<p>Ahhhh! UC essays are so intimidating that I haven’t written a single word. Everytime I sit down it just looms over me how much counts on this essay and I get nervous. “What if it’s too cliche? What if it’s too boring? What do I do?!”</p>
<p>Help?</p>
<p>Sit down and write whatever comes to mind, and then begin a process of thorough editing and revising. You can clear up the “cliche and boring” bits at that stage. I took 2 months to write my essays, but the finished product was exactly what I wanted, no more and no less. Don’t force yourself to do a poor job of it at the last minute; you’ll regret it. Plus, once you get going, it’s quite fun!</p>
<p>Just remember that you are not committed to keep whatever you type. If your first draft is utterly terrible, you can literally burn it if you want to and start over. Your second draft will be less terrible, and you can see what parts to keep and what to change. Repeat ad infinitum (or at least until the deadline).</p>
<p>i was looking through the application when i got it in paper form and suddenly got the idea really late one friday night and wrote it entirely then, with minimal touching up compared to the other crappy drafts i wrote before that. i think it’ll come to you, cause that really did happen to me.</p>
<p>Start brain storming. Don’t delete anything. Organize these thoughts. Elaborate on them. Polish it up. Have people read and critique them. Revise the essays. The hardest part about application essays is starting, as with many things. But as SCOMathmo said, once you get going, it’s fun and you’re motivated to finish the essays once you have something written down.</p>
<p>Yeah, it will really depend on how inspiration usually comes to you- I had the idea for my main essay for literally months, and then sat down the night it was due and just wrote it. Probably spent about 4-6 hours on it total if you include editing and what not, and I really like how it turned out.</p>
<p>Jot down random ideas that come to you throughout the day. Write a lot of drafts -even if the first 6 or 7 really suck, who cares? No one will ever see them. Also read a lot so you can develop style and cultivate a unique voice.</p>
<p>I agree about not deleting anything - even if it doesn’t turn out to be part of your essay, you may be able to use it for something else (i.e. one of your short essays). Also, try just writing about something you’re passionate about, even if it doesn’t seem to fit one of the prompts - you may hit on some angle you didn’t think of (this is what I did, because I was in the same mental situation as you). Good luck!</p>
<p>I don’t know about you guys, but all of my essays (for all my schools have been written in an hour to three hours. That’s not counting revisions and editing, but the main chunk of the essays (about 70% or so) are written in those 1-3 hours. Usually between the hours of 1 and 4 in the am, too. I block out 2 or 3 hour chunks in my day to try and write my essays, but nothing ever gets written then. Everything I write doesn’t sound like me at all during those planned chunks. My essay ideas have all jumped on my while I was least expecting it so far :)</p>
<p>Just keep at it, good luck!</p>
<p>Don’t worry about it too much!</p>
<p>Just start writing, something has to work. It probably isn’t as bad as you think.</p>
<p>All the good essays I’ve written were pumped out in 15 minutes, just on impulses. I’ve written a lot of long, bad ones though. But I’m not smart, and I’m sure you’re okay. Just write and see what you turn out.</p>