06 March, 2023
Authorship by Cora Park
Procrastination Strikes Again: Students Barely Make it to College
The moment that students have been preparing for since school started has arrived; submitting college applications. However, as the deadlines approach, many students begin to panic as they realize some of the essays have still yet to be completed. Knowing that these students started to prepare these essays early into their junior year, it remains a mystery why some of these essays still remained unfinished.
As seniors enter their last phase of school, the urge to push everything back to the last minute grows stronger. Along with the pressure to maintain their first semester’s GPA and complete any excess material for different types of majors, it is very easy to just not do them. Once items start piling it becomes harder to approach the work because eventually, students do not know where to start. Then students forget about the smaller details such as additional college essays and in some cases, colleges having their own prompts.
After noting all the missing items and seeing the deadline the alarm bells start going off. Students finally realize the grave situation they put themselves in. As the students ponder their life choices up until this point, there is another culprit at fault here and that is procrastination.
Procrastination is the habit of pushing things back to the last minute. Already, every second of wondering whether to do the work now or later is procrastinating on the work. This phenomenon most frequently arises when too much work has piled up or often when a task is difficult to accomplish. Writing college essays is not an easy feat, too many questions related to why this college and personal advertising can be daunting.
Believing that there is still plenty of time to write the essays, students continue to push it back until it is too late. What the students did not realize sooner is that college essays take effort. It influences a huge part of the admissions process and often becomes a determining factor. Considering how important this part of the application process is, it is no wonder why writing college essays is such a hassle.
Currently finished with college applications, Grade 12 student Sasha Wi remarked, “The Common App main essay took me forever and was completed 4 days before the submission deadline both in Early and Regular decisions. For the main essay, it took me 5~7 months to finish it.”. Considering the fact that she started this essay “in the summer after Junior year”, it is a known fact that these essays take time to write even for someone who had not procrastinated and still ended up finishing the essay in a time crunch. Now imagine the scenario for seniors that did procrastinate.
Pushing back a hassle does not make it less of a hassle than it was before. In fact, it makes the whole process even more painful because now this time-consuming process has to be done in an oppressive time crunch. This is the effect of procrastination; making tasks double the effort.
Submitting college applications is meant to be exciting, yes it is full of pressure, but for the most part, it marks the end of a long twelve-year journey. Yet, the ongoing procrastination problem does not fail to make even the last few months of school agonizing. For students that have made better choices the last few months are a breeze.
Senior year is a time to make lasting memories and resolve any unfinished ties, instead, students are rushing to finish college essays. The essays will not write themselves unless students complete their essays, they will forever remain unfinished.