FREELANCE WRITING, EDITING, & COACHING
As a freelance writer and editor, I bring my liberal arts training from The University of Chicago to the real world demands of clients ranging from PhD candidates applying for research funding to to startup companies introducing themselves to the market. One of my specializations is graduate school application essay revision and coaching, and I’ve successfully worked with clients with obstacles ranging from anxiety to ADHD to ESL to demanding schedules to the simple reality that daring to change your own life requires accountability. No matter what you’re looking to write, I’m here to help you do it effectively and on time. Email with inquiries or to see my resume and writing samples.
Testimonials:
“We hired Allie to communicate our thinking to approximately 400 households who have trusted us to manage $275 million of their lifetime savings. To say Allie was determined to facilitate clear communication is an understatement. Allie went above and beyond in clarifying the heart of our message to our clients. She alchemized complex financial language into an accessible narrative that helped clients understand what is happening, why it’s relevant to them, and what actions they can take. We needed a writer with grit, empathy, resilience, creative solutions, and an overall good-hearted nature. Allie easily embodied these traits. She understood how to attune to our working styles, unpredictable workflow and sudden deadlines while being remarkably reliable.” - Wealth advising & management company (name protected under NDA)
“I have had the pleasure of knowing Allison for the last two years. As a colleague, I've enjoyed working with Allison tremendously, and the breadth and width of her intellect, passion, and kindness truly transcends the average person. Along with her undeniable talent in multiple creative areas, Allison is dedicated and compassionate. She has displayed great talents in managing projects that we have collaborated on. I greatly appreciate Allison’s enthusiasm and profound respect for people, and I wholeheartedly recommend Allison without reservations.” - Tephra Miriam
“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 organize 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!” — college applicant, admitted to NYU
“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 UBC
“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, Health Epidemiology applicant, admitted to OSU
"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
“Allison 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 Bren School of Environmental Science and Columbia University
“I hired Allison to help me with application essay editing for my graduate school. All my essay was in the area of electrical engineering, 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!” —Ryan Yuan, Engineering applicant, admitted to MIT and Columbia University
"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
“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 applicant
“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. “ —Graduate school applicant, admitted to Georgetown & UCLA
“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, Arts Administration applicant, admitted to SAIC