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You Don't Need Application Editing. You Need Guidance.

North Star Editing

Most people aren’t. And most of the time, that’s not a problem.

But applications are a different story.

If your materials don’t stand out, admissions and hiring committees can’t tell whether that’s because you don’t belong or because you’re not good at explaining why you do.

Either way, they’re going to decide based on what you tell them.

So unless you’re that rare person who’s never been underestimated or underappreciated, you have two options:

1) Get help.

2) Don’t get in.

I'm Michael Noltemeyer, and I founded North Star Editing to provide the help that applicants don't even know they need.

Here's what most people don't realize: You don’t need editing. You need guidance. 

Putting all your commas in the right places doesn’t matter if you’re still telling the wrong story. And the best ChatGPT can do is give you an impersonal statement.

The only way to make your essay come alive on the page is to really dig into what makes you you. You’re almost certainly underselling yourself. You need help taking credit for how uniquely awesome you already are — maybe in ways you hadn’t yet appreciated yourself. 

Can you really blame the committee for not seeing what you didn’t know to say in the first place?

Writing an application is like being trapped in a choose-your-own-adventure story that someone else is reading: your fate lies in the hands of your audience.

Do you feel like your (or your child’s) entire future is hanging in the balance? Are you worried that developing writing skills or subjective readers will keep you out of top schools? Are you unsure how to write a good application, tired of wasting time on drafts that never turn out like you wanted, and afraid you're falling behind but powerless to do anything about it?

I get it. And for almost two decades now, I have helped applicants take back control over their own fates with the power of strategic storytelling.

Every good story needs a hero, and every hero needs a sage. I'm a storytelling sage who has helped thousands of successful applicants get admitted to top schools around the world. Here's how: you have to become a hero that application committees will root for.

I help my clients tell the right story by finding the heroic that has been inside them all along.

To Go to the Best School, You Need the Best Story

College is a sorting hat.

Why pay the premium for a top school? Because although education does pay, it doesn't pay the same everywhere. Colleges sort students into the kinds of jobs they’ll get, the money they’ll make, the lives they’ll lead. Fair or not, top schools offer a return on investment that others simply cannot match.

But that advantage is an open secret. That's why tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of applicants apply to top schools. The process gets more competitive each and every year. To get in, you can't waste any opportunity to stand out.

And your essays are your single best chance to put the personal back into a highly impersonal process. No one roots for transcripts and test scores. Admissions officers only get invested in the applications that come alive on the page. If your essay sounds like almost everyone else, then you'll get rejected like almost everyone else.

To get a leg up on the rest of your life, your essays have to stand out. You have to tell the best story of your life — that is, you have to tell the story of your life in the best, strongest, and most strategic way possible.

If you don't, then those who did will start climbing the ladder of success while you're still stuck on the first story.


Reach Your North Star Goal with Stellar Guidance

Anyone who's ever taken a class with me can tell you that I say this all the time: I have no interest in telling you what your goals ought to be, but I have a lot of interest in helping you achieve them. When you have found your North Star goal, I'll make sure you're headed for true north. 

That's the work I truly love to do. That's why I spent seven years as a top editor for the industry leader in application editing. But I left to start my own service when I realized that editing alone is not enough. 
 
I'll say it again: it doesn't matter that all your commas are in the right places if you're telling the wrong story.

Most applicants need help finding and shaping their stories. What do you put in, and how do you put it? What do you leave out, and where do you leave off? Where do you even begin?

I didn't want to keep taking applicants' money for proofreading misguided essays. That's rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. I built my own service to provide the help they couldn't get anywhere else.

Thousands of essays later, I have seen the difference in results firsthand. And I honestly believe this is the best application consulting service money can buy. That's because I combine an award-winning college professor's deep understanding of story structure with a seasoned editor's ability to help you find and develop the story that only you can tell.

My service is time-intensive and 100% custom-tailored to each individual applicant because everyone's story is different. That kind of stellar guidance is the only way to get accepted, get hired, and get ahead — in short, to make sure that your application season has a storybook ending.

Let's write your happily-ever-after together.

Testimonials


  • "Writing has never been my strong suit and so I always worry when I have to write for applications. Fortunately, I didn't have to do it alone. After working with Michael on my medical residency application, I got 17 interview invitations—before the medical school even sent out my dean's letter! He asked all of the right questions to help me express what I had been trying to say, and the result was the essay I had imagined but couldn't write on my own. Michael is fantastic at what he does, and he can do the same for you!"

    —Claire


  • "Attending an Ivy League university is hard work for anyone, but even more so for a non-native English speaker. When I first came to the U.S. from Israel, I was concerned that the language barrier would keep me from succeeding. Thankfully, Michael was there for me. He helped me polish my prose so that I could show what I really knew. My success in college launched my career in investment banking, and Michael helped to make that possible. I hereby give him my highest recommendation."

    —Moshe


  • "After working with Michael on my law school applications, I received a full-tuition scholarship to a top-25 law school. After working with Michael again three years later to complete my resume and cover letter, I landed the job I wanted as a corporate attorney despite the difficult legal job market. I'm not saying that Michael's the reason I got accepted or hired, just that he's a straight-up sorcerer with words."

    —Robert


  • "When I was applying to college, my brother, Robert, raved about his experience working with Michael and strongly encouraged me to do the same. I worked with Michael on my college application and got a scholarship, and then I worked with him again on my resume and landed an internship with a civil engineering firm. As usual, Robert was right. I can't say enough good things about Michael."

    —David


  • "Michael's careful editorial eye, his finely tuned ear for the language, and his seemingly infinite knowledge base helped me finish grad school with a perfect GPA. I worked with him again to polish the manuscript to my literary memoir, and it is now about to go up for auction with several major publishing houses! Michael is without a doubt the best editor I have ever worked with and I would wholeheartedly recommend his services to anyone."

    —Carrie


  • "After working with Michael on my resume, I got to leave a job I didn’t like in a city several hours away from my family and friends, move back home, and take a better job for more money. He really helped me understand what recruiters look for on a resume so I could tailor it to their expectations. I couldn't have asked for anything more."

    —Matt


  • "Michael helped me get into my first-choice professional MBA program, and then after working with me on my resume, he helped me advance my career by landing my current position in marketing. I couldn’t be happier with my experience working with Michael."

    —Jill