Alexander Lee
News Editor

I think most seniors in the class of 2012 are currently struggling with the college essay. It’s the most important writing we are to create in high school, so naturally we second-guess ourselves. Furthermore, this year, we tackled the essay sooner because, for the first time, Westford Academy created a deadline for a draft of the college essay by August 31st. If a senior in the class of 2012 wanted to purchase a parking pass, a draft of his essay would have to be up on Naviance by the aforementioned date.

The essay has given me stress as well. Over the summer, the idea that I had to complete a masterpiece before school daunted me. What essay topic could be so noble? What had happened in my life so dignified, so profound, that I could wow my readers? I’m only a seventeen year old kid; how could I possibly answer those questions?

Struggling with these questions, a cycle developed in my head. First, a potential idea would arise, which I would initially be thrilled with, but as time passed, I began to perceive the potential essay’s flaws, and eventually I would scrap the idea altogether. This cycle sometimes took five minutes, sometimes five days, but regardless, the cycle kept repeating within my subconscious the entire summer.

Those potential essays that I did manage to get on paper I soon would read, become dissatisfied with, and then never consider them again. More than anything the college essay process was frustrating, the process that expected us seventeen year-olds to create masterpieces.

There were always too many distractions: someone to chat on Facebook with, new music to listen to… I decided that I needed to simplify to get some sincere self-reflection, so, as the great Henry David Thoreau once said, “I went into the woods to live deliberately”.

One Saturday afternoon, I went to Walden Pond with only a pen and paper, found a remote field by the forest, and I wrote the draft of my college essay which I am using today. I was at Walden Pond alone for six hours, and there I thought to myself (all I COULD do was think to myself). I feel as though self-reflection, maybe not by as radical means as mine, is the key to writing a meaningful college essay.

However, many seniors did not see the college essay this way. They complained about the added dead deadline and, as one senior said, “wrote an essay they would never actually use for their application”.

Guidance counselor Wendy Pechacek, the architect of the new due date said that the draft to be submitted on Naviance was merely to “get seniors thinking about the applications process sooner rather than later”.

Faculty began thinking about a deadline five years ago when University of Massachusetts, Amherst initiated early action in which the college application deadline is November 15th instead of the traditional January 1st.

Back then, guidance counselors and English teachers found that seniors returning from summer vacation were little prepared for the college essay. Moreover, the teachers had planned to teach the college essay lesson in late September or even early October. Because of the new early action program at UMASS Amherst, which a significant amount of Westford Academy seniors pursue, seniors had much less time to write their college essays, which resulted in poorer quality writing.

Towards the end of last year, when the guidance department met, remedying this issue was of utmost importance. After the counselors decided to officially create a deadline, they pondered what would motivate students the most to adhere to the newly established rule. The parking-pass, a right of passage for many seniors, was the answer. Thus, the college essay draft deadline was made.

This year the system has proven very successful: roughly 87% of seniors submitted their drafts on time. Though the writings the seniors submitted still need improvement, the guidance department effectively kick-started the college essay process.

Whatever the deadline’s purpose and however we seniors approached it the college essay is the most consequential writing we are to create in high school, and it deserves that kind of respect. So, if you’re struggling with the college essay or even still searching for a topic, don’t be worried because that frustration is perfectly natural.