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I've tried to tell her procrastination is NOT a good thing. What if something comes up? What if you get sick, or some emergency comes up during the time you THOUGHT you were going to do something, then it does not get done? All has apparently fell on deaf ears.
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"procrastination is NOT a good thing" ... hmm ... if someone procrastinates so long that they frequently miss deadlines then I agree it is an issue ... however, if they start later then you would have but finish in time and do a quality job how is that bad other than they followed a different clock than you would have.</p>
<p>The kick-off situation was that not starting essays about 3 weeks before they are due is procrastination ... that might be for you ... but 3 weeks may be plenty of time for your daughter. If she's down to a couple days I'm with you ... but at 3 weeks (as a procrastinator) she has plenty of time.</p>
<p>As far as essays go as a procrastinator I know an essay I write at relatively the last minute (the last 2 -3 days) would be written with more passion and creativity than if I try to write something far in advance ... it also might have a mistake or two and have some things that are written awkwardly. If I wrote far in advance I would clean up the mistakes and the grammar and the whole thing would go flat and it would read like the Stepford student ... if I want to write an esaay that conveys who I am it NEEDS to be written relatvely late (and I'm 46 now and this is still true). (Should I start taking about topics much earlier, yes ... and maybe even write down a brain dump to see if I have anything interesting to say ... but the essay itself will come to me in the shower, on a run, driving to work ... and all close to the time commitment).</p>
<p>Your daughter sounds like a great kid and a very accomplished kid ... at this point it seems she know what works for her.</p>
<p>Some people DO work better under pressure though, and a parent's nagging doesn't count...</p>
<p>On a side note about college essays - I think the reason we procrastinate on those is because the rest of the application is so EASY and kind of just going through the steps - fill out your name, DOB, SSN, address, etc., ask a teacher for a rec, get a transcript request....wait, now I have to be creative?</p>
<p>I'm in high school, and I'm always putting things off. If I have two weeks to do a project, I'll do it the night before it's due. </p>
<p>For a while, I thought I was an awful person with no self-discipline. Then I realized--this is how I get my kicks. Procrastination makes my life exciting. I like the pressure.</p>
<p>My H is the major procrastinater. Drives me crazy. His idea of getting ready to go somewhere is to put things off so that he can walk out of the shower and be ready to walk out the door when we are leaving. Nevermind getting anything ready, packing the car, packing his stuff, no his only job is to get in the shower and be ready!</p>
<p>Of course he goes crazy if the kids procrastinate.</p>
<p>I think that I need to post about married to the highly gifted. A great guy but boy is he quirky.</p>
<p>It's Dec 22nd (Happy Solstice!) and you're worried about apps due mid-January?!?! </p>
<p>That's not procrastination, that's spreading work out so it's not too much at any one time.</p>
<p>Procrastination is when you pull out an essay you wrote in 8th grade, polish it a little (change five words and add a conclusion) and submit that with the application you wrote in one day--on the last day for getting the app in on time. (My son did this; results: in at MIT, waitlisted at CalTech.)</p>
<p>A word of advice to parents of procrastinating kids:</p>
<p>Don't ever force failure.</p>
<p>My mom's type A, I'm a very perfectionistic procrastinator. Several times in high school, I would try and work late into the night on a project or paper. My mom would come in, and force me to go to bed because I was "keeping her up." (How a light being on and me quietly writing in a notebook on my fvloor kept her up is beyond me). Needless to say, I never finished the project and barely scraped by in the class with an 80 average. That's just one example. It happened for four or five classes.</p>
<p>This woman also woke up and screamed at me for "being up late and doing my homework" when I turned the light on after I woke up and needed to get some feminine products!</p>
<p>It stopped my senior year, but by that point the damage was already done. I'm a college freshman, and I can't do it anymore because I'm so afraid she's going to magically pop in and scream again.</p>
<p>College applications I also did at the last minute (but I had one school that had earlier deadlines then the others, since it was the common app online I still got to look over everything again). I think my high school guidance ofice losing my file was much more dertimental to my admits then my procrastinating. (I was waitlisted to Bryn Mawr because they lost the supplement and lied about remailing it. I found out when applying to my March safties because all my letters of reccomendation were missing. I'm glad I had copies of those, otherwise I wouldn't have been accepted anywhere.)</p>
<p>I have described my son on another thread as the "King of All Procrastinators." Fortunately, he is now in college and I don't have to watch him prefect his art any further. He is extemely bright, far more so than his parents, and we have come to accept the fact that he can start a major paper a day or two before it's due, do all the research, write it and turn out a brilliant job within that time. He just cannot force himself to do it any other way. He applied to one college ED, and got his acceptance in the mail on a Saturday afternoon. This worked out well for him because his next deadline was Monday, and he had not started his other applications. We do have issues which have already been mentioned such as only leaving exactly the right amount of time to get somewhere, assuming that everything will work out perfectly. I agree with many others, that at some point you just have to let happen whatever is going to happen. That's how they learn. Eventually. Hopefully. No more micromanaging for me!</p>
<p>I have been out of my mind with my procrastinating daughter - she did do her common app essay over the summer - but then reworked it several times up until 2 days ago. We are leaving for vacation tomorrow - she has known what date we were leaving for months now. Bottom line, she just submitted the last application. All done - she did it. I haven't slept in nights worrying about this. Last week, whenever I said "we" should really get some submitted today, she said it is not "we" ...it's "me", "my job and I'm not ready." Turns out it was more of an emotional hurdle for her than anything else. She was freaking out. "We", yes, "we" are done now. :)</p>
<p>SixSixty, no guarantees, but as it turns out, D is a reformed time manager. And a good thing, because there have been a couple of instances where, if she had procrastinated, she would have been well and truly stuck when ugly circumstances reared their head. Knock on wood.</p>
<p>Most of the essays are very personal. The kids have to reveal themselves to total strangers--not only that, but they have to do it in such a way as to make these total strangers want them. This is a very difficult thing to do for many people, especially those who prefer to get to know someone first before they bare their soul to them. I don't blame them for putting it off.</p>
<p>I'm an arguably bright kid (232 PSAT) and I procrastinate. I do it because I'm afraid of failure. I freeze because I'm afraid of producing anything that's less than perfect, and then I'm forced to do it at the last minute. The final product is always mediocre, by my own standards, but then it's all right, because I have an excuse. ("I wrote it at 2 AM.")</p>
<p>I don't get a thrill out of procrastinating... I hate it. It's unhealthy and counterproductive, but I don't know how to stop.</p>