Professional Personal Statement Editing Forum

[Coaster321]

Does anyone have any experience with hiring a professional to help on personal statements? I was looking at 7sage's unlimited editing of a PS ($599), but I am not sure if it is really worth it.

[UVA2B]

It's not. Don't pay for help with a personal statement. It won't be worth your money, and further, it'll be a worse product if you submit a service-derived product for admissions. It won't be your voice, your image, your application anymore. You should want to control that message beyond asking for professional help on it (outside needing admissions help such as asking Spivey for professional help and paying for it).

[twiix]

It won't be your voice, your image, your application anymore.

I don't know where you came up with this, but I think you're misrepresenting what some of these guys do when they offer "essay editing". They don't write the essay for you, they don't tell you what to write, they simply help you get your story, your voice, your image, on paper in a unique way. We aren't professionals in writing personal statements, just like we aren't experts in admissions.. so I don't know how you can be a shill for spivey but throw 7sage under the bus so easily, when they largely do the same thing.

When I worked with 7sage I wrote almost 15 pages of just internal dialogue in regard to what I wanted to write my PS about. They read through this thoroughly for a better idea of where I was coming from, and so they had all the necessary details to help me craft a solid essay. Once he read through it all we had a back and forth brainstorming session of how to narrow the scope down - hitting on which details were important, which could be discard, etc. It never was him telling me what to include or what not to include. It was a back and forth discussion, where my opinions and decisions are what we went with. He simply included very useful opinions about how each choice will likely change the finished product.

Anyway, @ OP, I think 7sage is definitely a solid option for essay editing. I highly think it's worth it for your personal statement. You are paying a professional for a large amount of his time (his job/career is doing this). The website obviously takes commission, there is overhead costs, etc. If I had to estimate I think I likely got 15+ hours of solid 1 on 1 work with their editing crew when I used them. If you charge 15 hours out at an hourly rate, it's only 40$/hour. This is incredibly low for the level of work you are getting. Spivey on the other hand, charges 300$/hr for miscellaneous consulting work (outside of a package).

[UVA2B]

It won't be your voice, your image, your application anymore.

I don't know where you came up with this, but I think you're misrepresenting what some of these guys do when they offer "essay editing". They don't write the essay for you, they don't tell you what to write, they simply help you get your story, your voice, your image, on paper in a unique way. We aren't professionals in writing personal statements, just like we aren't experts in admissions.. so I don't know how you can be a shill for spivey but throw 7sage under the bus so easily, when they largely do the same thing.

When I worked with 7sage I wrote almost 15 pages of just internal dialogue in regard to what I wanted to write my PS about. They read through this thoroughly for a better idea of where I was coming from, and so they had all the necessary details to help me craft a solid essay. Once he read through it all we had a back and forth brainstorming session of how to narrow the scope down - hitting on which details were important, which could be discard, etc. It never was him telling me what to include or what not to include. It was a back and forth discussion, where my opinions and decisions are what we went with. He simply included very useful opinions about how each choice will likely change the finished product.

Anyway, @ OP, I think 7sage is definitely a solid option for essay editing. I highly think it's worth it for your personal statement. You are paying a professional for a large amount of his time (his job/career is doing this). The website obviously takes commission, there is overhead costs, etc. If I had to estimate I think I likely got 15+ hours of solid 1 on 1 work with their editing crew when I used them. If you charge 15 hours out at an hourly rate, it's only 40$/hour. This is incredibly low for the level of work you are getting. Spivey on the other hand, charges 300$/hr for miscellaneous consulting work (outside of a package).

You're right, true editing services might be helpful. I initially read "professional personal statement editing services" and internally jumped to essay writing, which some of those services are known for. There are good editors out there you can pay for, but you can likely get as good of advice here for free if you need help. YMMV, but I would hesitate to pay someone when there are really solid people on TLS that will help with editing for free.

I also didn't intend to throw any particular service under a bus, just speaking generally about professional editing services generally. I only mentioned Spivey because they also give overarching admissions advice, how to deal with C&F, etc. Any service that does that at least provides additional value to applicants. I'm sure your experience with 7sage was positive, and that's great, but most probably don't really need it.

[twiix]

It won't be your voice, your image, your application anymore.

I don't know where you came up with this, but I think you're misrepresenting what some of these guys do when they offer "essay editing". They don't write the essay for you, they don't tell you what to write, they simply help you get your story, your voice, your image, on paper in a unique way. We aren't professionals in writing personal statements, just like we aren't experts in admissions.. so I don't know how you can be a shill for spivey but throw 7sage under the bus so easily, when they largely do the same thing.

When I worked with 7sage I wrote almost 15 pages of just internal dialogue in regard to what I wanted to write my PS about. They read through this thoroughly for a better idea of where I was coming from, and so they had all the necessary details to help me craft a solid essay. Once he read through it all we had a back and forth brainstorming session of how to narrow the scope down - hitting on which details were important, which could be discard, etc. It never was him telling me what to include or what not to include. It was a back and forth discussion, where my opinions and decisions are what we went with. He simply included very useful opinions about how each choice will likely change the finished product.

Anyway, @ OP, I think 7sage is definitely a solid option for essay editing. I highly think it's worth it for your personal statement. You are paying a professional for a large amount of his time (his job/career is doing this). The website obviously takes commission, there is overhead costs, etc. If I had to estimate I think I likely got 15+ hours of solid 1 on 1 work with their editing crew when I used them. If you charge 15 hours out at an hourly rate, it's only 40$/hour. This is incredibly low for the level of work you are getting. Spivey on the other hand, charges 300$/hr for miscellaneous consulting work (outside of a package).

You're right, true editing services might be helpful. I initially read "professional personal statement editing services" and internally jumped to essay writing, which some of those services are known for. There are good editors out there you can pay for, but you can likely get as good of advice here for free if you need help. YMMV, but I would hesitate to pay someone when there are really solid people on TLS that will help with editing for free.

I also didn't intend to throw any particular service under a bus, just speaking generally about professional editing services generally. I only mentioned Spivey because they also give overarching admissions advice, how to deal with C&F, etc. Any service that does that at least provides additional value to applicants. I'm sure your experience with 7sage was positive, and that's great, but most probably don't really need it.

Yeah no worries. I definitely didn't mean to come off as so aggressive as I realize I was (after rereading). I agree with you that paying for someone else to write the essay for you is an awful idea (specifically due to C&F issues with the bar - bad way to start your career if you get caught). But it's also worth noting that you don't NEED to spend that sort of money at all to develop a good PS. Just read some examples online or get one of the harvard books on amazon about exceptional personal statements to get a "feel" for the type of writing. Write a million drafts and just ask for free advice from these forums. It takes time, but it'll also save you some serious skin by not having to pay a consultant. Either way, you can't go wrong with either approach.

[Coaster321]

It won't be your voice, your image, your application anymore.

Anyway, @ OP, I think 7sage is definitely a solid option for essay editing. I highly think it's worth it for your personal statement. You are paying a professional for a large amount of his time (his job/career is doing this). The website obviously takes commission, there is overhead costs, etc. If I had to estimate I think I likely got 15+ hours of solid 1 on 1 work with their editing crew when I used them. If you charge 15 hours out at an hourly rate, it's only 40$/hour. This is incredibly low for the level of work you are getting. Spivey on the other hand, charges 300$/hr for miscellaneous consulting work (outside of a package).

Thanks for the info. Did you just do the personal statement editing or did you do the $3k all inclusive package?

[twiix]

It won't be your voice, your image, your application anymore.

Anyway, @ OP, I think 7sage is definitely a solid option for essay editing. I highly think it's worth it for your personal statement. You are paying a professional for a large amount of his time (his job/career is doing this). The website obviously takes commission, there is overhead costs, etc. If I had to estimate I think I likely got 15+ hours of solid 1 on 1 work with their editing crew when I used them. If you charge 15 hours out at an hourly rate, it's only 40$/hour. This is incredibly low for the level of work you are getting. Spivey on the other hand, charges 300$/hr for miscellaneous consulting work (outside of a package).

Thanks for the info. Did you just do the personal statement editing or did you do the $3k all inclusive package?

So far just the essay editing. I did clear it with them though, and you can use whatever money you spend on editing towards upgrading to the full package if you choose to do so. And you also get discounts on the number of essays you get edited - each additional is another 100 off (600 first, 500 second, 400 third, etc.)

[socal389]

I've heard good things about Blackacre Prep (blackacreprep.com), though it's pretty new. It's run by Yale Law grads, and they have some pretty affordable packages for admissions consulting right now, including personal statement help.

[LShopeful1316]

I worked with David Busis at 7sage and had an AWESOME experience. He helped me with my personal statement (unlimited) and two school specific essays (hourly).

I was hesitant to hire someone at first--because it can be pretty expensive, I already had professors/friends who could give me their thoughts or help me fix any grammar issues, and I'm a fairly good writer to begin with.

But I'm infinitely grateful I hired David. David could have done some moderate polishing on my essays, and I would have been happy. But he literally reconstructed every one of my essays from the ground up--providing deeper, more substantive edits than I anticipated. These reconstructions included significant structural changes, not just wordsmithing. His commitment to going above and beyond was why I hired him for two more essays after my PS.

Overall, my essays were fairly solid to start with, but David brought them to a whole different level. All the while, he is super responsive (he usually responded within 24 hours even though his policy is 48), honest, and amicable. I definitely felt comfortable sharing personal information with him.

I'm still waiting on responses from schools--but I'm confident my essays are a lot better than they would have been without David's help.