<p>On top of this serious early-set senioritis, which causes me even to lose focus on summer assignments (i really think it'll cause me to lose rank 1 this semester), college visits (which I think I'll forego all together), sat's, I just really can't start working on the essay. I have no ideas jotted down, nothing. You know how some people have notebooks full of descriptions, or lots of good pieces from here and there? which manage to sew itself into this really hilarious, awesome essay...i don't even have a nb. i feel like im attacking it all wrong.</p>
<p>I really have no clue what to write about. I mean, I'm the one who can't shut up when telling people a story, or talking to friends, but I was never one of those people to get it across really effectively on paper. I don't know how the hell to "define myself"! There's too much! I think that is what is causing my mental procrastination. I read some essays that were "prize-winning" online and seem really stupid, if not downright boring. People sitting and describing the table accessories, or a cafe...with no real action. Maybe I have the wrong idea of the essay?</p>
<p>If I show anything I write to my mother, she thinks anything important has to be so formal full of large worded jargon....and tells me to start over. Maybe I shouldn't even show them the final copy? i mean, im sure they don't have a clue what to give for advice anyway.</p>
<p>are we supposed to sit and brainstorm our lives and pick an event and tell the adcoms, like you were telling them a story? and then i worry that reading some of the good examples online will make me start copying the style, or the topic. I'm running out of time, slowly but surely. Maybe I shouldn't even worry and leave till the last minute? sometimes good writing comes out of no preparation....And then it doesn't even matter what the rest of the app is, right? you suck at writing, you suck at admissions, you suck at life, basically.</p>
<p>Don't stress too much, trust me, I know exactly where you're coming from and it isn't worth it. It's funny, I feel like you are exactly where I was this time last year. So stressed about everything, not knowing where to start, or even if I did start what to actually work on. But trust me, once January hits, life just becomes perfect all of the sudden. Plus, if this helps you feel any better, I didn't really start working on my essay until about a week before Thanksgiving, and I didn't finish it till about the first week in December [though I'm not recommending that you wait till that late]. But seriously, just focus on one thing at a time, you have enough time to spare. And don't worry college essays usually take time before you actually have a very strong idea, so just be patient and wait it out. And also definitely don't lose focus on school so late in the game when you've worked so hard the past few years. Just stick the course, trust me, it will get easier, and this time next year, you'll totally forget everything you had to do because then you'll realize, wow college is in a few months and all the stress can be forgotten forever.</p>
<p>I haven't started my essay either...but I think that you could start by thinking about one moment that changed you, made you grow, or is very important to you. Oftentimes, essays tie into your passions or ec's so that colleges can find out who YOU are. This is a chance to set yourself apart from all the other app's. You might already know that but yea...that's what I've been told. :-)</p>
<p>we suck. i should just become a hobo right now. meet lil jon. i mean, who needs a career when you can hook up with some idiotic drunk rich guy and steal the money? lol, thinking of bringing lil jon to meet my parents is terrific.</p>
<p>Thanks for the pep talk tony. you make it sound so easy. so are you saying that the topic just hits you? Maybe you were just one of those suave kids who could handle anything. I tend to break down, honestly. I remember crying over some essay back in 10th grade ap us hist, that would count for a lot of the grade. That's why I worry. I could end up going to the local community college forever. Bring the shame and misfortune a failing first kid brings to the rest of the family.</p>
<p>I honestly can't think of anything that has ever seriously "changed" me besides CC, but I don't think that "How I became bitter and insecure" is a very impressive topic.</p>
<p>Hmmm, I personally think a good essay just hits you, but you do have to go searching for it at the same time. Also, don't worry I'm not one for coping well with the stress at times. Like my history final this year, I totally blew it, and I thought that the grade might get me rescinded, but don't worry, tough it out and you'll do fine. It's the summer after all, enjoy it. And I doubt you'll end up in a community college if you already took an AP class as sophomore.</p>
<p>It doesn't necessarily have to change you, instead it could be about you bringing change, b/c if the world isn't changing you then go out and change the world.</p>
<p>Stillmanz, great idea, but ....I see it as we already have an EC essay, so the other essays tell you to describe your defining moment in a few words. I'm about to be 17, maybe I don't have a defining moment.</p>
<p>We're all interesting, but I think, at least for me, it comes out in the moment. I was always bad with "describe your most embarassing moment" essay type questions. Because it doesn't come to mind, immediately. maybe never, until you see something else that reminds you of it. </p>
<p>I just don't register everything in my life in a diary or something. Except maybe some CC posts, but who the heck would search through their own posts? Thats as desperate as the suggestion above this.</p>
<p>Yeah, defining moments are tough, though if you look hard enough, you can find it, personally I had to choose between practicing meditation and watching a man drown, but I just chose meditation to avoid any issues. So just look, and perhaps be creative, talk about an imaginary moment in the future that will define you, or some miniscule event in your life which really brought about heavy changes and so forth.</p>
<p>I'm using the application through the school itself for the most selective schools on my list, and I'm waiting for their apps to come out before I start on the essays.</p>
<p>Good idea, I did the same thing for MIT [though they don't have a common app anyway], but def agreed. Hey, by the way, I think you're from chances.com, it's me Peq2007.</p>
<p>I have to chose between the day my dad and two brothers got in a car accident and dad got epilepsy, which has the potential to become depressing; creating my film production company/cooperative, i don't know how that would turn out; writing my book, which i think would be boring; and writing about the theatre company i used to belong to and the trials and tribulations of trying to get our show funded, which has good potential only because that show was basically my soul... And I haven't started yet. I don't even know if any of this stuff will fit with the way they want me to write it.</p>
<p>There is no way they want you to write, they just want you to be you, and they want all your heart, soul, and passion on those pieces of paper that you call your essay. So don't really worry about what your essay topic is [as long as it's not ridiculously cliche] because all they want to see is you being yourself.</p>
<p>i was really lazy last yr and did my first draft durig spring of my junior year....my college mentor wanted us to work on it over the summer but i never did....so when senior year started, i was really busy with APs and clubs so i never got around to apps til the very last two days so basically i wrote my second draft overnight and got it edited as a final draft the very day my app was due....
even so, i got into a good college :)
dont worry too much</p>
<p>people freak out way too much about writing their essays early. my friend wrote her essay in december. haha (and she got into her school of choice)</p>
<p>oh and by the way, to answer your topic question, roughly 99.999999% of rising high school seniors haven't started <em>thinking</em> about their college essays yet, so don't be worried.
in my opinion, trying to force yourself to write the essay early is one of the worst things you can do. just get used to the idea that eventually you have to write an important essay- keep this in the back of your mind- and wait to get inspired. the more contrived your writing process is, the more contrived your essay will be. relax, the idea will come to you. (just don't wait TOO long, hehe)</p>