College applications stink. At least they have for me, and it’s entirely my own fault. Friends of mine have been well equipped and prepared to apply to colleges — they wrote their essays over the summer and dealt with their supplementals in September/October. I, on the other hand, did not do that. Apprehensive to take the next step, I only started my main essay in the beginning of October, a terrible decision. The process of writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting was awful. More than anything else, I hate the notion that we are to sum up who we are as individuals in a maximum of 650 words. It seems impossible, and it sort of is. With only 650 words, I can, at best, unpack only one experience of mine and hope that’s enough to give the readers a general idea of who I am.

650 words or not, writing about myself almost felt wrong. At times I was “too preachy” or “too telling.” Many of the terms used extensively by my parents to express to me the faults in my writing were lost on me. Initially, I didn’t know how to “make it sing” or how to “tighten it up,” it’s not something I’d been taught. In school, we’re taught to analyze and argue, most of what we write is about things which have already been written. I found it strange that I hadn’t really been prepared to write what is, arguably, one of the most important essays of my life. Perhaps the education system as a whole is not at fault, it could just be the courses I chose to take. While Mr. Ellrott’s summer course is available for students, it seems like that’s all there is. Writing about myself was so awkward because my only academic experience in self-reflective essays has been summer assignments, and even then the bulk of it is literary analysis. As frustrating as this made the process of doing my college essay, my writing has improved greatly — though it may not be reflected in this article. 

After perfecting the common application essay, I faced supplementals. Now that I had experience in writing about myself, and most supplements were much less than 650 words, it was much easier for me to write these. The shorter length was a separate challenge entirely. The questions asked evoked much thought — being made to describe a major event in your life with a maximum of 120 words is very difficult. Thankfully, what school did prepare me for was cutting down fluff in my writing. 

Although it is 100% my own fault because I waited so long, I think it would be beneficial for our school to require all Juniors to write a college essay — Whippany Park does. I understand that it is not the school’s problem, and it would take time out of the school day and the lives of English teachers, which is probably why we don’t have all Juniors write one. I think it’s worth it; even with guidance meetings, which prepare you for the actual application process, I felt very unprepared for my college applications. I recommend doing what I didn’t do and starting your college essay as soon as possible! The sooner you become comfortable with writing about yourself, the easier the whole process will be. College applications stink, but they don’t have to.