<p>1) If you have the prompts out, you’ll get applications earlier.
2) With all they have to do in May/June/July, do you really think they should worry about putting some prompts on the school website? That’s the time frame where they’re doing maintenance on the site(s) already. And the IT department probably isn’t at full staff. I mean, I remember going for orientation and the head of the IT department told us that she had to call in all her people when she was supposed to have only half of them because of a squirrel that led to what was supposed to be two times to get their help being condensed into one. </p>
<p>TL;DR, They have other things to do instead of sorting out which prompts to use, putting them on the website, and then getting applications before they want them. I mean, it’s not like they make the prompts available “late” in order to screw people over. They make them available at what they have found is an appropriate time.</p>
<p>I never really thought about it. I mean, the CommonApp essay has been released, and that is one thing to work on during June and July. Personally, I have been working at a camp and will be working until mid-August, so I am fine just hanging out and relaxing this summer while working on one essay. That’s manageable. I would have procrastinated anyway. However, for those that wanted an early start, it is a nuisance that more essay prompts aren’t at least released.</p>
<p>I’m really ****ed. We go back to school in late August. Three weeks is in no way enough time to get your crap together acceptably enough to not have a breakdown during school. A slight exaggeration, but still true. It would be awesome if we could get the applications earlier. What’s the harm in it?</p>
<p>I’m VERY annoyed. This is what I’ve been saying to all my friends – I’ve been completely free this summer, with nothing to do, and CommonApp has the audacity to open when school starts!</p>
<p>I think it is parents chomping at the bit, not students. Any student who wants to can write his or her essay during the summer and get the resume ready …I fail to see where lack of a live application presents any problems at all.</p>
<p>It’s not as if the fields that will be on the common app are some great mystery.</p>
<p>My oldest daughter completed an app during the summer and to be honest it wasn’t that useful because the guidance department and teachers are not ready with their recommendations for months. Furthermore she polished her essay in the fall during AP English.</p>
<p>I’m pretty annoyed. I’m one of those kids who starts school right after the common app is released (along with most supplements) and combine that with all me EC’s which have already gotten into full swing with summer training, I’ll be struggling find time. I would have loved June or even just July to work on stuff.</p>
<p>For those of you chomping on the bit, there is actually quite a bit you can get done now. The primary essay choices are available for the Common Ap; get that written now, saying something that is helpful for all your college choices. Get your list of colleges ready (and whether you are doing each EA/ED/RD); note deadlines on a planning calendar. </p>
<p>Research whether they are Common Ap or own app colleges. Find out when they release their apps/supplements; many have already released their essays early and have a ton of advice (e.g. what they look for) on their admissions blogs. Note things special to a particular college, such as for MIT, you should send in the brief Part 1 as soon as it is out to get in queue for an interview, then you can send the longer Part 2 in later.</p>
<p>Another thing to do now is to fill out the activity form: calculate your hours/week and weeks/year per year for each of your prioritized activities. Also get your data together on your GPA weighted and unweighted, your awards, your honors, your grades by subject, your test scores, and think about supplemental information you might want to put on the supplemental page. Musicians and artists can be finalizing their portfolio tapes, websites, and materials. </p>
<p>Finally, get your resumes/information sheets together to give to your teacher/coach/employers who will be writing your letters of recommendation so that you can go talk to them in August and September about requesting their assistance. </p>
<p>This should keep you all busy until August 1, when you can begin to fill out the Common App forms. Those of you working on all this in the next three weeks will NOT regret it! Good luck to every one of you.</p>
<p>You don’t need an entire summer plus the fall semester to fill out applications. If you’re spending more than a few solid hours writing a single essay before final edits, it’s probably going to read as too sterile and artificial. And an actual application minus essays takes no more than 30 minutes.</p>
<p>I agree. The summer before my senior year the application process seemed daunting. Looking back after I submitted my applications, I couldn’t believe I got so worked up over it. Now, after one year of college, it seems like nothing. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20 :)</p>
<p>My parents are more on me than I am worrying. I figure the actual app will be pretty short. The thing I’m really worried about are the essays which I have a lot of.</p>
<p>This is sooo annoying. We have so much to do during these next few months. Especially for those of us applying early. There are also a lot of changes to this app and they haven’t been very transparent when it comes to the Arts Supplement. I would have liked more time to format and put together my videos, but the app is not released yet.</p>
<p>Ah yes. If I have the chance to work on my app in late July I might have finished better and counter the onset of senioritis. But then again I was on vacation at the time and could care less about an app that was due in October. I never had any issue with waiting to do apps. Honestly I don’t think it would help much as I noticed many people wait till the very last minute to fill out these applications. It would be very convenient to know what the essay questions are long before the official date of starting apps.</p>
<p>Maybe schools feel like if they make the essays available too soon, then the admission process is officially open? They know what that will bring…maybe they need time to regroup /recover from the last admissions cycle? Maybe I’m just grasping here.</p>
<p>Yeah, I wish it came out sooner, but like how many of us have REALLY written our essays yet? I think only those who have done so have the right to complain (I sure haven’t finished lol) because one you’ve finished that, there’s nothing else to do before Aug 1st. Those who haven’t shouldn’t be complaining because there’s so much essay work to be done anyways. The general common app questions for 2013-14 came out in February, which is plenty of time to gather thoughts and write an essay before the upcoming senior year. And then we only have supplements (which, granted, are still a lot), but several schools have already released theirs. I can’t wait for the Common App to come out though and get this whole dang thing over with ASAP!!! Good luck to everyone :)</p>
<p>I agree with CSIHSIS. The common app essay topics have already been released so you all can start on that already. But even so, I didn’t start essays till late October, simply because I had so much homework and ECs. While I did take a few weeks to write my Common app essay, I think that a weekend is a good enough time period to write a 500 word essay supplement. I will add that this method still works, because my friends and I basically all did this and we all got into our top schools (Duke, Bowdoin, Nwestern, WashU, USC and Amherst)</p>
<p>I agree that this is silly. I’m sure if the prompts came out in July, someone would complain that they weren’t available to be worked on during the prior spring break! Heck, maybe they should be available on the day the student starts high school, so every English teacher can have a whack at them! Any student who can’t get applications completed before the deadlines is either absurdly over scheduled, applying to a crazy number of schools, or a terrible procrastinator. We’re talking about brief supplemental essays here–and how many does any one student have to write? Thinking they must be started during the summer is just typical CC fanaticism.</p>