Last-Minute Help for UC Essays!!

If you are applying to the University of California schools, you have until the end of this month (this Sunday, Nov. 30!). As busy seniors, some of you might have waited to write your two college application essays over Thanksgiving, when you have some days off and can catch up.

The key, however, is to not let this last minute deadline dash ruin your Thanksgiving. So yes, you are really cutting it close. If you don’t have a plan, it could hang over your head the entire holiday weekend.

To not let these essays ruin one of the best times of the year–when you are supposed to be feasting with your family, watching football games and focusing on all you have to be grateful for–take a few minutes to map out a plan. These essays don’t have to take days and days to write. If you can latch on to some strong topic ideas, and then pound out a rough draft, you could crank them out in a matter of hours.

You can also start with my Instant Boot Camp for writing your two UC essays. If you read this selection of posts, you should have a good idea of what you need to do, and a plan on how to get it done.

But if you just keep procrastinating, finding reasons not to work on this Wednesday (because, hey, you deserve some down time), and then Thursday (because, hey, this is the big day and you are so stuffed now you can’t think and it’s time for a nap), and then Friday (your friends come up with some fun idea to go out and you tell yourself you still have all Saturday…) you could find yourself staring at a blank computer screen that night, feeling mad at yourself for waiting so long and trying not to panic.

If you have today (Wednesday) off, that’s your best day. Give yourself two hours in the morning to come up with topics, and write out a rough draft for one of the two prompts. Then block out two more hours that afternoon or evening to write out another draft for your other essay.

There, you will have two drafts. Almost there! Then, do nothing on Thanksgiving, unless you suddenly get in the mood, or didn’t quite get to those first drafts. Block out two more hours either Friday morning or afternoon to review what you have written, and cut out the bad stuff, add some more good stuff, read it out loud, go through a final editing checklist, etc.

From what I understand about the application system, lots of kids wait until the last minute, and often, the system gets glitchy and it can be frustrating and hard to turn in your application. So avoid this last minute rush as much as possible. Ideally, submit your application well before the final weekend. But above all, avoid Sunday, and especially Sunday night.

Of course, if you can start on these essays NOW, you will be that much further along, and won’t have to spend any of your precious Thanksgiving dealing with them. If you do wait, just stick to your plan and it will all work out!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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4 Comments

Lindsy on November 26, 2014 at 2:38 pm

Hi! Thank you for posting this! 🙂 I was wondering, for my first UC prompt, can I use playing badminton as my world? Strategies I learn on court help me excel in academics. How do I make sure that it doesn’t go off topic?

Erin on November 26, 2014 at 4:04 pm

I’m trying to write my UC prompt 1 essay and I’m really struggling with coming up with ideas. I keep thinking I might have something and then I think it’s overused or it won’t make a unique essay…I was going to do the world of living with perfectionist parents and how that’s made me want to do the best I can in school, but they didn’t start being strict perfectionists until my sophomore year(and I don’t really know how to explain this in the essay), which is clear in my transcripts because I got 3 B’s when I was a freshman. So now I’m worried that my essay won’t connect with the rest of my application like it should. Then another idea I thought of was to describe the world of being the only dancer in a group of friends that are all typical athletes(soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, water polo)-basically sports that aren’t related to the arts like dance is. But with that topic I’m not sure how to connect it with my dreams/aspirations. The last idea I had is to write about the world of being a graphic designer because graphic design is a passion of mine. But I don’t think I would be able to say that it has made me want to be a graphic designer because my parents are making me apply as undeclared and not a graphic design major! So again the essay wouldn’t connect to the info in my application. I’ve explored all your posts about thinking of topics but I’m still stuck. If you can help with any of the above mentioned problems that would be greatly appreciated seeing as I only have 4 days left to figure my life out. Thank you.

Andrea on November 27, 2014 at 3:18 pm

Hi and Happy Thanksgiving!

I was wondering if you had any advice on how to write the short summaries for the activities and awards section of the UC application. We are given a really small amount of space to describe anything that we were involved in and I was wondering if you had any advice on how to write something that was short sweet and to the point.

Thank you!

Hasan Khan on December 1, 2014 at 7:05 pm

I want to say thank you for sending this email on Wednesday that had the boot camp in it. You honestly helped me out so much and saved me with this email. You helped me choose a topic for both prompts and I kept referring back to your website with all its helpful links while writing my prompts. I could not have submitted my application with satisfaction had your website not existed and had you not sent that email which gave me hope and inspiration. I am grateful and I appreciate that you have created this website to help not only me, but all students. May God reward, bless, and aid you in your efforts. Amen. Thank you Mr. Robinson =)