As admission letters are coming in, I am somewhat nervous about my chances at some of my top choices (UCLA.) Some of my friends who had similar stats have heard back and were accepted. Some of them used a professional editor to help revise and structure their admissions essays. I was not able to afford to use such services. I wanted to see if 1) other students used or heard of other students using these services and 2) if they feel they were a worthwhile investment?
I edit a lot of essays and have some “rules” for structure and revision (although “revision” advice seems to be 90% recommendations of deleting stuff). When my son showed me his essay, it broke most of my rules, but it was so much of an insight into who he was, I told him to not change a thing. I wouldn’t worry. BUT, I think getting a “proofreader” for your essay is of utmost importance. No matter how many times you look it over, you may not see some simple mistakes.
Applied this year. I did not use professional editing services and I haven’t heard my school peers using such services (although I do know some go to college consultants at prep schools so they might revise essays for them). Personally, I think that as long as you’re well-read that you can edit your own essays and correct any major phrasing/grammar. Find a friend that’s good at English (I had one of my APENG/AP Lit. friends) and have him or her screen your essay too and you should be fine.
Obviously, you’re done applying but hopefully this will help future students.
I went through the process this year as well. I did not use a professional editor of any sort; however, I got my guidance counsellor and and a friend to look through my essay. Even then, I was pretty selective in choosing which revisions to incorporate because I did not want to lose my own voice in my essays. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with how everything turned out. One of my close friends had a similar experience, where she only took suggestions from a few people she trusted. She was VERY successful in terms of the schools she got into. Her stats and ECs were nothing outstanding, but she was admitted to a host of very selective schools largely helped by the strength of her essays. I should note however, that she is an extremely talented writer and her essays were phenomenal.
Nonetheless, I do know a few people who used professional editing services. At least for one of them, it was clear that it was a very worthwhile investment: she herself said that she felt her ECs were relatively weaker and it was her essays (which were heavily revised by the person she hired) that pulled her through.
Tl;dr: worth it if you’re a weaker writer, but far from necessary especially if you’re already a strong writer.