It is a fresh new year and all the hardworking seniors working on getting into their dream colleges have finally finished submitting their college application and their essays.
Coming up with a good plan and brainstorming ideas for your college essay takes a lot of work. It requires a lot of thinking and reflecting, not to mention the amount of pressure the students have on their backs. Aaron Hou (12) explains what his thought process was in writing college essays and which colleges he applied to.
“I spent a lot of time and months on my essays, but my goal was to be as original as possible and show my brighter side. My writing process was to write a rough draft for all the essays first. Then I slowly revised it along the way, meeting the word requirement, having multiple people look at my essays, and giving me feedback. I hope to get into the University of California Irvine, and my backups are California State University Fullerton, University of California San Diego, and University of California Santa Barbara.” says Hou.
Furthermore, Kevin Xiong (12) warns students to follow his mistake of procrastinating the essay at the very last moment.
“I started writing my University of California responses two weeks before the due date, which was highly stressful. One piece of advice for anyone writing college essays: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Write as much as you can as early as possible to get the most feedback and try to flesh out your responses.”
While some students struggle to deal with the enormous pressure caused by college applications, Alex Li (12) says that being relaxed throughout the process can help to write a good essay.
“There was not much pressure throughout the application process. As a result, I find it easier to relax and trust myself to write a great essay,” says Li.
The time writing a college application is the most crucial step for a high school student, as it can decide what the future of your life will be like, and it can be very stressful. But remember to trust yourself, do not procrastinate, relax, and you will get through the process just fine; good luck to all the seniors this year and hope you all get into the colleges you want to go to!
