College Essay/Personal Statement Support

I’m a professional writer/editor with more than 25 years experience in education, most of it at University of California, where I wrote and edited UC admissions and application materials and publications. I have enjoyed working successfully with hundreds of high school, community college and graduate students for the past 10 years, mostly privately, but also as a college essay reader at Berkeley High School, College Track and First Graduate. I know the territory really well and love working with students to help them find their authentic voice and achieve their college and career goals by developing and honing their UC Personal Insight Questions, Common App and supplemental essays, as well as other assignments.

I use all videoconferencing applications, and all meetings and editing can be done online. I’m happy to meet in person as well. After a free initial consultation, I generally charge $50/hour with a 20 percent discount for students seeking financial aid, but I’m always flexible about pricing and responsive in returning edits. Some unsolicited professional references are below, with others available on request.

References

“In the beginning, I was so nervous about the college essay process because I had no idea how to even begin, but Steve guided me every step of the way and helped me turn my raw, awkward essays into beautiful stories after several back and forth drafts. Steve’s edits were incredibly helpful in finding my weak spots in my writing and really ensuring that the best parts of my personality shone through in my final drafts. With Steve’s help, I received acceptance from UC Davis, Berkeley, UCLA and Santa Barbara! I also got into one of my dream BS/MD programs at Temple University. He always paid really close attention to details and ensured that I was always realistic and remained true to myself. I would easily recommend him to anyone. I couldn’t have done it without him!” Ramneek K (Temple University BS/MD program)

“Over the course of six months, Steve supported me with all of my college essays. He responded quickly to all of my requests and even offered free call sessions to outline my essays. Steve’s editing is diligent, and I found his editing method to be highly efficient, making the entire writing process go more smoothly. Thank you Steve for the invaluable support!” Manas C (freshman applicant)

“We appreciate Steve’s help in polishing my son’s essays. He was easy to work with, made edits quickly and was responsive. It was nice to have an unbiased, professional set of eyes to clarify and communicate areas that were wordy or unclear. We highly recommend Steve!” Ingrid C (parent of freshman applicant)

“We are very happy with your work. Your edits are awesome. We also have a college counselor but she does not provide detailed edits.” Ashok B (parent of a UCLA freshman)

“It was your help and support that helped me get accepted to UC Berkeley, to which I will be going for mechanical engineering. I really would not have been able to do it without all of your guidance and help through the whole writing process, and you were always ready at a moment’s notice to provide feedback for me.” Ethan C (UC Berkeley freshman)

“I would not be able to even get past the first step in this process without your guidance. In all honesty, you inspire me to work selflessly as well. Is there any way I can repay you?” Soham K (freshman applicant)

“We were fortunate to find you. It is rare to find people like you who work for passion, not for money. Thank you so much for your support and high quality work. You have been very responsive, accommodated our expedited requests, been a critic and challenged some of the statements made, suggested the areas of improvement, topics chosen, and on an overall sense of how to balance the essays. Our interaction has been useful and your advisory guidance helped our son manage his most stressful time of his career, dealing with college apps.”  Hari A (parent of freshman applicant)

“Thank you so much for reviewing and correcting my Statement of Purpose. I read the corrections you have made and I must say it looks great. I will never forget what you did for me. It means a lot to me.” Maninder K (MBA applicant)

“Thank u so much for everything! X was so happy to work with you and we are so grateful for your guidance and all your help! Really appreciate you.” Michelle J (parent of incoming Stanford freshman)

“Thank you for the amazing feedback and edits. They have been extremely insightful. I really appreciate it. You have been a great help in improving my essays.” Yash R (freshman applicant)

“Thank you so much for your help and invaluable feedback.” Rhea M (freshman applicant)

“Helping my daughter with her essay editing was a major project that was not possible without your professional help. I am glad that we were to find such a wonderful human being who has contributed a lot to the student community.” Avtar S (parent of freshman applicant)

“Thank you for providing such comprehensive feedback, tremendous help and prompt responses! This was very helpful!!!” Dhruv P (freshman applicant)

“Thank you so much! I can’t express how happy and pleased we were with all your services.” Kalyani K (parent of a freshman planning to attend Indiana University School of Business)

“These edits were really insightful. I really appreciate all the help you have provided. It’s been really useful to have a fresh set of eyes, especially ones as experienced as yours, to review my essays. You were pretty spot-on with your suggestions.” Arjun A (freshman applicant)

“I just want to say a huge thank you to you for helping out with these. A life saver for sure, and the first drafts really have formed into essays with your help.” Paul D (freshman applicant)

“Steve was a pivotal part of my application process to graduate school – from getting started to getting accepted. I was a few years out of undergrad and worked in the corporate world, where the most amount of writing I did was in emails. I had forgotten how to write an essay, let alone an impactful one that would resonate with admissions teams. With Steve’s help, including his great attention to detail and patience with iterating on my drafts, I felt more confident and prepared to apply. I ended up getting into Harvard, my dream school. If you feel like the writing process is a blocker for you when it comes to applying for graduate school, reach out to Steve. He’s doing this out of genuine passion and commitment to education, and his feedback will greatly improve your writing.” Laura Z (Harvard Graduate School of Education)

“Steve provided invaluable help on my college admission personal statement essays. With Steve’s advice and guidance, I was able to showcase my accomplishment and talent in a concise manner. I was accepted into all the UCs that I applied to, including UC Berkeley and UCLA. Thank you, Steve!” Brian T (freshman applicant)

“Thanks for all your great work.  You’ve been invaluable in this process. You were great to work with.” Chris L (MFA applicant)

“Both Abbas and I are very happy with your service. Abbas found your edits very valuable and your price is very reasonable. I personally looked at your edits to my son’s essays and I was very impressed with your feedback. It was obvious that you dived deep into the essay and provided in depth feedback, not just grammatical edits. As you know I already referred one of  my friend to you and he was also very happy with your service.” Ghulam N (freshman applicant)

“Thank you so much for your support. I just submitted my application and I cannot thank you enough for your help.” Nicholas P (transfer applicant)