By Caroline Matas, Ph.D.
In many ways, July is the peak month of summer break: removed enough from spring semester to have fully broken out of your school year routines and still far enough away that you’re not yet thinking about buying school supplies for the fall. In the world of college admissions, though, July is the start of the new application season. Throughout the month, many colleges will roll out their application essay prompts, leaving rising seniors with no excuse to start preparing for the inevitable.
Getting started on the essay writing process is easier said than done. It’s a daunting task—how do you find the right words to encapsulate your personality and tout your best qualities in just one or two pages? Even if you’ve never been plagued with writer’s block before, you might find that the college essay assignment leaves you staring at a blinking cursor on a stubbornly blank page.
As someone who’s stared down quite a few blank pages in my life (from that first college essay through the first chapter of my doctoral dissertation), here are a few ways I’ve found to combat writer’s block and get those crucial first words on the page:
- Prepare for (and embrace) progress over perfection.
Part of what makes the college essay so hard to write is knowing how much hangs on it. It can feel like your entire future rests on a measly 600 words—even though, of course, the essay is just one piece of the work you’ve already done through years of hard work at school and in extracurriculars. Start by divesting yourself of the pressure to write the perfect piece on your first try. The good/bad news is, whether or not you free yourself from the pressure, your first try won’t be the perfect piece. In fact, the worse your first draft is, the more impressive it will be when you finally get to that final, polished draft.
- Start with a manageable routine and small expectations.
Instead of sitting down with a plan to write the entire first draft in one go, give yourself smaller, more reasonable goals. Try free-writing for just 10 or 20 minutes, seeing what comes to mind. Or set aside a single hour to brainstorm topics. Break ground on the blank page with whatever bite-sized task seems most approachable to you. The only caveat: whatever small task you assign yourself, commit to it fully. This might mean asking a friend or parent to hide your cell phone and any other distractions for the allotted time.
- Consider how best to reward your progress.
Remember in elementary school when your class would work toward earning a pizza party? Your tastes may have changed (or not!) since then, but the science behind motivational behavior tracking hasn’t. Sticker charts and other incentives work just as well for adults as they do for kids. Figure out what kind of reward system might work best for you! Some people prefer to work toward one big goal (a significant reward once you’ve polished your final draft), while others are better motivated by small rewards at checkpoints along the way. Still others find they work best by rewarding a new habit while doing it. This could look like getting a drink or treat at your favorite coffee shop as you write or saving a special candle/cozy chair/soundtrack only for your writing sessions.
- Find accountability partners.
The good news about facing down the college admissions process is that you’re not in it alone. Chances are, your fellow rising seniors are starting to wonder how they’ll overcome anxiety and writer’s block, and get the ball rolling on essay drafts. If you work well in groups, team up and host regular writing sessions complete with snacks and breaks. If your words flow better solo, find a friend who can hold you accountable to accomplishing your manageable task of the day and who can join you in your reward once you’ve crossed your task off the list!
There is nothing quite so intimidating as the first step of a momentous process like applying to college. If you’re planning on sending in applications this year, chances are you’ll eventually have to figure out how to face the blank page and overcome it. The sooner you kiss perfectionism goodbye, break the work into manageable steps, and recruit friends to cheer you on, the sooner you can reap the biggest reward of writing the college essay: being finished with it.
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