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Description
This package is designed for aspiring PhD candidates who want to craft a compelling and standout personal statement, maximizing their chances of acceptance. This package includes the following, but feel free to adapt based on your unique situation and goals: - Initial kickoff and planning session: Begin with an in-depth session to discuss your academic background, research interests, and goals. Your coach will help you create a roadmap for writing a standout personal statement. - Personal statement brainstorming: Work closely with your coach to uncover key themes, experiences, and research passions. Together, you'll identify what makes your candidacy unique and how to showcase it effectively. - Personal statement drafting: Collaborate with your coach to draft a strong and authentic personal statement, focusing on effectively aligning your narrative with the priorities of your target programs. - Personal statement editing: Refine your personal statement through multiple rounds of feedback from your coach. They will help you polish the structure, tone, and content to ensure it resonates with admissions committees. - Final review: Your coach will complete a thorough review of your personal statement, ensuring it is submission-ready and highlights your academic potential. To summarize, this package pairs you with a world-class coach who will guide you through every step of creating a standout personal statement. They will provide honest and constructive feedback, helping to ensure your personal statement reflects your strengths, motivations, and aspirations.
What you'll get from this package
A compelling personal statement that is differentiated, personalized, and thoughtful
An outline and several drafts of your personal statement, refined through multiple rounds of feedback and edits
A polished final personal statement that you can feel proud of submitting and sharing with the admissions team
Additional details
Coaching delivered via live sessions and .
Additional expectations or terms of engagement may be provided by coaches (e.g. expected response times, etc.).
Services included:
Essays
Editing
Talk to a team member
Schedule a call with a Leland team member who can help you explore your options.
Schedule a call
More packages from Ian
Custom hourly · $79/hr
Get help with Interviews, Research, and .
Offered by Ian H.
Joined September 2026
Academic Coach
I have coached dozens of students at Stanford University's Center for Teaching and Learning, helping them work through academic challenges and build more effective ways of working. Having recently completed my own PhD, I understand firsthand the pressures of graduate school and the difficulty of navigating research when the path forward is not always clear. My approach is highly individualized. I help clients clarify the problem they are actually trying to solve, make sense of the evidence in front of them, and develop systems that can serve them beyond a single challenge. My research background also allows me to support clients with research strategy, analytical thinking, and data analysis when those are part of the problem. I can also work with prospective graduate students on applications, drawing on my own experience successfully navigating admissions at highly selective universities including Stanford and Cambridge. Whether someone is trying to get into graduate school, make progress once they are there, or work through a difficult research problem, my goal is to help them leave with a clearer path forward and a stronger ability to solve similar problems independently in the future.
Starting at $375.25
5h+ of coaching