After three weeks of working hard on a Common App essay and one Supplemental essay to his liking, my son is ready for someone to proofread them. What is a typical practice with proofreading, i.e., other than a typical request to some of his trustworthy friends, is it okay to consult with a professional proofreader (someone, say, on Wyzant) for potential grammatical corrections and stylistic suggestions? I don’t know whether consulting a professional proofreader is a “questionable” practice or unacceptable to college application policy, and of course I don’t want to do any such if it is.
I know many students use college counselors outside of their school, who could be called “professional proof readers” so it is not unacceptable to college policy. What is unacceptable is if the proof-reader changes the essay and makes it sound not like its coming from a high school senior.
For grammar help, I strongly recommend Grammarly- it is a very useful web application that can check for grammar mistakes.
I agree with @yonceonhismouth --proofreading is fine; substantial rewriting is over the line.
Thank you to both. Not interested in rewriting; my son won’t tolerate anyone messing much with his writing.
Your son could also ask some of his previous/current English teachers to proofread. I did that and it worked quite well. I don’t know if you’d have to pay these college counselors, but the teacher-proofreading was free.
DS used English teacher as well. One thing your son could ask of whomever is “describe the person in this essay to me.” If he thinks it sounds like him, and the version of himself he wishes to portray, he’s good to go. If not, he may want to re-write.
@gardenstategal – I like that idea, that’s a good tip! Thanks!