Your junior-to-senior summer game plan

The summer before senior year is the single highest-leverage stretch of the whole process. Used well, you walk into the fall with essays drafted and a finalized list. Used poorly, you spend September panicking.

June: lock the school list and draft the personal statement. July: revise the statement and start supplements for your top schools. August: finish supplements, line up recommenders, and build a deadline tracker.

The goal is simple: never write a first draft in October. Front-load the thinking now so the fall is editing, not creating.