Imagine this: It’s the third week of September, and your senior-year homework is piling on. You’ve got sports practice or music practice or charity work or, if you’re as insane as a lot of people are these days, all three.

But despite this, there’s a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. Why? Because you finished all of your college application essays during the summer. You wrote a main essay geared to one of the Common App prompts, and then you looked up your chosen colleges online and looked at their supplemental essay prompts (often a lot shorter), and you wrote those, too. It wasn’t easy, but once you scheduled the time to do it, putting it on your calendar just as you would your summer job, you got it done. When you had writers’ block, you just babbled random thoughts on paper as if you were texting a friend, not worrying about how it sounded. The first draft wasn’t great, but you went back and revised, and then showed it to someone knowledgeable, got suggestions and revised again.

And, you’re done. The rest is easy. Doesn’t that feel good?

If you’d like to get your fall semester off to a terrific start, rising seniors, get those essays done in the next few weeks. Keep your eye on the prize: how great you’re going to feel knowing the hardest part of your college application is behind you.