I’m Carly — personal statement editor extraordinaire!

Writing a personal statement can be tough. With five years of experience helping hundreds of graduate school applicants tell their stories, I fully understand the struggle. I’m also very aware of the most common mistakes applicants make, and I have developed strategies to overcome them. I’m proud to have helped students gain acceptance to U.S. and U.K. master’s programs in medicine, nursing, law, art curatorship, and more.

So what’s my success strategy?

I firmly believe that stepping outside of yourself and considering the essay from the admissions committee’s point of view is the key to success. When crafting the perfect personal statement, you want to strike an ideal balance between being true and honest to your story and aligning your goals and values with those of the program to which you’re applying. In short, it’s about conveying both who you are and what you can offer. To that end, I always push my clients to journey beyond the ‘interior-thinking’ that the first stage of personal writing requires. Depending on the shape you’re essay is in, I might ask you to do some quick, helpful point-of-view exercises.

I help with grammar and flow (as any editor should), but I also work with you to ensure that your content is as strong as possible. For instance, I research the program you’re applying for, look at your resume, and ask you pertinent questions to ensure we’ve covering all of our bases.

I will not write your personal statement for you. That would be unethical, and it’s also just plain silly. Why would you want to begin a degree program pretending to be someone you’re not?

What I can do is help you figure out the very best way to tell your story. If your essay is not in good enough shape for me to do a complete and useful edit, I’ll likely send it back to you and ask you to spend a little more time with it.

Interested? Check out what I offer below:

Editing Pricing & Services

Physician assistant school applicants: Please note that I only edit PA school essays through The PA Life Essay Collaborative Service. The pricing structure is the same — you can request me when you fill out the submission form. For all other graduate school applicants, here are my services:

One-Time Edit Service

The one-time service is ideal for applicants who need a little help and support with their personal statement. You must have a workable first-draft to use this service.

I will edit your essay for:

• Grammar
• Flow
• Paragraphing
• Content
• Value alignment & other rhetorical considerations
• Appropriateness
• Readability

I will also research your prospective program(s), look at your resume, and ask you for any additional information I may require.

Deliverables: You will receive both a marked-up copy of the essay, with comprehensive comments, and a clean version of the essay that you can use to make additional revisions. Both copies will be Microsoft Word documents, which you can also view in Google Docs. I will also provide one paragraph of feedback on overall impressions and areas for improvement.

For a personal statement of up to 1000 words, I charge $135, invoiced via Paypal. If you make any major changes after the first round of edits, I’m happy to take another look — additional edits are available at a heavily discounted fee and will be billed separately.

To set up a one-time edit, email me at cjhallman44@gmail.com

Personal Statement Coaching Service

Want a more bespoke service? I also offer comprehensive personal statement coaching! Please note that there is limited availability for this service.

You do not necessarily need to have a first draft of your essay to get started with this service. I’ll provide you with a useful PDF with info to get started and exercises that can help you. We can also discuss and brainstorm content ideas. Once we’ve done that, you should be ready to write a workable first draft, which we can fine-tune and build upon as the process unfolds.

All coaching includes:

• A PDF of useful information and exercises to get started or improve your existing draft
• Full grammar and content editing services, as detailed above
• Multiple rounds of edits — we will keep working on your statement until we get it right
• Two 40-minute Zoom sessions — we can use this time to work together on any tricky areas or to brainstorm new content ideas

My fee for this service is $345, invoiced via Paypal.

Interested in the coaching service? Inquire about availability by emailing me at cjhallman44@gmail.com

Other Essays

I also help with supplemental essays, scholarship essays, and more. Please email me for pricing information.