Rushing Essays for Top-Tier Colleges

<p>I have to finish 9 college applications over the winter break and I've finished 5 of them. However, I did not really spend weeks editing over and over again. I only had my father review them, and I usually finished an application in less than a day. (So basically I finished all the essays for a college from scratch in a couple of hours). There are no grammar mistakes however.</p>

<p>I am reading over them again and I feel as though the essays are pretty good, but since I am competing against kids who spend months writing their essays for these top colleges like HYP, do you think I am screwed? I basically did this for all my colleges. </p>

<p>I am asking because I feel like I subconsciously am calming myself by thinking my essays are fine. </p>

<p>I’m not at all sure that spending months on an essay makes it any better.</p>

<p>It does not take a long time to write a good essay content wise. Just make sure you edit your essay because having obvious spelling/grammar essays will obviously give off a negative vibe.</p>

<p>Top-tier admissions are a crapshoot. You can spend a year on an essay and still not get in. Plus, it’s kind of too late to spend a lot of time on your essays, so just do your best, don’t freak out, accept that it’s largely out of your hands now, and remember you will be just fine if you don’t go to HYP.</p>

<p>You have to remember that college essays are only part of the admission process, colleges get a good idea of who you are through these essays. I think the most important thing you should do is make sure the college essay is logical and runs fluidly. You want to make sure that your thoughts and ideas are presented as you want the college to. </p>

<p>Thank you so much guys. It makes me feel so much better. Have a happy New Year!</p>

<p>Of course it would be better to spend more time on an essay, but don’t feel so bad because sometimes spending too much time revising an essay can make it very convoluted and lacking voice. Just make sure You said what you wanted to say and NO grammatical errors! </p>

<p>@drblack‌ If I have some minor error such as forgetting to stop the italics for the end quotation mark, is that OK?</p>

<p>And also what happens if I do have a minor grammar mistake but you won’t be able to spot it unless you are reading very carefully? I heard the admissions council quickly skims through the essays</p>

<p>@HPClee‌ honestly no expert but if you think about the really trivial stuff would not be an issue
also though, those mistakes are hard to find because you wrote it so no matter what you know subconsciously what you were trying to say. Someone else reading it will spot mistakes quicker. I’ve caught mistakes in friends’ essays that I completely missed after several reads in my own. </p>

<p>@drblack‌ I see. thank you for your help! I should probably stop being so lazy now</p>

<p>In case this will make you feel better, I’ve read an essay from a girl who wrote her MIT supplement the night before and decided not to use the overly edited one she wrote for weeks. She got accepted. Things work differently for everybody, but I find that sometimes writing an essay really close to the deadline can actually help bring out raw emotion. I know this works for me.</p>

<p>While I worked on my common app for over a month, every single one of my supplement essays and short answers were done in the span of days or hours. Procrastinators unite!</p>

<p>@Melissawilliams‌ That’s the same situation as me! haha</p>

<p>omg. deadline is tomorrow and I keep looking over my essay and resisting the urge to just edit/revise word by word. </p>