Our carefully-selected editing team is currently made up of medical students who have completed our rigorous screening, application, and training process.  The majority of our editors have either sat on admissions committees or have contributed in some capacity to admissions at their school.  It’s critical for your essays to be viewed from multiple different perspectives, so we make it a priority to have a very diverse team of editors.

Learn why we choose to have a team talented med students edit your essays rather than have doctors/physicians edit them in the next FAQ

Our experts have edited and perfected countless personal statements, AMCAS activity essays, and secondary essay and approach every essay with focus and attention to detail, ultimately ensuring consistent, high-quality results for every aspiring doctor. Not to mention, by experiencing the medical school admissions process first-hand, they have cultivated a deep understanding for what exactly resonates with committee members and developed a novel approach on how admissions essays are ultimately presented.

First, a quick summary why Doctors don’t make good editors…

1. Since they make a minimum of $200,000 per year and have little free time as it is, they are forced to charge an insane amount of money for this service to be worth their time.

2. Most Doctors are too busy to devote enough time to provide a high-quality essay review.

3. They review fewer total number of essays, so they have fewer essays to compare and gain the experience needed to identify what makes one essay more memorable than the next.

4. They are farther removed from the application process. Thus, most have little memory of what it was actually like to be a pre-med and how they got into med school. This further leads to a disconnect when it comes to providing current and accurate advice. (There prices are so insanely high that it reinforces my belief that they’ve completely forgotten what it’s like to be a broke college student)

5.  You will get biased feedback on your essay. Period. Since most premeds barely have enough money to even purchase one review from one doctor (we’re talking at least $600+ to just have another set of eyes on your essay), it’s a guarantee that they’ll receive biased feedback based off of that one person’s background and life experiences.

Granted there will be some overlap on the feedback you receive from multiple editors, but there will be major important points that will be unique to each editor. Therefore, having multiple skilled editors review your essay best approximates the diverse audience your essay is attempting to persuade when read by admissions committee members.

Quick Message From Motivate MD’s Founder:
The reason why I started this company and this service was because I bought into the claims of these “Physician Editors” and ended up wasting hundreds of dollars with very little to show for it. I soon realized that the problem in these other companies was simply that they have Physicians as editors. The one thing that they pitch the most is in reality the biggest thing that is hurting the quality and value of their service.

On the surface, the idea of having a doctor edit your essay “sounds good”  these companies knew they could simply sell that idea, not prioritizing the quality of their reviews.  Please don’t fall for this!

After doing the research and reviewing editing quality across services, I soon realized that a team of talented current med students with specific skills and qualifications can provide a far superior service at a price pre-meds can actually afford.

Motivate MD’s Essay Review Service was the result of this.

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Wow! As I write this reply, conduct more research, and talk to past customers, I now realize that there are many more things that you should know when contemplating an editing service than I previously thought. That said, I will continue to do research and conduct interviews in order to offer a better resource for you to compare essay editing services and make the decision after reviewing the facts.

Thank you for your time, and best of luck on your journey to becoming a doctor.  It’ll all be worth it!

Sincerely,

Drew

This can vary depending on the time of the year (there is a huge influx of essays from late May through August), but you should expect at least 1 completed review within 2-5 business days.  We strive for timely delivery, however, quality and effectiveness are our main priorities.

We find it essential to have 2 of our talented editors review your initial draft.  Many other review services will just have one person look over your essay, but we have found that this leads to a biased perception, and ultimately, a minimally effective essay. 

Motivate MD takes a different approach.  Having 2 trained editors review your first draft, will help eliminate bias and will ensure your essay resonates with the entire admissions committee.

All drafts after your initial will be reviewed by 1 editor and you will get your review back within 2-5 business days.

During the checkout process you will have the option to either: 1. Attach a file of  your essay(s) 2. Copy/Paste your essay into a text box.  If you somehow forgot to do this during checkout, you can always email it to us.

You will receive a confirmation email for your purchase (check your trash/spam folders, if you don’t see it after a day) that outlines the immediate next steps in our service process. 

All essay submissions and communication will take place through a message thread on our website.  This makes it easy to communicate directly with our editors and track when your reviews are finished.  Specific details regarding where to find this message thread will be given to you after you purchase a package!

The short answer is no.  Although we started by reviewing only medical school application essays, we have been able to cater our editing secrets to make any essay memorable. 

We have helped those applying to medical residencies, dental school, nursing school, and grad/law school, create very effective and unique essays.  Just give us any information you can during the checkout process to help us optimize our reviews to fit your specific situation!