sunny_god76 wrote:
1. is there any truth to this story for MBA ?. Will it hamper my chances if I use a consultant? shall I wait to get my AWA score and see how I did before I use consultants?
I haven't heard of this, but it's not out of the question. I suppose that if there were an essay editor who helped A LOT of applicants, and this editor had a very unique/recognizable style, then this could happen. But there are enough essay editing services out there that I doubt that a b-school gets a bunch of essays edited by the same professional.
Of course, the real risk occurs when the essay starts to not sound like your own words. Whether or not there's a risk of getting "caught," this can be a problem with essay editors. As soon as the essay stops sounding like you, it's probably not helping your application. At best it will seem disconnected from the rest of your app, and at worst a b-school will recognize it as not being your own work.
The way you can avoid this, in my opinion, is by only using an editing service for editing, rather than for writing. For instance, if you're not a native English speaker, an English-speaking editor can help you fix up any grammatical mistakes. But once they start writing your essays and they no longer sound like you, then you're setting yourself up for trouble. (Plus, you're entering an ethical grey zone by letting someone else practically write your essay.)
The CBS story sounds overblown to me, but it's true that there is some risk in using a service that rewrites your essays and applies a "template" approach to them. Your best bet is to remember that YOU hold the final responsibility for the words and ideas in your essays, whether or not you get some grammatical or stylistic help from a professional.
Scott