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21 Of The Most Hilarious "In This Essay" Memes On Twitter

An essay devoted entirely to Chris Evans being very huggable? WOULD READ.

Junior Staff Writer, Australia

Essays. We've all done them at some point or another, and I'm guessing that most of them were on some insanely boring topics that you bullshit your way through.

But what if you had the chance to vent your feelings on the things that matter most to you, well last month i spotted this tweet on twitter, and i haven't been able to stop thinking about it..

Max Walton @max_walton_ Jonas Brothers recorded “Year 3000” in 2006, and the main explanation for a society underwater is global warming. However, global warming was not really talked about until about 2008. The only logical explanation is that they did travel to 3000. In this essay I will 07:54 PM - 02 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Partly because it's pretty hilarious, but also because I'm now entirely invested in a Jonas Brothers-themed essay.

Turns out I was late to the party, because this meme has been doing the rounds for a while now, with some truly excellent results.

jam @notnotviolet i write sins not tragedies and mr. brightside are two timeless songs that still get played on mainstream pop radio stations despite the fact that they're both over 10 years old. i doubt this level of iconic will ever be reached again in our lifetime. in this essay i will 02:42 PM - 12 Mar 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Splenda Pappy @caroline_oreo The girl Flo Rida sings about in Low was wearing apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur, baggy sweatpants, AND reeboks with the straps all at the same time so we must conclude that she was, in fact, a centaur. In this essay I will 07:30 PM - 26 Mar 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Most people decided to stick in the familiar realm of pop culture , discussing video games, movies, and iconic tunes.

Casey Nugent @CaseyNuge Wario and Waluigi are inverse versions of Mario and Luigi, hence the "W" names – "M" upside down, or inverted. For this reason, the evil version of Peach would not be called "WaPeach," but rather, "beach." In this essay I will 01:25 AM - 13 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Girls Eat Free And Never Leave @AskAQueerChick The dad's emotions in Inside Out are all dudes, and the mom's are all ladies, but Riley has some of each, making her the first canonically genderqueer Disney protagonist. In this essay, I will 12:14 AM - 11 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

NORMAL HUMAN @NORMALHUMAN4 To truly understand the impact of the boys being back in town, one must first examine the circumstances that led to the boys’ departure in the first place. In this essay, I will 08:38 PM - 12 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

🤠🏳️‍🌈 @scene_destroyer The Dixie Chicks’ bold declaration of their anti-war beliefs to an audience of ultra-conservative country fans, and refusal to apologize or back down in spite of death threats and plummeting sales makes them more punk than any band of straight men. In this essay I will 09:47 PM - 17 May 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

f thot fitzgerald @dracomallfoys in her 2009 hit single 'TiK ToK' kesha sings "wake up in the morning feeling like p diddy" which raises several questions: what does diddy feel like in the morning? what emotion was kesha trying to convey through this metaphor? why choose diddy as a subject? in this essay i will 03:35 PM - 08 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Shannon Barry @barry_happy In this essay I will be discussing the feminist manifesto that is Make Some Noise by Hannah Montana, a song that encourages young girls to be loud and take up space simply because they deserve to. Before we get started, you must understand that Hannah Montana is actually 02:52 PM - 06 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

sour @pahtch yknow why i love peter parker so much? THAT BOY HAS GOT NO OUNCE OF EGO & TOXIC MASCULINITY IN HIS SOUL HES SO PURE ALL HE WANTS IS TO DO GOOD NO MATTER HOW MEAN OR SHITTY PEOPLE ARE TO HIM PLUS HE PROBABLY HAS A LETTERBOXD ACCOUNT WE DONT DESERVE HIM IN THIS ESSAY I WILL SCREAM 09:07 AM - 29 Apr 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

tony muhammad al'stark love bot @ironmantrilogy iron man 3 is one of the most important superhero movies ever released because of the way it gives tony a visible and debilitating mental illness which makes him vulnerable and more human without taking away from his abilities as a hero. in this essay i will 06:00 AM - 17 May 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Layne 🌟 @laynemorgan Glee's Quinn Fabray was a lesbian whose aggressive behavior stemmed from self hatred and repression not only because she loved girls but because she loved Rachel Berry. This was made even more clear when she attended Jodie Foster's clambake after graduation. In this essay, I will 08:39 AM - 14 Apr 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

maria 🏳️‍🌈 @cevansdoritos chris evans is very huggable. sources say his hugs feel like reconnecting with someone who you love dearly and haven’t seen in years. his arms are soft and very squishable, which means he is a great hugger. in this essay, i will 11:55 AM - 19 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

While others chose to hit us with some real and interesting truths.

Jared 🏳️‍🌈 @jareddantis love is ⚪ in the air ⚪ an open door 🔘 a non-progressive verb, therefore, the well-known McDonald's slogan, "I'm lovin' it," is grammatically incorrect. in this essay i will 07:21 AM - 18 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Sam N @nussenzwagger In 2013, vine came into existence and hit the nation with a bang. From YEET to fleeky eyebrows to MAGCON to “you better stop bitch stop ahh,” vine never failed to entertain. However after 4 short years, vine was mysteriously deleted. In this essay I will explore 07:26 PM - 13 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

adrian @emptyflirting boys that say shit like “let’s get married” after one day of talking have commitment issues and will ghost u in 3-5 business days in this essay i will 05:00 AM - 08 May 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

jess @jesshakeitoff rich people are so lucky bc whenever one side of their headphones stops working they can afford new ones immediately, which is unfair bc if anybody deserves to walk around listening to music in only one ear for a while it’s donald trump. in this essay i will be 09:29 PM - 04 Apr 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

🌈20gayteen🌈 @MillennialOfMNL you don't really want a relationship sometimes you're just lonely in this essay i will 12:42 PM - 10 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

⋆⋱ sueming ⋰⋆ @xsueming icing is without a doubt my least favorite part of cake. a thin layer is adequate but i always b swiping that shit off if it exceeds that amount. it’s way too sweet and makes my teeth hurt. the idea that ppl buy tubs and eat it straight is repulsive. in this essay i will 05:58 PM - 29 Mar 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

jayne baran @thatssoJAYven the bears on the charmin ultra soft commercial are always doing laundry, but don’t wear any clothes. if they are naked bears, why would they even own a washing machine. given that, are we pretending that they are civilized enough to buy 2 ply toilet paper? in this essay i will 02:13 AM - 27 Mar 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

And some users, well, they just wanted to give their two cents, which is fair enough.

brad haupt @bradhasspoken the “in this essay i will” meme isnt funny and people only add it to their weird thoughts or niche opinions because it was nostalgic the first 3 times they saw it... thank you for coming to my ted talk 07:23 PM - 13 Jun 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

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77 Funny Book Writing Memes for Authors and Writers

Hey, writers. It’s good to see you here instead of hard at work on your current writing project. Of course, we know that it’s important to have some downtime and to have a bit of a laugh, which is why we’ve collected these 77 fun memes that do a rather good job of poking fun at the truth of what it is to be a writer. Have fun checking them out. You might just see a bit of yourself in them.

“Why Can’t You Just Get Your Book Published?”

Just tell a publisher to publish the book…. You beautiful genius, why didn’t we writers think of that?

Writers When They’re Determined to Do Anything

Why finish a book when there are so many other important things to do, like, well, anything except finish? After all, the crevices in the keyboard don’t clean themselves, do they?

Getting Those Thoughts Down on Paper

It always feels like the best characters are trapped inside our big brains, but we aren’t quite smart enough to help them get out and on the page.

How I Tell a Story

Does this sound familiar? It’s not our fault. What some may see as scatterbrained, we can tell ourselves, is simply a mad genius at work.

When You Find a Typo in a Published Book

Ah, yes, the dichotomy of typos. It feels so good when you find a typo in someone else’s published book, but so bad when you see one in your own.

Red Pill or Blue Pill?

Overcomplicating things and spending hours creating the perfect Spotify playlist for a story that will never see the light of day hits close to home, doesn’t it?

Respond to Bad Reviews

All publicity’s good publicity, right? While bad reviews aren’t going to do you any favors, lashing out against a reviewer will hurt your brand… no matter how good it might feel.

Picking Between Past and Present Tenses

Few things make writers tenser than talking about tenses.

I Just Hope I Find It Along the Way

This is how a lot of great stories start . It’s also how a lot of manifestos tend to start, so be careful.

Rewriting the Beginning 50 Times

The middle is where many writers fear to tread. Surely, if you just tweak the beginning another one or fifty times, the middle will be easier.

Who’s Been Keeping Me From Writing

Writing isn’t easy, but it’s a lot harder when your biggest obstacle to getting things done is the weirdo staring back at you from the mirror.

The World Right Now

The real world can be a bummer. It’s no wonder writers spend so much time in their own heads. It’s often the best place to be.

Writing vs. Editing the First Draft

It appears you even threw the kitchen sink into the first draft. Sounds good now, but just wait until you have to edit.

Two Kinds of People 

Want to make a writer curse like Yosemite Sam and fight like a Spartan? Go ahead and dogear the pages in their favorite books.

Most Difficult Things About Writing

Admit it. We’ve all gone down the rabbit hole of character names for hours and days on end, searching for that perfect name with meaning, history, and gravitas. And then we wind up using Jack or Kate because it’s easier to type.

The Present Tense

With this type of tense problem, it might just be easier to give up and learn a completely new skill. Maybe basketweaving.

“Your Parents Are Dead”

Seriously, how many characters have one or more dead parents to give them “character”? In literature and pop culture, from Bambi to Batman, parents have it rough.

My First Draft

Your brain is a wonderful, powerful tool, but that first draft always comes out like a child’s first finger painting. It’s messy, it might be a dog or a dinosaur, but it can be turned into something special. Probably.

When Someone Finds Your First Draft 

The only thing worse than cringing when reading your first draft is finding out that someone else has seen your first draft.

“I Trusted You”

Just keep telling yourself that it’s only a fictional death. Tell your therapist and your tissue box the same thing.

Being a Good Writer

And here you are… reading these memes and telling yourself that it’s still “writing work” because you are “getting ready”.

A Day in the Life of a Writer

Hey, this is rather accurate, except we’re missing the parts about feeling like an imposter and wondering whether that new show you want to stream is out yet.

Genius Level of an Author

Even worse is the location where you tend to have those great ideas. We all know that it’s usually in the bathroom.

I Think I Did a Pretty Good Job

If only we all had this kind of confidence in ourselves as writers! Honestly, though, don’t write reviews for yourself… the Internet will find you and make sure you know how wrong you are.

I Wonder if…

Well, this is a great way to start a horror story . Now what happens when they start trying to get in touch with you?

How I Feel When I Write a Plot Twist

Oh, that plot twist feels so great when you come up with it… until you realize that you confused twist with a trope.

Trying to Work Out if the Plot Ties Together

Plot seems easy, but we all know it’s not. It’s like doing long division in your head while walking barefoot across a floor filled with Legos.

The List of Books That I’ve Actually Finished Writing

Yeah… but at least you have a list.

Writing in the Middle of the Night

Honestly, there’s not much of a difference between vampires and writers, except that vampires tend to be more organized and better dressers.

I Will Find You

It’s not a lack of ideas that plagues most writers. It’s the lack of a pen and paper to write them down while on the toilet.

Brace Yourself and Kill the Character 

Yes, kill the character, but make sure you wear gloves and bury the body deep.

I Have No Memory of This Place

This is where you convince yourself that you never really liked the story, so you can start that new idea.

If we’re being honest, most of us are actually some combination of the first and the sixth image here. I mean, we sometimes look at a sheet of paper.

When You Write Something Really Dark 

And then you start to worry about the authorities checking your online search history.

Me Listening to Music While Writing

We all know that we have those ideal “theme songs” for everything we write. Don’t pretend you’re any different.

The Reality of My Writing

With a little massaging and edits even this could work… or not.

When People Try to Read Your Unfinished Writing

This is when it’s time to start poking at some eyes and smacking hands.

New Project vs. Unfinished Projects

There’s nothing sweeter than the kernel of a new idea. Until you’ve actually thought about it and played around a bit. Then there’s that next new idea.

My Creativity

Creativity is like the friend who tries to hype you up to do something dangerous and then just leaves you standing alone in the middle of the restaurant in your underwear.

20 More Words for a Paper 

And here’s why writing toward word counts can be a problem. I mean, “here is”.

Writers have more excuses than a kid who wants to get out of gym class on dodgeball day.

Finding Your First Typo in Your Published Book

If you’ve ever wanted to know what it feels like to have your heart drop into a bucket of ice water and embarrassment, here it is.

I Wrote a Novel in Second Person

To be honest, the writer deserves to be there. Second person for a novel is an abomination.

How to Be Successful

“Here’s what you need, kid. You need a little luck, a little talent, and a couple of those plot things from Jersey Jim down on 52nd Street. Yeah, that’s how you do it.”

A Famous Writer

You would probably be better off with a career in just about anything else aside from venomous snake wrangler. And even then…

Time to Get to Work

So, this is what it’s like when people feel called out about something. Not cool, Padme. Not cool.

A Serial Killer’s Google Search History

Seriously, if there’s a serial killer in the city and the authorities started looking at search histories, writers are screwed.

The Main Villain

This is a little like turning a raging wolf into a tiny lap dog wearing a jaunty hat. It doesn’t always work, and it can take away some of the allure and mystery from your original Big Bad.

A Character With Living Parents

Well, that’s impossible. Characters don’t have living parents. Time to pack it up and become a full-time blueberry farmer.

A Total Emotional Hellscape

Sure, it makes us sad. Yet, we continue to do it. We writers are sadistic gods of our created worlds, and we like the power.

Writers After Killing Your Favorite Character 

Writers have a heart. Honest. We just keep ours in a little jar in the cabinet.

When You Write 200 Years of World History 

Worldbuilding is nature’s way to keep the population of fantasy writers in check.

Adverbs Everywhere

Think of adverbs as characters you don’t like. Kill them with impunity and smile while doing it.

Story Idea vs. First Draft

At least you recognize that the first draft is a little goofy… some writers just press submit.

It’s Called an Oughtobiography

Instead of reading this clever meme, you “ought to be” writing.

Delete Charakter

When you have a character that doesn’t fit… just pluck them out of the story like aliens beaming up a farmer in Indiana. Find another story for them.

Manuscript Evolution

I’d like to say that it gets easier with time, but I don’t like to lie.

All the Random Subplots Without Cohesion

Don’t worry. No one will notice. Honest. Wait, I don’t like to lie.

When I Finally Write the End

Honestly, there’s no better feeling. So, to get that good feeling faster, start your books backwards.

Something Useless and Unpractical

It’s a good feeling. All that worldbuilding is great. You aren’t getting any further on your story, but hey, you do you.

Where Does It Hurt

Everyone says technology is the way of the future. This happens too often, and everyone starts looking for stone tablets and chisels.

When Only 10 People Read Your Book

It’s not the size of your audience that counts, it’s the journey. You’ll grow stronger, and maybe some fresh “eyes” to see where you can do better.

I’m Going to Become a Writer

This is disturbingly accurate. Of course, it would’ve been nice if the guidance counselor had actually told me this. At least then, I could’ve made an informed decision.

Alright… “Chapter 1”

You laugh, but how many would-be writers are slowly decaying in front of the blank page right now. Not so funny now is it?

At the Third and Last Act of Editing 

Editing has to be some sort of karmic retribution we’re all suffering because of the transgressions of some writer from the past, right?

Some Sort of Bullshit Energy

If you use enough fancy high-tech-sounding words and have people with lab coats and clipboards in scenes, no one will notice.

How I Speak vs. How I Write

Writers have two creatures living in us. One is refined, charming, and intelligent. It doesn’t get out much. The other creature is rabid, weird, and always present.

What Gives People Feelings of Power 

It doesn’t seem like it takes much to please a writer. Just finish a chapter… just finish a chapter. Little do people know that’s like milking a cobra.

Villain vs. Mentor Character

Sometimes, we do get attached to the characters. We don’t want to let them go. But our villains have to be villainous. They can’t just shake their fist at the sky.

After a Character Runs Out of Meaning

Of course, for fantasy, urban fantasy, and horror authors, the coffin just ends up adding more character meaning.

Am I Researching or Just Procrastinating

To the untrained eye, it appears as though I’m procrastinating. But am I researching? No, I’m procrastinating!

It’s Free Character Development 

Well, it’s part of humanity, so it can be part of a character. Of course, this often serves as a dark mirror for many writers.

Finishing the Current Chapter

Yes, this is procrastinating, but it’s also writing… so, we should probably come up with another word for it. Procrastin-writing?

Very Little Overlap 

These little circles show the truth. But when you hit that sliver in the middle, it’s like magic.

That Plot Twist

This is like a surprise fart, but one that you and others will enjoy because it doesn’t stink.

The Tone I Wanted to Write the Story in

Honestly, this might say a lot about you and what you have inside. Not that it’s a bad thing.

Killing New Characters, You’re Attached to

Sometimes killing makes us sad, sometimes it makes us happy. If we weren’t writers, we’d be in prison.

How many times did you see yourself in these memes? Let’s be honest. Writers who have been at it for more than a couple of days are sure to find a lot of humor and a lot of truth in the memes. Hope you had fun with them and even more importantly, isn’t it time you got back to that work in progress?

Yves Lummer

As the founder of BookBird, Yves Lummer has pioneered a thriving community for authors, leading more than 100,000 of them towards their dreams of self-publishing. His expertise in book marketing has become a catalyst for multiple best-sellers, establishing his reputation as an influential figure in the publishing world.

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College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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