.

Thank you for your interest in working as an editor! Unfortunately, we are not recruiting at the moment, but we will make sure to update this page whenever we start our recruitment process again.

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

• Email [email protected]
• Start live chat
• Call +1 (510) 822-8066
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

All Scribbr editors are native speakers, which means that they have spoken English since early childhood. We only work with native speakers because these editors understand the cadence of the language and have mastered its idiomatic forms.

It is difficult for non-native speakers to acquire these traits, even if they are fluent and have spoken the language throughout their adult lives. Since our customers wish to work only with native speakers, we have no flexibility in this requirement.

We don’t rely solely on nativeness. Our editors are vetted through a rigorous application process, through which they are asked to demonstrate technical grammar knowledge, familiarity with academic writing, and an understanding of editing principles. All successful applicants also complete our Scribbr Academy training program, where they learn how to edit for students.

Editor application process

Editing for students is different from other kinds of editing. The Scribbr Academy is the last step of your application process, but it comes with some benefits. During your time in the Academy, we will train you on how to perform Scribbr’s services and edit in the Scribbr style . The training also features practical elements, such as one-on-one coaching, that are beneficial to you . In this way, we will prepare you to face real-life student orders and jump start your editing career at Scribbr.

In order to become a qualified editor at Scribbr, you will need to apply the learnings from the Academy and pass 2 – 5 simulation orders (the exact number depends on performance).

You must apply through our website and complete all the steps in the Scribbr editor application process.

It is not possible to see the answers to our quiz . If you’re looking for more insights on related issues, check out Scribbr’s language articles and websites that address grammar and writing issues.

If you’re accepted as an editor in the Scribbr Academy , the information package you gain access to includes an article with the correct answers to a previous version of our language quiz.

On average, you can expect to earn approximately €20 to €30 per hour as a Scribbr editor .

The earnings are calculated based on fixed per-word rates that we have set for different kinds of assignments. We will communicate these rates to you as soon as you are in your Scribbr Academy .

The per-word rate for each order is determined by:

• The editing deadline (the shorter the deadline, the higher the rate); and
• The services purchased (whether a Structure or Clarity Check is booked on top of standard proofreading and editing ).

In our Scribbr Academy , we train you to edit as efficiently as possible—which will help you to increase the speed at which you work. For example, we include a Scribbr Word macro that you can use to easily utilize standardized in-text comments.

Incoming editors should be highly knowledgeable regarding grammar, academic style, and the conventions of both US English and UK English.

You’ll need this knowledge to not only edit student papers but also provide individualized feedback for students.

We also expect new editors to have read widely in a variety of fields and to feel comfortable editing academic texts in a range of subjects, including the hard sciences and the social sciences. New editors likewise need to be familiar with the structure of different types of academic texts, including dissertations, theses, reports, and essays.

Finally, you’ll need to be comfortable working with Microsoft Word, including its Track Changes feature.

Since Scribbr specializes in academic editing for students , we require our editors to be thesis and academic writing experts. Every Scribbr editor has a thorough understanding of academic writing conventions and research concepts used in higher education.

Most of the papers we receive are theses and dissertations. We prefer to work with editors who know first-hand how difficult it is to write a thesis, as they can offer constructive and relevant advice to our students.

Therefore, we only accept applications from editors with a university degree.

However, a university degree alone is not enough. All applicants must also demonstrate technical grammar knowledge and fundamental editing skills during the application process.  Applicants must also complete our rigorous Scribbr Academy training program before they can join the editor team.

Incoming editors must be familiar with the conventions of both US English and UK English and able to consistently follow the related rules. However, if you’re only familiar with one of these dialects, don’t despair! Getting up to speed on the major differences between the two systems is definitely doable. Our Knowledge Base is a good place to start.

If you are familiar with the conventions of US and UK English and can edit according to them, you are more than welcome to apply. At this time, however, we cannot accept applicants who are only familiar with other English dialects. The reason is that the vast majority of our clients require their papers to be written in US or UK English.

The application process consists of three steps that you must successfully complete to become an active editor within our system:

• Scribbr language quiz : 30 minutes
• Scribbr application assignment : 2.5 hours
• Scribbr Academy : 2 – 3 weeks (the Academy has to be completed within 4 weeks to be able to pass)

The speed at which you are able to complete the application process depends on your availability and the level of your work you submit. For us, it is important not only that you edit according to our guidelines, but also that you feel you have enough experience with us to make the leap to being an active Scribbr editor.

Throughout the process, you will receive feedback from experienced editors – so no matter what happens, you won’t be wasting your time!

When we receive a new order, we choose the most suitable Scribbr editor based on the following factors:

• Availability . If you would like to receive a lot of orders, you can indicate that you are available immediately. We will then try to send more assignments your way.
• Interest in the subject . We will not be as fast to send you orders that are from fields you have not marked as preferred.
• Returning client . We will automatically send you orders from a returning student whose work you have already edited, unless he or she specifically requests otherwise.

The moment we have a new order for you, we will send you an email, an SMS and a notification via your Scribbr account on our website. You may then choose to accept or decline that assignment. You make this decision for every order we send you.

All orders are classified into 1 of 9 categories:

• Business and Management : Business Administration, Hotel Management, Accounting, Marketing
• Economics : Commercial Economics, Econometrics, Finance
• IT and Engineering: ICT, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Applied Mathematics, Civil Engineering, Industrial Design, Electrical Engineering
• Natural and Life Sciences : Biomedical Sciences, Biology, Chemistry
• Geography, Agriculture and Environment : Ecology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies, Urban Planning
• Health and Medical Sciences : Medicine, Obstetrics, Pharmacy, Nutrition, Dentistry
• Arts and Humanities : Philosophy, History, Literature, Cultural Studies, Theology
• Law and Policy : Law, Political Science, Public Policy, Human Rights
• Social and Behavioral Sciences : Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Communication Science, Education

You can specify the fields that you are interested in. When we send you an order , we always take your preferences into account.

More information about the categories

No, you don’t.

As an editor, you are affiliated with us on a freelance basis. You can work for us from anywhere in the world and from any time zone.

It is important that you are frequently online and have a phone with Internet access, as we will send you both an e-mail and an SMS as soon as we have a new assignment for you .