The Common App personal statement
The Common App offers seven prompts and allows 650 words, and most of the schools on your list will read the result. It deserves more drafts than any other essay in your application.
My Mitchell statement opened with a DNA test that confirmed a family story about my Irish grandmother's olive skin and dark eyes, and the offices I had held did not appear until the second page. I suggest the same order to most students: the person first, and the résumé later or not at all.
The drafts I see most often describe an activity at length and say little about the person doing it. I will tell you whether the topic is working before I comment on sentences, and a full review includes margin comments and a written assessment.
If you have only an idea or an outline, the Topic & Direction Check costs less. If I have already reviewed your essay, the Essay Revision covers the new draft.
Words/Price
Draft/Measure
Paste a draft to see its counts, where I would begin, and what a review would cost. Your text stays in your browser.
Deadlines
Only the University of California date is specific. The others are common dates for this cycle, and each institution sets its own.