There are a lot of application editing services out there. This isn't one of them.

I have read over 10,000 application essays. I was a top editor for two of the industry's biggest essay-editing services, helping applicants get accepted to every single Ivy League school, MIT, Stanford, Duke, UCLA, and more. 

Here are my two biggest takeaways from nearly two decades as an application consultant:

First, writing about yourself is really hard. That's why almost everyone is bad at it. How do you write well about yourself when nothing about you seems interesting enough to write about in the first place, when you fear you might not measure up to impossibly competitive applicant pools, when you have no idea how other people approach the task?

Second, most applicants don't actually need editing. They need guidance. It doesn't matter that all your commas are in the right place if you're telling the wrong story. That insight is why I left to start my own service: I didn't want to keep taking money for proofreading misguided essays. Instead, I wanted to help applicants get the help they really wanted but didn't realize they needed.

North Star Editing offers strategic storytelling consultations to help applicants ensure their written materials are as strong as they can possibly be. We are not the cheapest or fastest option. If those are your priorities, plenty of other services focus on quantity over quality.

This is not the cheapest option because you're paying for quality. And this is not the fastest option because quality takes time.

As previous clients can attest, the first step I take with every client at North Star Editing is getting to know you. I will ask a lot of questions so I can help you portray yourself to the admissions committee in the strongest possible light. The more I know about you, the more I can help!

Because we're going to spend so much time working together, this service is also not the easiest option. I can't do the work for you. The best I could give you would be an impeccably written impersonal statement. 

But if we work together, then I genuinely believe this service is the very best that money can buy.

I can help you say all the right things—and none of the wrong ones—in a fresh, original way. I'll help you find the words you didn't know you had in you. I'll not only help you identify the best ideas you've already had, but I'll also help you brainstorm new ones, and then I'll help you express those ideas in your own voice. By working with you instead of for you, I will help you to produce a polished statement that is truly personal.

Most importantly, I will help you craft the strongest and most strategic story possible, making you into a hero that admissions and hiring committees will root for. That's the difference between editing and guidance. 

If you have a North Star goal, I'd love to help you reach it. Click below for stellar guidance: