a popular personal statement writing service online

a popular personal statement writing service online

The Impact of Online Personal Statement Writing Services on Higher Education

1. Introduction to the Rise of Online Personal Statement Writing Services

In recent years, the personal statement has become a key aspect of college admission applications in universities in many English-speaking countries. Given this, it has come to light that there has been growth in the availability of tailored online commercial products that offer to write drafts of this document to pay for by users. Such a commercial model is unique in the context of commercialized higher education services. The degree to which they serve to personalize products of higher education entry and offering possible incentives for the use of personal statement writers by admission systems of universities elevates questions about the desirability and ethics of commercial products that seek to write statements that are designed to present their author as a unique potential university student.

In the United Kingdom during the previous year, a half a million sixth-form pupils wrote personal statement drafts in the process of applying to study at an advanced undergraduate classification at an English-speaking university. Of the student body, an estimated 10% of candidates applied for admission to the universities of prestigious research in the United States. User-related queries that are designed to be related to the purchase of personal statements increased by 40% with such requests occurring more during the completion of application periods corresponding to the academic year of advanced level, the completion of pre-summer school, and leading into the second and third academic years. These trends in user queries have been more correlated with the ease of online access and the ease of use of these products rather than an increasing demand for personal statement drafting services.

2. Ethical Considerations and Academic Integrity

It is widely recognised that the services provided by these companies may potentially offer graduates an unfair advantage over their peers if the work is used during the application process to gain access to, or an advantage at, an institution of higher education. The use of such services raises a number of interesting ethical dilemmas from an academic perspective. The first is raised for the student, who may consider it acceptable to use such services but may also face expulsion or withdrawal of their application if they are identified as using a service. The second considers the institution of higher education, its admissions department, and its ethical and financial obligation to enroll the ‘best’ students based on their own merits, and preference for their courses over less ethical institutions who do not make the same checks and verifications needed. The third lies with the online writing services themselves regarding whether or not it is ethical to take business from people in the pursuit of legitimate career advancement.

The use of personal statement-writing services to meet the entry allocation criteria raises obvious ethical considerations for all the stakeholders involved: the students seeking entry and fairness in finding a position in higher education, the higher education institutions that they want to enroll in, and even the writing services themselves. Considering the impact of a career-defining document such as a personal statement on a student’s future, the use of a professional writing service can be ‘too good to not’. Further to this, and considering the current youth generation, people now are more accustomed to paying for services such as proofreading/editing, advertising, teaching or virtual technology to help with interview or career ambitions because it has become difficult to succeed in a post-digital world.

3. Impact on Admissions Process and Student Diversity

The broad applications of generic skills are now recognized by employers: critical thinking, communication, and leadership become the ‘key’ attributes identified by the City survey of graduate recruiters, while the ability to synthesize complex material, demonstrate awareness of wider societal issues, and so on, have been noted in previous employer statements. It has also been previously argued that written communication skills are perceived as ‘a particularly important point of difference between graduates’ BE graduates and graduates from other educational programs.’ This suggests that admissions criteria may value excellence in written communication in personal statements submitted by higher educational programs. One role of a personal statement writing service could be to reinforce higher education admissions criteria, which hold personal statements in high regard. This means that fewer writing services would be condemned as inappropriate, as SM-1 and SM-3 would be less relevant. To an extent, this is occurring in business (economics) with student recruitment: higher education providers appear to be assessing more extensively against a small range of what they consider to be core skills needed for the discipline.

Since personal statements are used to select students against the value placed on excellence in written communication and several writing services could be considered acceptable, it may be possible that service providers would be seen as ‘aids’ in selection for very different reasons, a consideration of which is the basis for the remainder of this discussion. That is, the services could be partly consistent with the current admissions criteria, by reducing direct manipulation of the application point score. However, applicants can be separated by their decision to use a service or not; an added dimension of selection is introduced. In a university or college with a large number of applicants – where selection programs operate in accordance with a culture of public accountability and there is a policy to seek a wide cross-section of the Australian community through a transparent process – the use of a service might be problematic. In such a context, the act of employing another to construct a personal statement might reveal more about the application than the content of the personal statement itself. For example, SM-1 then comes back to haunt. A student seeking pathways into education as a social role is using the professional writing company’s definitions of ‘potential’ and ‘strength’ to develop a ‘winning’ application. She or he is seeking to climb in educational status rank without being identified as unsuitable ‘merely hard-working’. Also, if written statements that may be ghostwritten are being relied upon as a core criterion of assessment, it is problematic if those statements and the persons or services writing them are not disclosed to the assessors.

4. Strategies for Universities to Address the Influence of Online Services

Proactive universities’ strategies to address the influence of online personal statement writing services focus on (1) the development of admission policies, (2) provision of academic and institutional support, and (3) the establishment of learning and educational initiatives. Public and private colleges and universities should focus on these strategies and work with their communities to frame and address the impact of online services on higher education.

Proactive universities’ countermeasures to address the influence of online personal statement writing services should go beyond merely setting and developing new admission policies. Instead, they should be comprehensive, involving enhancing admission policies, providing required academic support, and promoting educational opportunities. In relation to the impact of personal statement writing services on CPSE admissions and student internal evaluation strategies, the development of admission policies is deemed essential. Consequently, admission policies at public and private colleges were updated by program managers and committees. Moreover, to inform examiner deliberations and application evaluations, there is a list of ‘not-for-selection’ disqualifying personal statement characteristics.

College and career service staff should work with the administration, academic departments and faculties, admissions office, examination committee, staff, and students in student support services, unions, schools, and the broader university community to view networks and/or policies facilitators as they plan and act. If universities place the issue at the forefront of public debate and broader university discussions, it has been found that creating institutional support and linked student resources has the potential to work effectively.

5. Future Trends and Recommendations for Higher Education Institutions

Since the online personal statement writing service is relatively new and research on its impact is still in its nascent stage, it would be premature to offer definitive conclusions about ongoing or future policy responses. However, it is quite possible that the presence of these services will impact admission and student support. At present, it would appear that there are few, if any, negative impacts vis-à-vis admission and student support. Nevertheless, reading that conclusion with an eye on the future brings other possibilities to mind.

In the future, it is desirable that universities exercise at least minimal oversight of and control over online writing services and their claims. While it may be difficult to control such businesses, they do need to show some acceptable level of professionalism while asserting that their services do no one harm. It would also be useful if colleges and universities were to surprise some groups of applicants with in-demand personal statements because “everyone else is using the services of these websites anyway; we are just leveling the playing field for our applicants.” For the present, though, I foresee very few widespread policy suggestions for higher education. In addition to monitoring these online writing services and conducting other research on their impact, I believe that future policy studies are also necessary as ways of ensuring that we are looking at all possible scenarios for the future.