Frequently Asked Questions

Here's how Accepted's College Initial Personal Statement Package works:

First, your consultant will get to know you through the comprehensive questionnaire/inventory that you will complete after purchasing the package. S/he will further build on that foundation during your brainstorming session, a one- to two-hour phone/Skype call during which you will discuss your personal background, academic interests and strengths, extracurricular activities, hobbies and interests, community service, goals, and reasons for applying to college – basically anything that could be used in a college personal statement or application essay. Then, after you and your consultant discuss a theme for your essay(s), your consultant will send you an outline.

Consisting of bullet points and prompts, the outline will be based on your questionnaire and brainstorming session. It will help you focus on your most powerful experiences and the most relevant and compelling elements of your story. It will provide you with the structure and direction you need to create the first draft of your personal statement. The outline will help you put that story down on paper with minimal blank-screen-itis and maximal impact.

After you write your personal statement, you will send it to your consultant who will edit it for grammar, spelling, style, and word usage – the nitty-gritty details of writing. S/he will return the edited copy to you within two business days of receiving it.

First, it's important to know that the outline is not a euphemism for an essay or an essay draft.

The outline consists of bullet points and sentence fragments. Its job is to provide you with the structure and direction necessary for you to write. It provides guidance, but is not a straightjacket. The essay is at all times your essay.

No.

We have clients throughout the world, and thanks to email, Skype, and phone, we can communicate with you efficiently and effectively.

If you live outside the U.S., we try to minimize your telephone expense by using Skype or by asking for background information via email. (International telephone expenses are the client’s responsibility.)

We have found that time differences pose minor problems, and we have worked with people literally from around the world – from Kazakhstan to Cameroon, Argentina to India.

It typically takes one to two weeks. Please keep in mind that quick completion heavily depends on you promptly returning drafts to your consultant.

With Accepted's Hourly Personal Statement Plan, you will submit your personal statement draft to your consultant, who will first critique it on a content level. Although we don’t interview you, we do request a recent resume or CV.

When initially reviewing your personal statement, your consultant will ask the following questions:

• Do you have a clear theme, a logical structure, an engaging opening, and a conclusion that nicely wraps up the essay?
• Did you answer the essay question, if there is one?
• Have you revealed something distinctive and interesting about yourself?
• Have you made effective use of specifics to distinguish yourself from your competition, support your main points, and add interest to your essay? 

If you submit multiple essays for one program (personal statement plus an optional essay, for example), your consultant will also check that the essays complement each other. 

After reviewing your essay, your consultant will then provide you with feedback and suggestions for improvement, and you will revise the essay. 
After you revise your essay, you again send it to your consultant who focuses now on clarity, grammar, spelling, style, and word usage – the nit-picky details of writing. Your consultant returns the edited copy to you within two business days of receiving it. Clients usually request 2-4 reviews of an essay before they are satisfied with it.

If you really aren’t sure how to approach the essays, lack confidence in your ability to write well, or want to save time more than money, I recommend a Personal Statement Package.

If you know what you want to write or already have a draft, have confidence in your writing ability, and want to save money more than time, I recommend an Hourly Personal Statement Plan.

Yes. You can mix and match, or you can use the Personal Statement Package for one school and the Hourly Personal Statement Plan for all subsequent schools. 

In fact, that’s what we recommend. Purchase the Initial Personal Statement Package for the essay you plan to use the most and perhaps for specific essays that are stumping you. After that, when you are customizing these essays for subsequent schools, go with the Hourly Personal Statement Plan.

Yes, we are happy to review your drafts. Your adviser will then tell you whether your draft is a good foundation for continuing with an Hourly Personal Statement Plan or whether you would benefit from the Initial Personal Statement Package. 

Not at all. The fees you pay Accepted could be one of the best investments you’ll ever make! Consider the possibility of increased earnings if you attend a more highly ranked school as opposed to the cost of Accepted’s one-on-one assistance.

"But," you say, "you don’t know if I would be accepted without your help." True. And we cannot guarantee your acceptance. But a brief look at our feedback page will tell you that many of our clients are convinced they would not be in their top choice schools without Accepted’s editorial and strategic guidance. They repeatedly and emphatically state that we are worth the money. Furthermore, some clients feel that working with us enabled them to get scholarships and grants that are valued at many multiples of our fees.

If you are a new client and you purchase a Waitlist Letter Package, your consultant reads your personal statement and other application essays and interviews you briefly about your activities since you submitted your application. The consultant also reviews with you your reasons for wanting to attend the school that waitlisted you. S/he then sends you an outline for a waitlist letter.

If you are an existing client, your consultant will interview you about your activities since you submitted your application and any changes in your reasons for wanting to attend the school that waitlisted you. S/he then sends you an outline for a waitlist letter.

After you write the letter, you send it to your consultant for editing. S/he corrects it for grammar, spelling, style, word usage, etc., and returns it to you.

It’s easy. Go to our catalog and choose the services you need. Click on the “Add to Cart” button next to the services you need and fill out the order form. You will receive an email asking for academic information. Your order will be processed within one business day. Your credit card will be billed immediately.

Billable time includes time spent reviewing materials, editing, and consulting with you via any medium including but not limited to telephone, Skype, and email. Yes, it includes time spent composing the emails.

Essentially, we bill for all time spent working with you or on your application except when we are advising on which Accepted service to use or responding to billing questions. Your consultant will do his or her best to keep you informed of time used throughout the engagement. 

If you are concerned about us racking up the billable hours, please request an estimate up front.

Our Rush Service is for clients who need faster than two-business-day turnaround. Before commencing work, we will determine if we have availability to meet your deadline and set up a schedule with you. If you purchase Rush Services and we don't have a consultant available to work within your timeframe, we will notify you before we start work. If at that time you no longer want Accepted's assistance, we will refund your payment.

No. Rush prices require the approval of the client, the consultant, and Accepted management.

We want you to be happy! If you aren’t satisfied with your consultant, you can ask to switch to a new consultant. If you want a refund, please refer to our refund policy.

No problem. When you are ready to purchase additional services, you can either purchase additional services online, or email your consultant, who will send you a link so that you can purchase additional time. 

Here is how you will benefit from using Accepted for your applications:

1. Your consultant will help you unlock your competitive advantage. S/he will serve as a sounding board and mentor as you go through the process of applying. You need someone experienced saying that the optional essay does not really add value to your application. You will benefit from our consultant alerting you that you need to clarify the connection between your internship and your goals. You will have an advantage if someone knowledgeable tells you that you are focusing too much on a negative and not enough on your achievements, or perhaps suggests that Experience A is more impressive than Experience B, or reveals how you can weave both into the application. To see what our clients say about our services, read our feedback page.
2. You will have a professional, seasoned consultant making sure that you present yourself articulately and correctly. One of Accepted’s strengths is the professionalism and experience of its staff, which consists of former admissions directors, professors, writers, and highly experienced admissions consultants. To judge our consultants’ qualifications for yourself, read more about our team.
3. Using Accepted can save you time. Applicants frequently go through multiple drafts, a lot of nail-biting, tearing up of the multiple drafts, rewriting, hearing contradictory advice, and rewriting again. You will greatly reduce the amount of time you spend on your essays by choosing Accepted.