<p>SOOO everyone says you should start working on college apps and college essays in the summer of your junior year...which is coming up for me. </p>
<p>But since most colleges don't release their applications or anything until July or August, what exactly should I be working on? </p>
<p>What parts of the college app process could i start over junior year summer? </p>
<p>Also, are there any prompts of colleges that generally don't change form year to year and I can work on them over summer for sure? </p>
<p>It would also be AWESOME if people could post some of the prompts and supplementary questions they had (along with the college it was from) that they had to answer this application season.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help!</p>
<p>Not sure where you’re getting “everyone.”</p>
<p>Don’t work on anything until they release their applications. I didn’t start anything until school started again in August, and I’m glad I made that decision. I still got my apps in well before the deadline and didn’t have to ruin my summer doing them.</p>
<p>Writing college essays is an awful way to spend your last summer in high school. Don’t do it.</p>
<p>I didn’t start until the common app became available, wrote about 20+ essays (applied to 16 schools) that were all very well written and sent them in months before deadline.</p>
<p>Basically: don’t stress too much of you aren’t productive this summer because you have plenty of time when the common app becomes available.</p>
<p>You can definitely start working on your main essay for the common app. Even though they give you a list of topics, sometimes it’s best to just go with the “topic of your choice” option, which is what I did. Write about a personal experience and how it impacted your life or any topic that sheds light onto who you are and your personality.</p>
<p>Most universities (atleast one of them) will ask why you choose to pursue the major you chose. Basically go into detail about why you have a passion for your intended major and what initially attracted you to it.</p>
<p>Some have Why essays. Such as Why NYU etc… Can’t really predict which university will ask that as an essay question but you can begin to outline common reasons and then add the personal touches later. For example: This university has great research and volunteer opportunities. Then when you find out the specific schools, say: this university has great research opportunities such as the two year willams scholars program. (don’t even know if that exist, just an example).</p>
<p>I hope this helped!</p>
<p>Where are you applying?</p>
<p>Most colleges won’t change their supplements from year to year, so you can write essays based on this years prompts. If they do change, changes will probably be slight, and you’ll be off to a good start. You can access all of this years prompts by creating a commonapp account (you can do this without actually being a student or being in the current app cycle) or checking the schools’ websites.</p>
<p>I’m going to disagree with RedSeven, because depending on your schedule next year, you may not have any time to work on essays during school. I spent about two weeks in a pleasant cafe last year for an hour or so a day drafting essays at my leisure. I ended up finishing a polished version of the common application and a single supplement, and then sort of lost interest.
Once school rolled around, I didn’t have any time to work on essays; even weekends were mostly filled with ECs, etc. I submitted my common app and the essay I wrote during summer in November for my early action school and decided to wait to find out my decision before doing any other essays. As luck would have it, I was accepted EA and didn’t have to worry about any more essays. Had I been rejected/deferred, I would have had to dedicate my entire Christmas break to a hectic essay writing craze. Would I have finished? Yes. But the quality of my work probably would have been diminished, and even if it weren’t, I simply would not want to put myself through that kind of last-minute stress if it’s not absolutely necessary.
So give yourself a break and start early.</p>
<p>1) don’t fill out the Common App before it opens for the 2013-2014 school year (Aug 1, I believe) - you’ll just lose everything</p>
<p>2) you can familiarize yourself with the essay prompts & start thinking about essay topics. Read articles/books from the library on writing college application essays</p>
<p>3) you can ask a favorite teacher to write a letter of recommendation by the end of this school year</p>
<p>4) over the rest of this year/summer research schools & develop a list for visits & applications</p>
<p>5) take standardized tests this year, if possible</p>
<p>6) some programs, such as Questbridge, have VERY early deadlines. If you will be submitting an arts supplement, you can research formats and work on this during the summer</p>
<p>I could list several more things you can get a headstart on, but you get the idea. You can start next year with a good idea of the upcoming deadlines and have an application timeline & strategy.</p>