Hi, I am looking for someone to help out my daughter (a current junior) with application essays. Since many consultants are booked far in advance, thought it would be worth it to start looking now. If you can recommend someon, plans PM me or if you’d like, please post in this thread. Thanks!
@bopper, thanks, I read that sub-forum often and it’s very helpful. I’ve even gotten feedback on some of my daughter’s essays from multiple people. Problem is, different people have different opinions, sometimes diametrically opposite ones. I’d like to hire someone to help my daughter better frame and maybe polish her ideas a bit, consistently across all essays, a task too large to ask of any single volunteer. Thanks for understanding!
Both of my kids asked a trusted English teacher at the HS that they liked to read over their essay and that worked out well.
^ My son did this, too. Asked a trusted English teacher to help him. As with happy1’s kid, that worked really well.
My kid begged (ok, pestered) his junior AP English teacher to finally offer a creative writing class this year. They did some creative writing, but they also worked on their college essays. The teacher also helped students with their college applications if they weren’t getting any help at home. My son didn’t need as much help, but he said it was instrumental for some of the students. Does your child’s school offer anything similar?
I know your looking to spend money and find an essay tutor etc. My advice is don’t do it. As stated an English teacher or even find a college English student. There are ACT/Sat tutors that do this also.
You want the essays to sound like her not someone else also.
Have her be interesting, unique and personal. Add some passion. That will make a good essay. Some will say if she dropped the essay, someone that knows her should know its her. That didn’t work for my son since his essay was on a topic that no one at school knew he did or was into.
Stay away from cliche topics like going on a family vacation and volunteering for an orphanage, saving the world through… Dealing with xxxxx… If your dealing with it so are like 10,000 other people. But if you have xxxx how does that make you, you…is good. If you keep reading the same ideas here then don’t write about it.
The more personal unique and interesting is key. It’s hard to make these interesting.
Make it as unique as possible also.
A good friend of our does this for a living and honestly helped my son pick between two topics. We all knew topic 2 was what he “needed” to write about but hearing from a stranger was key for him. She looked over the paper once and made a few suggestion but nothing earth shattering. He forgot a comma kind of thing. The wording /structure was all his. I would of been disappointed if I had to pay for that.
Lots of people that help in writing essays sorta rewrite the essay using their own words and language. Most good reviewers will pick up on that. Students shouldn’t use language they don’t use daily. Sure one or two “fancy” words but they also have to be used correctly.
Google “Hacking the College Essay 2017” and read it.
Write the Essay No One Else Could Write
“It boils down to this: the essay that gets you in is the essay that no other applicant could write.
Is this a trick? The rest of this guide gives you the best strategies to accomplish this single
most important thing: write the essay no one else could write.
If someone reading your essay gets the feeling some other applicant could have written it,
then you’re in trouble.
Why is this so important? Because most essays sound like they could have been written by
anyone. Remember that most essays fail to do what they should: replace numbers (SAT/GPA) with the real you.
Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions officer. She’s got limited time and a stack of
applications. Each application is mostly numbers and other stuff that looks the same. Then she picks
up your essay. Sixty seconds later, what is her impression of you? Will she know something specifically
about you? Or will you still be indistinguishable from the hundreds of other applicants she has been
reading about?”
I agree with the others - my kids talked to trusted teachers and got good input from them. The teachers KNOW the kids and can give more specific suggestions than someone you hire.
Sometimes it’s helpful to start backwards. What are the three traits about your daughter that she most wants the admissions officers to know about? Then brainstorm anecdotes or experiences that she has had that demonstrate those qualities and find one that resonates with her. Then write about that experience. Small slice of life essays often are the best.
Thanks for everyone’s input. My daughter is a good writer (I might be biased here), and has some pretty unique ideas (again, biased). But yes, if her common app draft was to land on the school floor, I am pretty sure everyone would know it’s hers. The key is that she is unsure of herself. She applied to two very competitive summer programs, was rejected from one, but proceeded to interview round with another one. That’s life, and while in her case the best strategy might have been to spread a wider net, she is at the moment set on just a few schools that appear to be very good fits. Of course, it means fewer shots, and every attempt matters.
All the kids from her HS who got into our nearby lottery school (her top choice, too), have used essay consultants. Case in point - twins with practically identical stats, EC’s, etc., one used essay consultant, one didn’t, and only the former got into the lottery school. It might be a coincidence, a correlation not a causation, but I want to give my daughter some peace of mind. And I am definitely not looking for someone to re-write her essays for her, just provide some polish I guess. Her English teachers weren’t helpful when she asked for their help with summer program essays - one said she was too busy with things, other basically returned the essays saying they were good, but no constructive feedback. 
What about asking the twins’ parents who they used? I think it is a good idea to ask local people who have had some success.
@jazzymomof7, I did ask around locally - either these consultants are already booked, or they are ridiculously expensive (I.e. $400 an hour), or both
I’m not sure how else we can help.
@MaineLonghorn, i’ve actually received some awesome leads privately, so very grateful to everyone here 
$400/hr… Sign me up) :
My concern about using an essay consultant is that the consultant might add “polish” but subtract the student’s voice.
@Knowsstuff, I know, and the worst part is that she is booked since October
Good grief, people waste so much money on consultants. I cringe at the thought. I’ll bet she can consult with her English teacher for grammar.
Everything that you read in a book, newspaper, magazine, or journal has gone through at least one professional editor. All of your favorite writers have editors. Yet you can recognize an author’s voice from article to article and book to book. That’s because good editors make authors better. Bestsellers and Pulitzer Prize winners and Supreme Court justices get help making their prose the best it can be. It’s still their prose, their voice, their story.
The idea that essay coaches/editors/consultants are draining the life out of essays – but English teachers and lawyers and uncles can be trusted not to – is just wrong. Expertise matters. Professional development with admissions officers matters. A career spent reading hundreds and hundreds of essays matters. The fact that all the consultants in a community are booked up years in advance suggests that parents who hired them found them valuable and told their friends.