Hi, Reader!

Spring is one of my favorite times of year in this work — not because things slow down (although I do love catching up on TV and hobbies), but because I'm seeing the students who want to have a smooth application season start to think about how they can make that happen.

And, of course, planning out their main essay (also called the Common App essay or the Personal Statement) is a big part of having that smooth season.

Here’s the truth about the college essay: it doesn’t write well under pressure. And pressure is exactly what happens when August rolls around, your rising senior has four to six essays (or more!) due in October, school is starting back up, calendars fill up with extracurriculars and senior activities, and your senior is left wondering where the time went.

The students who avoid that? They start early with small steps.

For rising seniors (current juniors):

The most useful thing you can do this month isn’t to start writing. It’s to make a plan.

• Pull up your target school list and look at what essays each school requires (these may change over the summer, but they'll likely give you a solid start). You might even start putting them into an essay spreadsheet to make tracking your writing easier.
• Block time on your calendar for late June through July — before the summer fills up — to do a little application-related work each day. You'll be amazed at how much you can get done in 30-minute blocks!
• Decide whether you want to tackle this project independently or if you might need a little support. (Check out my favorite college application resources here.)

The Common App personal statement prompts haven’t changed meaningfully in years, and this year is no exception. With this year's prompts released, there’s nothing stopping a junior from brainstorming topics now, before AP exams and end-of-year chaos take over. But there's also plenty of time to put that on the back burner now to finish junior year strong (a strategy I can totally get behind).

For 9th and 10th graders:

Summer is where one of your future college essay topics could come from. A job, a volunteer experience, a class you took for fun — that’s often the stuff worth writing about later. This summer, say yes to something that stretches you a little.

And if you haven’t done a college visit yet, put one or two on the calendar. Even a casual visit to a local campus gives you a gut-check on what kind of environment you're drawn to.

TL;DR

Whatever grade you or your student is in, the goal is the same: Walk into next fall with a plan, not a panic.

If you have questions or want help building that summer roadmap, I’m here.

Happy planning!

Julia

P.S. I love this passage from Sara Harberson about finding essay topics: What a student writes about is more important than how perfectly executed each sentence and paragraph is, especially in this era of AI. Encouraging students to write about topics that are truly unique to them can instantly make an essay more powerful. Topics about activities (including sports) are common and overdone. When a student is self-reflective and picks a topic no one else could write about, they immediately stand out in a very positive way.

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