By the end of June, I usually start to see a pattern.

Students have opened the Common Application. They have read the prompts. Some of them have even written a draft, or at least something that looks like a draft.

When I ask how it is going, the answer is usually, “I have something.”

That sounds like progress, and in a sense it is. The problem is that most first drafts create a false sense of being further along than you actually are.

When I read those drafts with students in Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, Franklin, and nearby communities, what I usually see is something that is perfectly fine on the surface, but not doing much for the application.

The writing is often clear. The story makes sense. It just does not really tell me anything new about the student.

A lot of times it ends up being a summary of things that are already in the application. Activities get mentioned again. A challenge gets described, but we stay focused on what happened instead of what changed. Or the essay is thoughtful but so general that it could apply to almost anyone.

None of that is wrong. It just is not particularly useful.

The part that gets missed is what the essay is actually there to do.

Admissions offices already have the transcript. They already have the list of activities. The essay is one of the few places where a student can add context and help someone understand how they think and how they approach things.

That takes a different kind of planning than most students expect.

What tends to happen is that a student writes a draft in late June, feels like they have checked the box, and then steps away from it. July gets busy. Other things come up. The essay sits there.

When they come back to it in August, they realize it is not quite working, but now they are trying to fix it at the same time that everything else is picking up again.

That is where the stress shows up.

The students who handle this well usually take a slightly different approach.

They do not rush to get something on the page just to say they have started. They spend a little time thinking about what they actually want the essay to do. What should someone understand about them after reading it? How does it connect to the rest of their application?

Once that is clear, the first draft tends to be more useful, even if it still needs work.

If you have a current junior in Brookfield, New Berlin, Oconomowoc, or the surrounding communities, and they have “something” written, it is worth taking a step back and asking whether that draft is actually helping them.

Because having a draft and having a strong essay are not the same thing.

And this is the point in the summer where it is still easy to make that adjustment before everything else starts to compete for their attention.