If you’re a rising senior, you know you need to write your college application essays this summer. But instead of just starting to write, you should organize your essays first. What does this mean? It means going through your list of colleges and making a list of all the required essays you will need to write for each college. Then you group those essays according to type: main essay, “why this college?” or “why this major?” essays, essays about community, essays about your favorite activity or passion, etc. Once you see that you need to write, for example, three different essays about the most important community in your life, you can write just one essay and tweak it for each college. Take a look at how a fictional Foreign Service kid organizes and writes her essays, with the goal of finishing before school starts in the fall, here: http://www.afsa.org/can-you-really-write-all-your-college-application-essays-over-summer