Personal Statement for Graduate School Editing Services

Originally from the suburbs of “The Windy City,” Chicago, Amy A. came out to California’s sunny San Francisco Bay Area in 2002 to pursue her undergraduate studies in Human Biology (with concentrations in the areas of Gerontology, Psychology, and Public Health) at Stanford University. She completed the elite Structured Liberal Education (SLE) program at Stanford, an integrated program in humanities classics (literature, philosophy, and the arts) and writing instruction. Amy joined EssayEdge in 2003, and what started out as a part-time job to pay for her college tuition quickly grew into a passion for admissions essay editing and counseling. She has been working for EssayEdge ever since, even though she has gone on to attend business school at Santa Clara University and to pursue a successful career as a nonprofit CEO in the aging services industry. Amy lives with her husband and their two young children near the ocean in Pacifica, California. In her spare time, she loves to hike, bike, camp, run, read, and practice yoga and meditation.

Anna is a graduate of Yale University (B.A) and has been with EssayEdge since 2001. She has helped hundreds of clients with applications for numerous undergraduate programs and all of the top-tier programs for medical, pharmacy, graduate, PhD and MBA study. Anna provides meticulous and sensitive edits that help clients convey their unique message effectively and completely - she perfects a client's writing while also working with the client to address critical areas that need improvement, all while maintaining the client's unique voice. Along with EssayEdge Anna's editing experience includes work with publishing houses (editing books of a scientific nature), literary journals, and advertising firms. When she's not editing, Anna can usually be found in the kitchen cooking up something yummy.

Ashley is an editor at Essay Edge, where she has helped to craft hundreds of pieces of writing including personal statements, research papers, and letters of recommendation for clients applying to top-tier institutions since 2009. She is as an alumni interviewer for Yale’s undergraduate application process, interviewing prospective students and writing recommendations for admittance based on impressions from these interviews. She also writes informational articles for CUnet that are posted on education websites and are primarily focused on using education to set and accomplish professional goals. She is the Secretary for the Yale Dramatic Alumni Associates Board of Directors.Professionally, Ashley has experience in several industries including finance and the entertainment industry. She worked as the Business Manager of a growing venture capital firm during its expansion of a fund focused on financing for tech startups. At present, she works in professional theater in both the creative and management sides of the business. Her experience as a theatrical director gives her a unique perspective on how individuals present themselves, and she is able to give clear feedback on both content and presentation in interviews as a result.Overall, Ashley has a unique perspective on the college admissions process and on the job application process from her broad set of experiences as both an applicant and an interviewer.

Bob earned a B.A. from Haverford College, then a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Yale University Graduate School, and finally a J.D. from Temple University Law School. During his career he has served as a Law Fellow at The American Law Institute (ALI), where he edited publications pertaining to Continuing Legal Education. He also was employed as a Law Clerk to a Senior Judge in Common Pleas Court. For several years he taught English Composition and Paralegal Studies. Before working with EssayEdge he was an abstracter of academic journal articles in subjects in the humanities and sciences. In 2009, he joined the EssayEdge team as an editor. Working with EssayEdge, he has edited student essays that span a range of subjects and disciplines – college application, graduate school application essays in the humanities and sciences, and essays for admission to law school, medical school, medical residencies, and dental school. His non-vocational interests include reading, visual art, swimming and taking long walks.

Don has been with EssayEdge since 2004 and has a B.A. from Columbia. As an award-winning Army broadcaster and spot translator, Don served with the Armed Forces Network in France and Germany; he is fluent in both French and German. Don has helped countless EssayEdge clients secure admission to the world’s leading academic programs. His expertise is in finding and developing your true voice – the hallmark of the EssayEdge service. Don specializes in international MBA and law packets but also has years of experience working with candidates for a wide range of medical and dental programs. In his spare time Don enjoys working out, spending time with his German shepherd George, and actively serving in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

After graduating from Yale (1973, cum laude, history) and earning an M.S in Accounting from NYU's Graduate School of Business Administration the next year, James worked in the corporate world for the next nearly 20 years. This included being an auditor for a Big 8 public accounting firm and an operations analyst for Xerox. In the early Nineties, he left the corporate world to join an NGO providing technical assistance in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism. He moved to Poland in the mid-Nineties. In 2003, still an expat, he started working as an editor for Essay Edge. Since that time, he has edited nearly 4000 essays in all categories. He has also written and published a series of short stories and poems and edited the prose submissions for a series of books produced by New Europe Writers. In 2014 he started performing as a spoken word artist and stand-up comedian. In 2018, he will have a solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Jennifer is a bilingual speech pathologist and lifelong lover of language. She majored in Spanish literature at Yale. When she was sixteen, she asked her mother for grammar lessons for fun over the summer. Currently she enjoys spending time with her two very young sons.

Kiran is currently a PhD student in Sociology at UC Berkeley. Her academic work focuses on politics, gender, and violence in Latin America. She also has a master's degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford, and completed her bachelor's in Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. Kiran has worked as an EssayEdge editor since 2014, and enjoys helping clients transform their writing. She is experienced editing admissions essays, recommendation letters, as well as academic papers and theses.

Linda has been with Essay Edge since its second editing season and may be its longest-tenured editor! She is a 1988 graduate of Stanford University, with degrees in biology and communications, and earned her MBA from the University of Southern California in 1993. Linda enjoys getting to know her customers and helping them reach their undergraduate and professional goals, while learning about their cultures, families and careers through editing their essays. She is always available to answer customer questions. Linda spent 20 plus years in sports public relations, and loves her "mom job" as an editor. She also volunteers her time as an elected member of the Board of Education in her Southern California community, and is the proud mom of a sophomore politics major at Oberlin College who represents Team USA internationally in the sport of triathlon, and a high school sophomore who is an aspiring distance runner and writer.

Melissa has a BA in English with Honors from Swarthmore College, Phi Beta Kappa, and an MA in English Literature from Columbia University, where she received the MA Essay Prize and the Bennett Prize in Comparative Literature. She has been working for Essay Edge for over 10 years, covering all genres of application and scholarship essays, following a career in arts administration. She also edits audio transcriptions, helps to prepare submissions to academic journals, and writes and edits feedback for Philadelphia Young Playwrights. She finds great joy and satisfaction in crafting precise and evocative language, and in helping people tell their stories with honesty and style. Melissa lives on the East Coast with her husband, two teenagers, two albino rats, and a bearded dragon, and enjoys acting in community theater and participating in Scottish and English Country Dancing.

Born in New York City, raised in Boston and currently based in London, Nina has been with Essay Edge since 2004. Over the years she has helped hundreds of clients with their applications to top programs in the US and abroad, and she brings a diverse range of expertise to every project she takes on. After graduating from Yale University, she earned her PhD at the University of London, Royal Holloway, where she also serves as a Visiting Lecturer. An award-winning novelist and playwright, her background also includes executive recruiting in the private equity/hedge fund arena and more than a decade as a freelance dramaturge and fiction editor. She is dedicated to helping students realize their dreams in gaining admission to the school of their choice, and she is also passionate about helping them become better writers. When not editing or writing fiction and plays, Nina is likely to be found at the theatre or roaming London’s Regent’s Park with her dog.

Renee has been editing for EssayEdge since 1998, when she was an English major at Harvard. The service actually began operating out of a dorm room as Collegegate. It has grown considerably since those early days. Renee has had varied interests over the course of her life and has tried to pursue all of them. She has worked as a veterinary surgical nurse and a wildlife rehabilitator until the birth of her own children made caring for injured and orphaned wild animals too challenging. Editing was the perfect vocation for a stay at home mom. As an editor, she enjoys reading the stories of each individual applicant and assisting them with attaining their dreams. She also worked as an elementary school librarian when her children were young. They are now grown and busy pursuing their own goals, one as a graduate of Emerson College in writing and the other as a culinary student at Johnson and Wales. Renee currently operates her own home-based business and is a member of an artisan co-op. Life is vastly interesting; there are so many ways in which one can make a difference. 

A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Scott majored in Radio, Television and Motion Pictures, which was eventually folded into the Journalism and Mass Communication major. For more than 20 years, he worked as an advertising copywriter, honing his creative and writing skills as he created numerous television commercials, radio spots, print ads and internet content. He has worked for Essay Edge since 2003, and in that time he has edited literally thousands of application essays of all kinds – undergraduate, MBA, Ph.D., Medical School, Law School, Business School and countless others. He has also worked extensively with students on academic papers and dissertations. His goal in working with customers is help them present their ideas and perspectives in their own words but in a professional, well-organized, grammatically sound and persuasive manner that will help them stand out from other applicants. He thoroughly enjoys the process of working with customers to tailor their essays in creative and compelling ways that will satisfy them and impress the admissions committees at the programs to which they are applying.

Valerie is a writer, editor, and producer who has been editing for EssayEdge since 2010. She graduated from Yale University in 2009 with a B.A. in Philosophy and Chinese. She has lived in France, London, and China, and presently resides in New York. In addition to editing for EssayEdge, she works in the fields of film and theater as producer, writer, and actor. Her expertise also extends to the field of business, as she formerly served as Director of Operations for a start-up company in the education technology industry. She specializes in editing essays for undergraduate and MBA programs, and she is also very experienced in editing for medical school, graduate programs, and law school.

Yasmine is a graduate of Brown University, where she studied Cultural Anthropology, specifically in the Middle East. Since graduating, she has worked as a professional writer and editor, both internationally and within the US. Yasmine has lived in Colombia, Lebanon, and most recently in Senegal. Yasmine also works in the field of education, which has given her keen insight into the strength and pitfalls of applicants. She is extremely passionate about languages, and has been an Editor with EssayEdge for over four years. She specializes in editing essays that highlight personal growth, ranging from Academic Personal Statements to Medical Statements. Yasmine is proud to be fluent in English, Arabic and Spanish, and is hoping to learn French this year!