The next two weeks defy physics: time is moving at hyper-speed as we zoom toward the holiday season, the end of the semester, and regular decision deadlines for college applications. At the same time, it’s crawled to a snail’s pace as students anxiously await their decisions for their first-choice universities as early action and early decision applicants receive their notifications.

So, how do you manage the stress?

While Aristotle Circle stands by the general rule to start early, finish early, stress less, we also recognize that everyone has unique circumstances that may have shaken up the college admissions process. Perhaps your child has fallen out of love with a school, and needs to swap it with an alternative. Maybe they’ve received a shocking standardized testing score – good or bad – and need to re-think their strategy for regular decision. In any case, it means that many students still have work to do.

It may be tempting to wait until mid-December, when students begin receiving their binding early decision acceptances, to decide whether to apply regular decision and where. It seems logical – why do work that you may not even have to submit, right? Wrong. We cannot emphasize enough how much of a bad idea this is. Early decision (and early action) applications are never guaranteed to be acceptances. Students may be rejected, deferred, or even placed on a wait list. At that point, they must turn to their regular decision schools – and with most deadlines on January 2nd or 5th, that can leave fewer than 2 weeks to work on applications (including working on them on Christmas/Hannukah/New Year’s!).

The end of the year is filled with family obligations, travel, extracurricular showcases (winter concerts, recitals, and theater productions), end of semester exams…the list goes on. Time slips through students’ fingers like sand. Because the majority of a school’s applications are received in the regular decision round, it means that students are up against the most competition – and need to produce their best work. This is just not possible when the student is rushing, staying up late, and stressing over the ticking clock.

What can you do?

Tally up the remaining essays now. Mark your calendar for due dates and create a schedule with a pace that allows the student to complete applications by their deadlines. Be realistic. Do not expect your child to work on holidays or bank on them completing essays on a long car or plane ride; the reality is, students need to devote their full attention to the task at hand to produce excellent work. And for those Why Us/This Major essays, they’ll need access to the internet to reference their specific program.

We can help.

Aristotle Circle’s writing experts are here to support you. We can provide essay guidance on an hourly basis, helping students craft, edit, and revise essays that are unique, powerful, and exactly what the admissions officers are seeking. For a free quote, go to http://www.aristotlecircle.com or give us a call at 212-360-2301.