<p>I hear people talking about how they spend an hour+ a day on them. How is that even possible? </p>
<p>The only things that aren't just filling out information are the essays...</p>
<p>I kind of wondered that too. I’m guessing some apps have supplements besides the usual general information.</p>
<p>I really need to get started on apps…</p>
<p>Yeah. Essays take so much time to become truly excellent. Then there’s financial aid. You have to find all your info that’s filed away in the back of some closet. And a lot of it is redundant filling in your information over and over and over again, even on the common app. And just general stress and freaking out. And research, online and by phone. And letters of recommendation, and applying for outside scholarships. And juggling current schoolwork. Get the picture?</p>
<p>^
Supps are just another essays, maybe two, and redundant Commonapp information.</p>
<p>Essays are capped at 500 words. I understand that they might take several hours to write and then several more to edit, but there is a point where they simply cannot be improved. </p>
<p>Research about colleges should have already been done during junior year or before. Even then, it shouldn’t take that long.</p>
<p>Rec letters? All you do is ask. You don’t have to do anything.</p>
<p>So are most of these people stressing over financial aid and scholarships, and not so much the actual application?</p>
<p>Essays take a few hours to write if you want them good enough for school assignments. When they’re determining your future, they require quite a few more drafts and editing.</p>
<p>^
But there’s a 500 word cap. How long can one possibly take? Maybe 30 hours MAX for the whole process?</p>
<p>Eh, I literally spent hours writing like 18 different essays during the summer… I am still writing new ones and improving old ones…</p>
<p>Some of the supplemental essays allow, if not require, more than 500 words. Are you currently applying to colleges? If not, you will see how stressful and time consuming it is when you actually get to that phase of your life.</p>
<p>Saugus and Hobbithill - back to your corners! Hobbit, you are stressing like every senior I’ve ever known or worked with. Don’t worry! Your talents and desire to succeed will show in your applications. Saugus, you can have perfect scores, perfect essays, perfect recommendations and still not get into your first choice schools. Many of your peers want to know that they did everything they could to make that dream come true. I hope you end up being as successful as you believe right now you are going to be. Good luck to both of you. And if you are in the eastern or central time zones, get to bed!!! Signed: not your mom, but a mom just the same!</p>
<p>^^
Yeah. Most of the stress is from SAT last-shot preparations and thinking about the essay topic instead of actually writing it. I don’t want to actually begin writing until I know exactly what I’m going to write. The actual writing process can’t take more than 20 hours per essay.</p>
<p>@LastOne2012</p>
<p>You make a big assumption that I’m overly-confident based upon an innocuous question. Some people <em>cough</em> Hobbithill <em>cough</em> falsely equate quality with time spent (John Steinbeck wrote Grapes of Wrath in 100 days) and will begin to cry if someone asks otherwise. Nothing wrong with spending 50+ hours on a 500 word essay, but the boost to admissions chances would likely be marginal and not worth the extra stress.</p>
<p>^ 20 hours per essay is A LOT. Especially when juggling your courseload of APs and honors and community college classes.</p>
<p>It’s no small task. I’m assuming supplements can be slightly edited and re-used for most schools. I still think I can knock out the commonapp in a couple of weekends once I finish planning, though.</p>
<p>So just to clarify, it’s only the essays that are the stressful part, right? The rest of the commonapp isn’t stressful?</p>
<p>I apologize to anyone I may have offended.</p>
<p>Essays are the most stressful. And making sure everything is in it’s proper place and displayed correctly, like ECs and awards. And figuring out which to include and which to omit. It’s a very involved process.</p>
<p>I think I worked on essays for a few hours a week. But they came pretty naturally to me (people say I’m a talented writer) so I can see that many people had to spend more time. I do really believe essays are very important in the process. They are the only thing that really show your unique voice.</p>
<p>Are there any top colleges that don’t require essays?</p>
<p>I’m sure Rose Hulman does not require an essay.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt and UMiami are two top ones that come to mind.</p>
<p>If you’re going to argue against me that Miami isn’t a top college, don’t because I won’t respond. :P</p>
<p>I agree that the time investment that college apps necessitate is slightly overblown.</p>
<p>Essay-writing does take a while, but I’d say the intellectual aspect is more daunting than the time. Just sitting down and writing a common app essay isn’t so simple. You can write a draft, revise it a bit, and then find that the topic doesn’t work out. You could be hoping to write a funny essay that just doesn’t turn out funny. The solution isn’t just to invest more time into your essay (unlike most people can do with academic papers etc.). Also, it can be tougher to cover a topic in 500 words than 1000 (although the end result will probably be better if it’s more concise).</p>
<p>And I need two common app essays for Yale, basically. Sigh.</p>