When Should I Start Writing My College Essay?

The hardest part of applying to college can be starting your college essay. We suggest you start early.

Many students associate summer with unwinding, hanging out with friends, traveling, or going to the beach. For rising high school seniors, however, it frequently feels like the start of what may be the season that has caused them the most anxiety thus far: the college application process.

Advisors usually suggest beginning these pieces the summer before your senior year of high school. This will give you plenty of time to focus on writing an essay for college before you are overwhelmed with schoolwork.

Please think about the factors listed below that frequently affect the caliber of college essays.

When Should You Start Writing Your College Essays?

Your essays should ideally be started as soon as possible, preferably in the summer before the application season. You will have plenty of time to come up with ideas, write, edit, get feedback, and then revise.

The prompts for the Common App usually go live in February, but it doesn’t start until August 1. The Common App usually opens at the same time as school supplements.

When Are College Essays Due?

The due date for all of your application materials, including supplements and essays, is the same. Though application deadlines vary by school, most have regular decision deadlines in January or February and early decision/early action deadlines in the months of October and November.

Early decision II plans are offered by some colleges; these plans typically have deadlines that coincide with their RD deadlines. You can access your Common App or Coalition App accounts, as well as the school’s admissions website, to learn the precise deadlines for a given institution.

Rolling admission deadlines are used by other colleges, typically less selective ones, and they mean that they will keep reviewing applications until their freshman class is full.

You should finish your essays and submit your application as soon as possible because you never know how many qualified applications they will receive or when they will close the application process.

Further Reading:

• How to End a College Essay?
• How Many Paragraphs Should a College Essay Be?
• How to Write a College Essay About Yourself?
• Do College Essays Need a Title?

How Long Does It Take to Write the Essay?

The length of time needed to finish writing the college essay depends on the student, their ability, the complexity of the essay, and the amount of time they have available.

You don’t want to begin the essay knowing that you will need to set it aside for a while because you have to do schoolwork or go on vacation. You want to be able to devote all of your attention to this very important piece of writing.

When you do this, you’ll be surprised at how quickly the procedure can move along. It might take a week, a few days, or a few weeks for some students. I’ll just say that the longer it takes, the more laborious and drawn out it gets.

Why Are College Essays Important?

Maybe you don’t think essays are all that significant. But generally speaking, you’d be wrong to assume that. Each open position typically has at least four academically qualified applicants at the most selective colleges and universities.

As a result, these institutions must evaluate applicants using criteria far beyond grades and test results. In actuality, essays typically make up about 25% of your overall application to the top 250 schools.

The other aspects of your application are even more important now that many colleges have test-optional admissions policies, and still, others have test-blind policies. Therefore, don’t undervalue the significance of your essays.

The importance of essays varies depending on the situation. Its relative importance is dependent on a variety of elements, including the school’s size and the quality of your academic and extracurricular resumes.

Furthermore, a strong essay won’t make up for a profile that is significantly lacking. However, it might be enough to tip a candidate on the fence into the acceptance (or rejection) column.

Summary: When to Start Writing My College Essay

The summer before your senior year is the ideal time to begin writing your college essay. You want to devote the proper amount of time to this essay, and the summer, when you are free from extracurricular activities and schoolwork, is the ideal season to do so.

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