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October is always an exciting time for us, when our seniors have the rare opportunity, via the college application process, to simultaneously compile their accomplishments in a single place and dedicate attention to encapsulating their stories and finding their unique voices. 

At the same time, it's also a period of immense pressure, and with Early Action and Early Decision deadlines just around the corner, we’re receiving an influx of requests for college essay coaching. Indeed, as admissions have grown more competitive, the essay is increasingly an area for students to distinguish themselves, making expert attention in that area more important than ever.

If your student's essays are already strategized, drafted, and edited—fantastic. You’re in great shape. To stay even further ahead of deadline pressure, there are a few steps you can take now to ensure that you avoid last-minute issues come submission time. Here are three key recommendations:

• Get familiar with the Common Application portal. After adding your student’s schools, make sure that all necessary essays have been identified and completed. Then make sure you have filled out (and triple-checked!) personal information, family history/demographic info, and the activities list. As soon as the essays are completed, proofread, and approved by any relevant counselors and coaches, add them to the form fields to ensure there are no formatting mistakes or word count issues. Note that you can click on “preview” to double-check the spacing, style, and layout of all your answers to determine that everything looks as it should.
• Give yourself wiggle room. Admissions deadlines leave absolutely no exceptions for internet issues, power outages, or even Common App crashes. While rare, technical issues at the exact submission deadline are not unheard-of—so do not wait until the last minute. Plan to hit “submit” at least 24 hours before any relevant deadlines, if not a few days before.
• Take advantage of additional readers. Trusted teachers, advisors, and tutors can provide fresh expert eyes for checking for grammatical and formatting errors—and can ensure that the essays show the student’s candidacy in the best possible light.

Whether it’s help with strategy, drafting, editing, or simply final review, working with one of our expert essay coaches can ensure the strongest communication of your student's candidacy, distinction and coherence across all essays, and smooth navigation of the practical aspects of application submission. Likewise, if your student's early applications are submission-ready, we can advise on how to tackle their remaining Regular Decision applications efficiently, avoiding duplicated efforts while crafting a unique message for each school. 

If you have any questions about our services, please do not hesitate to reach out; given the application deadlines coming up, we'd love to make sure the right supports for your student are in place as soon as possible.