Are those two sentences the same?

I gave a script I wrote to a professional proofreader, and one correction she gave me, I just can't understand (and she doesn't seem to agree with me).

This is complete original sentence:

So far in this course, we talked about doing everything the right way, but even if you’re not doing it right, remember the most deciding factor as to where professionally you’ll be in 1-2-3 years from now is your rate of improvement.

And here is her suggestion for changing the second part of my sentence:

... remember the most deciding factor as to where professionally you’ll be in 1-2-3 years from now, which is how you would rate your improvement.

Do those two sentences have the same meaning?
I think not, because they use different meanings of the word "rate" - the first is "the speed at which something happens or changes", and the second: "to judge the value or character of someone or something".

You should find a different proofreader because this one is not very good at their job. I don't think I can really add anything to what you've said yourself:

because they use different meanings of the word "rate" - the first is "the speed at which something happens or changes", and the second: "to judge the value or character of someone or something".

You're entirely correct, the two sentences use different senses of the word rate and as a result they have distinctly different meanings.