<p>I will be applying in the fall, and was wondering when everyone thinks is the right time to start on the essay. I am not applying early anywhere, will be going ea or regular decision. I know many say they don't do it until a few weeks before but do you think summer is too soon?</p>
<p>yea, good question...I also want some advice por favor</p>
<p>I worked on my transfer essays about 3 weeks before I actually turned them in. Thinking about it now, they probably could've been better, but they're by no means bad.</p>
<p>If you have time now, I'd start working on them now, at least getting a rough idea of what you're gonna write about.</p>
<p>How do you find what essays to write about ?</p>
<p>i didnt until the actual app season</p>
<p>I got my first drafts done by Thanksgiving so I could have a few people read over them and make comments. I then put off revising and polishing until about a week before 12/31. I got everything submitted 12/30. That worked pretty well for me.</p>
<p>i started ummm 4 days before the EA deadline...</p>
<p>and 2 weeks before Regular deadline...</p>
<p>needless to say... start around June and finish in july. And send your application in early. It will be a HUGE load off yours shoulders.</p>
<p>Really up to you and how you work. While I knew what I was going to write about for a long time, I did not actually do it until the day I turned in my app (just the one, I got in ED). Some people start over the summer. Nothing is better or worse. If you want feedback, get it done early. Plus, you can always write one early, decide at the last minute you hate it, and write another...you can't go back and write one in July when it's December 29th.
But don't feel pressured to get it done in summer, or even early fall, plenty of people don't.</p>
<p>depends on how good of a writer you are. i did mine in like 15 minutes right before i sent off my application. but that's me. if you're not a strong writer or if you just want to make usre its PERFECT, then i would suggest starting probly a month early, that way you can talk to people about it and revise it a little. (my old enlgish teacher was helpful with editing, if you can get a teacher to help its awesome.)</p>
<p>i started in the summer and it made life easy. you should start in the summer even if your not doing early because most of the apps are available by then and that way you can also focus more on your schoolwork once your classes start.</p>
<p>i ended up writing an essay and finished it two days before i had to submit it; tho it was really quickly written, it turned out to be the strongest/best essay ive ever written, better than the many essays i had long labored over and redrafted over and over again before</p>
<p>After spending months on CC before December, I was well aware of the fact that I should have started my essays...should have been jotting down notes, making drafts, picking over details, so on, and so forth. I wrote all of my essays about a week before any of my applications were due, starting from scratch. I didn't show them to anybody I knew, but I did get help editing them (just grammatical technicalities like simplistic versus simple, etc.) from a "well-established" CC parent, corresponding through e-mail. </p>
<p>My essays were raw. They were very "me." They were quirky and weird and really didn't make much sense. I made the last change to my Princeton essay 48 seconds before my application was due (10:59:12 P.M. on January 1, the application due date). I sent it in with those 48 seconds to spare, but it was all very rushed and hectic and exciting and I didn't have time to obsess about it or agonize over pushing the "send" button.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it worked! I like writing under pressure because I think it takes focus off of the technicalities of writing and puts more focus on what you are actually writing about. In my opinion, anyone can craft an essay with large vocabulary words, nicely peppered with semi-colons and adverbial clauses and wrought with lush imagery.</p>
<p>But I think it takes talent to write well.</p>
<p>So essentially, I wouldn't start in the summer. You change a lot in the fall of your senior year. You'd be surprised. My "best friends" from last summer are people I don't even speak to anymore, and it's just other weird things like that. Don't start in the summer, against all advice from your parents/counselors/teachers/CC comrades.</p>
<p>Have fun with your essays. They are surely the best part of an application.</p>
<p>ha ^^ and i thought my friend's turning in stanford app. a minute before was such a frenzy :)</p>
<p>This summer. End of story.</p>
<p>It really depends on what type of writer you are. I've heard of ppl obessively writing and rewriting essays. I, on the other hand, found the most difficult part to just choose the topic to write about. I have a few that I wrote, but found mediocre and threw out. I actually didn't get the brilliant idea for my basically best essay ever until 5 days before the deadline---though it had been under my nose all along. Think about the types of things you talk and rant at to your friends, as a hint. I had ranted in one long car ride home to one of my friends about a topic that mattered a lot to me ---"woah, you really care about this, don't you" he replied. Yes, yes I did, and it didn't hit me until months later that I should write about it---but I did, and it really helped get me in(my admissions letter mentioned it). At the same time, however,I'm someone who simply after stewing on a topic for a day or two can get it out point blank in one shot, no edits, as perfect as it'll ever get. </p>
<p>I definetly suggest starting early----even if the things you produce are poor, you'll be on the right track to figure out what works and what doesn't until you eventually stumble across what you're looking for.</p>
<p>yeah just keep it in the back of your mind starting now...i thought i knew exactly what i wanted to write about at first, but ended up changing my mind 3 times and starting new essays each time. it would've been fine if i had started earlier, but i got really panicked and that didn't help the writing process at all. so just start thinking about it and get the creative juices flowing and you'll end up with something you're happy with!</p>
<p>i started writing at the end of october and i really wish i started sooner.
Definentely don't put it off till the last minute bc you need to proof read, get ppl to check it.
start drafting in the summer.
put it this way, you've worked this hard for four years in high school, make sure you don't mess up the most important essay you've written to date.</p>
<p>just know you may end up throwing out a whole bunch of essays before you find "the one"</p>
<p>wow so it seems like across the board, most of you thrived on that rush you get being under a time crunch and though many of you started in the summer your best and final work came through days/minutes/seconds(thats bold) before you apps were due. Your advice is well taken, will start some rough copies over the summer but will continue to keep an open mind for any "last minute brainstorming". Thanks!:)</p>