<p>Totally agree with sui generis. I was applying to Stanford EA and it literally took FOREVER to figure out ideas for the supplement essays (thought about them, wrote them, and edited them for about 1-2 months periodically) and what not, but in the end, they ended up pretty good. Then, just 2 days ago, I randomly decided to apply to Princeton…finished the supplemental essays in literally 2 hours even including a few errors checks and revisions. And honestly, it didn’t seem any worse than my Stanford supplements! The time crunch makes me write quicker, but certainly doesn’t hinder the quality of the writing. I kind of knew that’s how I was going to end up finishing my apps (submitted 11 of them the last two weeks) and it worked quite well.</p>
<p>I applied to my original schools in good time. After looking at the schools I had applied to for a while I realized that I really wanted to apply to some better ones. I have never spent more than a few hours on an essay anyway. What I write the first time is what I want to say, they never get better after staring at them for a while and the content never changes, and they always get my point across. I don’t claim to be the best writer so there really is no hiding that. I am banking on acceptance for other reasons than my sentence structure.</p>
<p>Because they’re hopeless romantics. Without the romantic part.</p>
<p>Personally, I had everything done weeks ago… except the essays. Writing has always been something I loved, so I wanted the best possible essays. It took me a month to finally get my personal statement ready, and that was a day before my school required me to send it in for early applications. This time around, it was the same thing. A lot of my essays didn’t get done until the last minute because I had writer’s block, and I wanted to send out amazing essays, not just any old thing I’d jotted down while trying to get over writer’s block. So I started a few sentences of my essays about a week or two ago. Then I’ve spent the last two weeks staring at the pages and just… stuck about how to proceed. On New Years Eve, I had this random burst of creativity that lasted about 2 or 3 hours, allowing me to pump out every single essay. And they were finally really good and something I could be proud of.</p>
<p>I have a theory. People who procrastinate… their brains are wired so that they basically cannot complete something until the pressure is beating down on them. I don’t know if it’s natural, and has always been there. Or perhaps after becoming someone who procrastinates, your brain gets “used to it” and can only function really well on tasks when time is counting down. But I’ve found that I cannot do most things until that “last minute,” no matter how long I’ve tried to get it done. The words or creativity or whatever gets stuck until that pressure of a time limit helps me out.</p>
<p>For some, it’s the same reason why people continue looking over their SAT booklet even though they finished the section 10 minutes early.</p>
<p>For others, it’s the same reason they finish essays at 4am in the morning the night before it’s due even though they had weeks to do it. Intellectuals are known to be procrastinators. It’s not a big deal.</p>
<p>Why do so many of their parents file their income tax paperwork at the last minute? This really is the same kind of behavior.</p>
<p>True…but with income taxes, you can get an extension for months. Some people also don’t want to give the IRS their money before they have to, if it’s earning interest and intentionally wait. </p>
<p>If you miss a payment for a credit card, you pay a late fee.</p>
<p>College admissions is different. For many of these deadlines, those are the deadlines. You miss that deadline, you miss that chance to apply for that term, completely. Right before these deadlines in the past years there have been blizzards and power outages in some parts of the country, which makes it even more precarious.</p>
<p>I understand the kids who are busy - My kids were all busy as seniors loaded up with highly time intensive activities and APs. Each one had a different way of dealing with time management. Same with the students I work with.</p>
<p>I was really curious why some waited and actually have gotten some interesting answers. Some like the thrill of getting it done under the gun, some have added colleges to their original list, some have had to file more apps after ED/EA applications. It’s interesting and helpful to hear these responses, if not for these seniors this year, then for the juniors next year to consider.</p>
<p>One reason we have waited, on occasion: $. Needed to wait till payday to have the money for the admission application fees. However, we knew in advance that would be an issue, so drew out a schedule ahead of time, to spread out applications, so we didn’t have $1,000 in expenses in one month. </p>
<p>Also, this time around, S applied ED to a school that meets full financial need/no loans. We only submitted other apps as absolutely necessary to meet priority deadlines for scholarships. Had he not been admitted ED, S would have been busy during the break. Instead, he’s been working on some scholarship essays.</p>
<p>Both my kids have really busy schedules - D was at dance until 10 pm most evenings, and right before Christmas was performing in the Nutcracker with even longer hours. S does debate/forensics, and spends virtually every weekend competing in a tournament. Add AP classes, sports, and other activities, and I’m exhausted just thinking about it!</p>
<p>Must say we learned so much from our first go-around with the college application experience, and have done much better this time. Much more organized. However, S’s friends who are the first ones in their families to go through this have been scrambling.</p>
<p>I think if it weren’t for me, my son would have been scrambling. In fact if he had to do this on his own I don’t know where he’d be right now. His school requires you apply to one school by Oct 1, and all other apps are to be done by the end of October. They are old school and send in all their documentation on paper.</p>
<p>We had the list by the end of junior year. We had a schedule and s did one app a week. He grumbled and complained, but he got them all in with plenty of time to spare. Given the confusion with how the school sent in the info it gave us plenty of time to make sure all the materials were received on time. He ended up doing ea at many schools. Many times he was finishing them late Sunday night. </p>
<p>Upon hearing all his friends scrambling during this break he could appreciate how nice it was to have it all done. He was also admitted to his ed school, so it is truly over for him now.</p>
<p>Thanks for this post. Although I waited til the end for some of my apps, it’s definitely a good thing to think about for everyone.</p>
<p>Also, some people apparently don’t even figure out their complete application list before deadlines start passing. For example, there have recently been several threads of students who “need some more safeties” even though some of the most obvious affordable safety candidate schools’ deadlines have passed.</p>
<p>I think it has more to do with the style of essay required. For most, this is the first time in their lives that they have had to compose a thoughtful, reflective essay about themselves. Numerous ideas and topics can be generated and then discarded in an attempt to have something pithy to say. Most 17/18 year olds lead typical HS lives…</p>
<p>The day my top 4 schools were due (Jan 1), I asked myself, “I started my applications in August – how in the hell am I still finishing up now?”</p>
<p>I figured out the answer: I have an extremely high standard for my essays and application. I literally spent about 2 months solely working on my personal statement (and now it’s something I’m very proud of). After that, I spent a lot of time on my Harvard supplement, perhaps a month or so.</p>
<p>I think I didn’t really consider the number of essays I had to write. So while I took months working on a few essays, I had a few weeks to work on the rest of them. However, I finished these ones about a week ago and could have turned them in. I was just too afraid to let go of the application so I spent the rest of the week polishing everything.</p>
<p>But it all worked out and I have no regrets.</p>
<p>It’s so that CC can be filled with all the panicked threads about what can be late and what can’t, when people should take their SATs, and plenty of answers to check the website about standardized testing requirements.</p>
<p>But in all seriousness, it’s probably senioritis and a culture of procrastination, which is silly. This isn’t something to procrastinate on.</p>
<p>I finished all my applications months early except for the three schools I decided to add over Winter Break, but that was extremely easy because my Common App was already done at that point, my transcript and recommendations were attached to it, and my scores were in and just needed to be sent to the additional schools. All I had to do was fill out the supplements and pay the application fees.</p>
<p>Parkinson’s Law!</p>
<p>Inspiration usually comes to me around the deadline. I think it’s the pressure that makes me more creative.</p>
<p>I made my common app account on July 31. I ended up submitting my last app on December 31, a full 5 months later. This was for a lot of reasons. My college list changed dramatically from the summer until about a week ago. I realized I was applying to certain college for the wrong reasons and decided to take them off my list, sometimes after I had already done the supplement. I discovered colleges I thought might be a great fit for me and added them along the way, so the supplements just kept piling up. I also had a really hard time deciding when exactly an essay was “finished.” I knew my essays would never be “perfect,” so I continuously worked on them until the day I sent my apps in. I didn’t want to send in something that wasn’t my best possible work. Also, I got extremely caught up in school work. I’m taking 4 APs (there was only 4 left for me to take) and self studying 1 and I’ve been swamped with work all year. It was hard to make time for college essays that were due in January when teachers would assign essays that were due the next day. Still I’m really frustrated with myself for having waited until the last minute. Looking back there was plenty of free time where I could have been applying to college, but it is what it is. I’m really happy with my essays overall, just wish I didn’t have to go through all that stress so close to the deadlines.</p>
<p>It was hard to fit supplements into my schedule before winter break. I could have if I needed to, but I would get in a position of finishing homework/sport after midnight and then thinking, “Hm, should I work on some apps, or sleep…?”</p>
<p>More often than not, I chose the latter.</p>
<p>Granted, I was not exactly the senior you described. My apps were all in 2 days before the deadlines. My other admissions materials were in months earlier.</p>
<p>I’m fairly happy with how most of my essays turned out, at least, and when I feel that way, I do have to wonder: Would my apps be weaker if I worked with a different timetable. Maybe, maybe not. They also could have been stronger. But there are at least no glaring errors in my apps, so I can’t worry about what could have been.</p>
<p>We had to spread the payments out, about one per payday (which is every two weeks). I was actually done with all of my apps before break, except for NYU and Brown. NYU was my top school, and I really didn’t want to submit it without perfection, so I just kinda avoided it until the 31st, when I submitted it in enough time to hit up some new years parties 
I actually ended up not applying to Brown though, haha. It was just kind of on the list because it was the only ivy i even moderately liked anyways, so I wasn’t too torn up about not applying :)</p>
<p>We fortunately didn’t have to worry about this around here. My daughter’s school requires all of the students to bring them a printout of the submitted application confirmation 4 working weeks before the deadline. So pretty much every Senior at her school had to have all of their apps completed by 12/1. Now for the supplements, there are some who do push those to the limits, but even as stressed as my daughter was trying to get it all done by her school’s deadline, watching friends from other schools rushing and stressing trying to get finished has made her say more than one time that she’s so glad she had to finish hers early. Reading these boards I am so thankful for the wonderful College guidance office her school has. The stress these kids are under right now is amazing.</p>