J Student Reporters
conducted an informal online survey of 38 local high school seniors asking,"How much time did you spend on each of your college essays...?" The results showed that two out of every three students spent one to seven days on each of their essays. Only about 11% spent less than one day for each
essay, while 23% spent more than a week on every essay.
High school administrators often assist students in
completing various parts of their application. South Pasadena High School
guidance counselor Tracy Ishimaru has observed some trends in students' writing processes.
"I think more students spend more time on actually writing the essay. Once they feel comfortable with the subject matter, they tend to rewrite the essays several times. Some need help and some just know themselves well and can
express their identity through the written word quite easily," Ishimaru said in an interview with JSR.
In the same online survey cited previously, 65% of
respondents stated that their college application essays were "sincere and natural."
South Pasadena High School senior Jason Wang, who was recently accepted to Yale University, says that he
managed to make his essays relevant to the rest of his
application.
"I wrote all of my essays by myself, but I was able to tie them to other parts of my
application. It was difficult brainstorming topics for them, and I had to spend on average a month or more for each," Wang stated.
Students ought to remember, however, that essays are only part of the process.
"Three percent of the essays helped the applicant, two percent hurt the applicant, and 95 percent, while
perfectly respectable, had no effect whatsoever on the
admissions decision," former college counselor William K. Poirot said in the Harvard
Independent's book "100
Successful College Application Essays."
Brandon Kim
Grade 12, South Pasadena High School