<p>When should I start working on my essay/essays if I'm applying to colleges this year? I know the common app doesn't come out until August 1. I have some ideas, but wasn't sure if I should get started until the common app comes out so I can see the essay topics I am given.</p>
<p>It’s pretty much up to you and how long you think it will take you to write an essay. You might want to check with other posters, but I’m pretty sure that the common app topics don’t change from year to year. Even if you don’t write a whole essay, you can practice writing some paragraphs regarding your possible topics that might be used in your essay if you’d like. Or you could even write a whole essay, since the topics most likely will be the same again this year. However, that’s just if you want to. You should definitely start writing before you go back to school, because senior year is going to be really busy and you don’t want to have to be writing essays during that. Trust me, I waited until early October-ish, and it wasn’t pretty and caused a lot of stress.</p>
<p>Anyways, bottom line is you can start working now if you’d like, but definitely start in August and it would be a good idea to have a rough draft done when you get back to school so you can start showing it to teachers and stuff. Good luck!</p>