Content Editor & Narrative Consultant

As a freelance narrative consultant, writing coach, and content editor, I collaborate closely with clients to clarify the substance of their written message and deliver it in an appropriate style for the target audience at hand. In doing so, I rely on my extensive training in storytelling, my empathy and inquisitiveness, and my project managerial skills to provide a focused, accountable, empowering, and even fun working environment. I take pride in holding the big, well-structured picture top of mind while making acute, detailed suggestions for optimal flow of prose in service of it; I view creativity as an enjoyable result of constraint and purpose; and I believe that clarity and precision are inextricable from personality and flair.

Over the years, I have developed a specialization in helping talented, intelligent, and ambitious working professionals looking to identify, construct, and refine their written professional narratives, whether in an effort to gain more clients, to apply for greater credentials, to apply for funding or sponsorship, or to entirely redirect their careers. In these collaborations, I have enjoyed helping clients identify how specific experiences have inspired, shaped, contradicted, and progressed their professional ambitions, and I have worked to ensure that each finalized piece of prose flows smoothly from paragraph to paragraph and word to word, reflects not only the writer’s intelligence and accomplishments but a promising and impassioned vision of self and society, and demonstrates a commitment to communicating effectively with the outside world by translating highly technical niche expertise into legible prose.

As a graduate school application essay consultant and editor, I have enjoyed working with clients to produce elegant, authentic, and substantive professional statements of purpose, joining clients wherever they are at in their development process, from initial brainstorming and drafting frenzies through final revisions and proofreading. I have led each client through an accountable development process, tailoring my approach to best suit their particular professional, academic, and cultural backgrounds while accommodating obstacles ranging from ADHD and anxiety to language barriers to unforgiving schedules. I have supported applicants in a wide range of fields, including environmental sustainability, business, project management, and arts administration. Graduate school applicants have received offers from Columbia University, UCLA, Georgetown, UCSB, UCB, University of Chicago, SAIC, and USC.

Testimonials for Graduate School Application Essay Consulting

“At the end of our first session together, I said, ‘Oh my god thank you Allie. I got more done with you in one hour than I would have in weeks!’ Allie was incredibly knowledgeable, empathetic, and meticulous in her approach, helping me in completing a challenging project that involved varied material across a long range, multi-step timeline. She helped create an accountability plan with important milestones in order to execute several written pieces that adhered to requirements differing in tone, purpose, and audience. She guided each of these components expertly, asking the right questions to help me express the ultimate intent of each piece first, then working closely with me to create an outline, and then helped finesse the rough ideas I had into drafts. We then worked together to exact edits and develop the material until I was satisfied with the outcome. I'd highly recommend working with Allison on any future project!"

-Hannah M., Environmental Resilience, admitted to UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Columbia University’s Climate School

“The suggestions she made feel spot on. She’s easily the best person I’ve worked with on my writing. She should be charging $100 an hour.” - Ryan Yun, engineering student admitted to Columbia University, UPenn, & UWashington

“I have worked with Allison twice. Last year she helped me apply to UBC, and this year we are applying to a second master’s program together. I am not a native English speaker and I think she is fantastic! She even understands what I want to say better than I do! She's the most talented writer I've ever met! She is also very efficient. Even with a very tight deadline, she can still complete it with high quality. I am delighted with our cooperation.”

-Cheng Meng, User Experience Designer, admitted to University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business

“I hired Allison Torem to help me edit my personal statement for a graduate school app. She was incredibly helpful and really helped transform my essay into something I'm proud of. Super professional, quick turnaround, constructive and encouraging, asked the right questions and helped me sort out exactly what I was trying to convey and express it eloquently. Highly recommend! ”

-Kaleb Masterson, admitted to Health Epidemiology masters and PhD at Ohio State University

"I hired Allison to look over my graduate school application essays. Her writing is excellent. She was able to accommodate my requirements and tight schedule. Highly recommended!"

-Luke Wang, Engineering

“Oh my god thank you Allie for this. I got done more in one hour with Allie than I would have in weeks.” - Hannah M., admitted to Columbia’s Climatology School

“I hired Allison to help me with application essay editing for my graduate school. All my essay was in the area of electrical Co, quite technical, Allison did an awesome job, I'm very impressed by her writing skills even with the material outside of her specificity. Great work and will definitely hire her again. Honestly I am speechless, I feel like she helped me say exactly what I wanted to say. This was a wonderful experience and I’ll definitely be coming to her with more work soon. I am very impressed. The suggestions she made feel spot on. She’s easily the best person I’ve worked with on my writing. She should be charging $100 an hour.”

-Ryan Yun, Engineering, admitted to Columbia University, UPenn, & UWashington

"I loved working with Allison, she's a great editor and goes above and beyond. I couldn’t express myself clearly enough sometimes but working with Allison, she helped me say exactly what I wanted to say. She’s very helpful and such a good writer and gives really helpful comments. The communication with smooth, too. I would definitely want to hire her again for another project, and recommend her all the way to others who need help improve their writings!'“

-Lydia Chen, MBA applicant, admitted to Columbia, UWashington, UToronto

“During our first meeting, I felt such a wave of relief in my body with how directly and professionally she handled my project and diving right in. God bless her. She is amazing at this and she must keep doing this. I feel so seen. If I had to rate how well she understood what I was going for on a scale of 1-10, I’d give her a 12. Her comments are brilliant and so, so helpful.” - Isabel Thompson, admitted to UCLA & Georgetown

“How cohesive and coherent everything reads… she is really good at listening. I wondered if she had to do research, because she said exactly what I wanted to say…”

- Luke W., Engineer

“I had the great pleasure of hiring Allison for a writing intensive project and could not recommend her more highly. Beyond her impressive educational pedigree, she is a truly brilliant creative with highly versatile writing skills.  Allison is an incredibly warm, compassionate, empathetic individual who will bend backwards to deliver a work product of the highest quality, well in advance of the set deadline. Talents of like Allison's caliber are a truly rare commodity, all the more so, when accompanied by such top notch client service. I feel grateful to have made a friend through this process and very much look forward to hiring her again in the weeks to come for upcoming projects. From the bottom of my heart, I feel very fortunate that we crossed paths and that I have the privilege of collaborating with someone as gifted and talented as Allison! She has a way with words that is absolutely unmatched and her enthusiasm to deliver excellence on an assignment that is of such great personal importance really means the world to me. I offer her my strongest possible endorsement. Thank you for being the superstar that you are, Allison!”

-Nikkita Hao, Law School Advising

“Allie is the most attentive listener, proactive cheerleader, and consistent voice of reason that I have ever had as a writing coach. She has supported me through a daunting law school application process― before working with Allie, most of my essay prompts filled me with dread. But her fierce enthusiasm and ruthless investment in my writing being as true to me as possible actually helped me smile a bit through the process. From the nitty gritty of word choice to the big picture of who I am and what I care about, Allie has been there. I'm so grateful. Some of Allie’s greatest strengths in our working together included her directness, her warmth, and her flexibility. She always dove straight into the meat of our work whenever we had a meeting, only indulging my digressing attempts to socialize when it was important to the goals I had set. She provided me with constant positive reinforcement― her kindness and enthusiasm made me want to stick with it til I had fulfilled the potential that she saw in me. And above all, she listened fiercely and remained ready to adapt to my evolving needs. During our first meeting, I felt such a wave of relief in my body with how directly and professionally she handled my project and diving right in. God bless her. She is amazing at this and she must keep doing this. I feel so seen. If I had to rate how well she understood what I was going for on a scale of 1-10, I’d give her a 12. Her comments are brilliant and so, so helpful.”

-Isabel Thompson, admitted to Georgetown Law and UCLA School of Law

“Allie’s support and help was instrumental in my grad school application writing. She provided personalized feedback, revisions, and was very helpful and professional throughout!”

-Michal Dzitko, admitted to SAIC’s Arts Administration MA

“A.I. is good, but you’re the best.”

- Anonymous client

“Allison assisted me in editing every single one of my college essays, from my personal to my supplementals. I applied to 14 schools so it was a lot of essays! She helped me to organized my thoughts so that I was under the word limits without overstepping and changing my ideas. She advised me on how to sound professional without losing my own voice in my writing. With her help I got into my dream school!” - Madi T., admitted to NYU