<p>So I've still got a few college essays left to write (please no posts about how I should be long done by now).</p>
<p>But I keep getting stuck and not being able to write any more. Then I get sidetracked and don't feel like writing at all.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for getting rid of this severe and horribly-timed case of writer's block?</p>
<p>Imagine yourself with a bunch of incomplete applications on the day AFTER the deadlines?</p>
<p>Not a helpful answer, sorry 
</p>
<p>There are some good tips here, however:
[Hack</a> your way out of writer’s block | 43 Folders](<a href=“http://www.43folders.com/2004/11/18/hack-your-way-out-of-writers-block]Hack”>Hack your way out of writer's block | 43 Folders)</p>
<p>thanks for the link. It has some great ideas! :)</p>
<p>For myself, I just free write, sometimes about the most trivial things. It also helps to talk it over with someone, like for me its my brother, friend, or mother. I am sorry this is not much help, but good luck!</p>
<p>Can you reuse any essays? For original ones, just write. Just write something and then edit it to fit. </p>
<p>Also, sometimes talking to family or friends about ideas you have or your possible answers can help/</p>
<p>a few of them are reusable. but overall some of them are just too different to reuse anything.</p>
<p>thanks for all the replies!</p>
<p>First step. relax.</p>
<p>let me tell you about my experience last year with essays.</p>
<p>VaTech asks for 3 optional essays. I wrote them in two hours. and got in.
my GaTech essay was a first revision, written in about one hour. and i got in
My UofMichgan essay was about how much i’d rather be at Virginia. and i got in.
My UVA essays where about vanity license plates and Tom Waits. and i got in.
My WM essay was a first revision about driving at night. and I got in.
My Wake Forrest short answers where all first drafts. and I got in.
----Now for the painful part-----
My UPenn essay was a fourth revision that I passed by 3 people. Rejected
My Wash U essay was a third revision that I spent 4 hours on. Rejected
My Chicago was a fourth revision, many hours, I passed by 4 people. Rejected.
My Cornell essay was a third revision. Rejected</p>
<p>A bad essay can ruin you, but the odds of the essay being a deciding factor seems pretty small at most universities.</p>
<p>but for some actually useful things…
What did you eat for breakfast? write about it.
Hear and good songs recently? write about it.
Have any dreams for your life? write about it.
Ever though about a banana talking to an apple?
What is sitting on your desk? write about the most ordinary thing on it.
Drop a deck of cards on the floor. write an essay involving the top card.
Do you drive? is yes write about it. if no why not.</p>
<p>Just some ideas. They care more about the quality of the writing than the content of it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips! Actually, the topic I am fine with. But once I’ve started I seem to get stuck.</p>
<p>By the way. So far I’ve only heard back from 2 schools. U of Penn I spent one week on each essay, had them checked by many people, including a guy from the New York Times. Rejected. UMich I spent an hour on. Accepted. Lol. Between the two of us it seems the answer is write something in no time at all and you’re fine. Take a long time and you’re not getting in. ;P</p>
<p>^^I think the moral of that story is, more likely, that one has a better chance getting in at a less selective college than at an Ivy (though Umich isn’t easy either), and that essays don’t necessarily play as a great a role in the admission process as they’re purported to.</p>
<p>Sleep it off. Sometimes when you take a break, go for a walk and get out and revisit your essay it really helps. You need to rest your mind, eat drink water and sleep.</p>
<p>@clandarkfire Yes, I know that. I was just making a joke ;)</p>
<p>My top four schools where hard reaches, so my results were not that surprising.</p>
<p>If you have the choice, you should choose a topic that you like. If you have writers’ block on a 500 word essay, odds are that you are not super invested in the topic. A fun topic will take you an hour or two to draft, then you can spend the rest of your time in revision.</p>
<p>But yeah. I think one problem I had with repeated revisions is that drafting and revising are two different skills. I am pretty good at drafting, but whenever I try to revise I fall into formalism and lose all my personality. Of course you need to check for grammar errors and fix readability issues, but you want to leave your personality intact.</p>
<p>keeping you current topic: I do agree with taking breaks. Writing is something that is hard to force. One thing that helped me is writing your paragraphs in reverse order (or first,last,mid); you want a lot of power at the beginning and end because that is what the readers will remember.</p>
<p>also listen to this song. it’s not relevant to anything.
[Make</a> It Rain - YouTube](<a href=“Make It Rain - YouTube”>Make It Rain - YouTube)</p>
<p>People already said this, but just write. Write about anything–how you feel, the things around you. It might seem like a waste of time if you know it’s not going to be your essay, but it’ll get your ideas flowing and it’s much better than doing nothing. Once you get your inspiration, you can start your real essay.</p>
<p>Before I wrote my Common App essay, I wrote a damn good piece of writing about how I wanted to go live in a log cabin, live with the Inuit, and not go to college. But obviously it wasn’t going to be my essay.</p>
<p>One suggestion is to ‘speak your story.’ In other words, instead of writing it down, tell it aloud. You can either record yourself telling the story, and then play it back. Or have someone help you, and take notes. This helped my S, for whom writing doesn’t come easily.</p>
<p>Type out your thoughts.
Like literally open a word document and just write.
Idk, I may just be a weirdo… but blank spaces inspire me.</p>
<p>Oh geez, this thread versus your posts in my thread entertains me everso.</p>
<p>NY TIMES ACCLAIMED BABY</p>
<p>Seeing as how I’d already had 7 applications and 10 different essays done by the time I wrote this…</p>
<p>…but I thought you were a master of a billion responsibilities…I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GOD.</p>