3 Reasons Juniors Should Start Writing Their College Admission Essays This Summer
I’ve got a treat for you today! I’ve partnered up with Julia Byrd, a college admission essay coach, and she’s written a guest post just for you guys entering your senior year! Enjoy!
As the school year comes to an end and you start prepping for AP exams and finals (while simultaneously dreaming of sleeping in and taking it easy), one of the last things you probably want to think about it is having to write your college admission essays over the summer.
Trust me. As a college admission essay coach and the parent of a Class of 2023 student, I get it.
However, summer break is actually the perfect time to get started on your essays and applications.
Still need some convincing? In this blog post, I’ll explore three benefits of summer essay writing and show you how to get started in an easy, low-stress way — leaving you ready to enjoy your summer and head into senior year feeling confident and relaxed.
Benefit 1: You’ve Got Fewer Distractions and More Time to Focus
One advantage of writing your college admissions essays during the summer instead of waiting until the fall is, obviously, that you have fewer distractions. During the school year, it’s easy to get caught up in extracurricular activities, homework, and social events — and understandably so. But once summer break arrives, most of these distractions disappear, which leaves you with ample time to devote to your college applications, and less time to make excuses.
With more free time on your hands, it’s easy to dedicate 30 minutes or an hour a day to brainstorming ideas, outlining your thoughts, and revising your work. (You’ll even have time to get some feedback from a family member, teacher, or essay coach.) With longer summer days, you won’t have to worry about rushing through your essays simply because you were pressed for time.
How to Get Started Early: The Common App usually releases its prompts for the main essay (often called the personal statement) in April. Once they’re released, read them over and start jotting down ideas that come to mind. One of them might turn into an essay topic.
Benefit 2: You’ll Reduce the Stress Associated With Submission Deadlines
When you take time to work on your essays during the summer, you have a lot more flexibility to set your own deadlines, spread out the workload, and avoid feeling stressed as application deadlines approach. And trust me: You’ll be stressed enough in the fall without having to work on essays.
Inevitably, I work with students who think they’ll have all the time in the world in the fall to work on college applications. After all, many deadlines aren’t until December or January, right? But once school kicks into high gear and you realize senior year isn’t the cakewalk you thought it might be (nor should it be), you might regret having procrastinated.
What’s worse is that application portals tend to get increasingly glitchy as you get hours or minutes away from the submission deadline. You don’t want to be freaking out because you couldn’t submit your application on time — or at all.
How to Get Started Early: Create a spreadsheet of the colleges you’re planning on applying to, and include a column for deadline dates. Then, add in the essay prompts you’ll have to respond to for each school. (Schools usually release their individual essay prompts over the summer.) Often, you’ll find you can repurpose the same supplemental essay (or a variation of it) for multiple schools.
Benefit 3: You’ll Get to Enjoy Senior Year
By starting your college admission essays early in the summer — and then finishing them before school starts in the fall — you’ll have more time to enjoy your senior year. Instead of frantically working on essays as the school year begins and deadlines loom, you can focus on senior activities, sports, and work — and just having fun — without the added pressure of looming deadlines.
With college applications out of the way (or pretty close to it), you’ll have more time to participate in extracurricular activities, take on leadership roles, and make lasting memories with your friends. While it might seem tempting, senior year is not the time to slack off — in classes or activities. Remember, colleges will still need your year-end transcript, and while it’s uncommon, colleges can rescind their offers of admission if they see something concerning on that transcript.
How to Get Started Early: There are lots of great free resources online that will help you brainstorm, write, and edit your college admission essays. But if you find you need more help, there are also great essay coaches who can support you in the process. Not sure if you should hire one? This blog explores different people who might be able to support you in your essay writing.
In the end, starting early on your college admission essays is a win-win situation. You’ll be able to reduce your stress levels, improve your chances of acceptance, and enjoy your senior year to the fullest. So why wait? Set aside some time this summer to work on your essays, and you’ll thank yourself (and me) later. And if you want to learn more about how an essay coach can support you as you apply to colleges, reach out to me. I’d love to share how I get my students writing their essays over the summer.
Meet Julia Byrd
Julia is a Houston-based college admission essay specialist with nearly 20 years’ experience in writing, editing, and storytelling. Combining her extensive writing background with her master’s degree in counseling psychology, she’s perfectly positioned to help students find their deepest stories, develop their voices, and write the essays that stand out to admission officers.
Working one-on-one or in small groups — in person and online — Julia leads students to recognize their accomplishments and draw unique connections between their life experiences,
