I have edited nearly 100 essays THIS cycle alone and one way I can tell whether a student is going to do well in the college admission process is how s/he approaches writer’s block, which is something ALL applicants will experience at some point.

In this article, you’ll learn common mistakes applicants make during writer’s block and safeguards you can implement to avoid them.

What do successful students do differently?

Students who write high-quality essays are those who understand that writer’s block is a natural part of the writing process. 

They also employ two basic strategies:

• Break up the essay into manageable chunks
• Set aside at least a few months

Both strategies work in tandem to maximize the quality of your essays by making the process easier (actionable items) and less stressful (more time).   

On the other hand, students who do poorly generally make the mistake of writing whatever comes to mind when they reach this plateau or burnout period and this often results in “garble.”

Garble makes essays generic and disorganized which is a disservice to both you and your readers because it defeats the whole purpose of even writing an essay in the first place: to learn who you are as a person.

What you can do

Checklist:

• Understand that writer’s block happens to everyone
• Break up your essay into manageable chunks
• Give yourself at least 2-3 months
• Set specific weekly and monthly goals
• Outline your essay by using arrows or lists
• Free-write the 1st draft

Writing a high-quality essay is challenging but there are a few things you can do to make this process easier and more manageable.

First, understand that writer’s block happens to everyone. Doing so will keep your expectations and goals realistic and minimize any anxieties you may have during this time. 

Second, break up your essay into manageable chunks. This will make the writing process less intimidating and allow you to progress at your own pace.

Third, give yourself at least 2-3 months to complete your essay. This will allow enough time for you to incorporate feedback from others and make multiple revisions.

Note: My personal statement (undergrad) took 4-5 months while my statement of purpose (grad school) took 3 months to complete.

It is also a good idea to set weekly and monthly goals to keep yourself accountable and make it clear as to what your objectives are. Just make sure your goals are specific, realistic, and actionable.

Note: Daily goals are optional. Avoid them if you’re easily stressed or just prefer weekly AND monthly check-ins otherwise they could be a valuable addition (I definitely found them useful).

Here’s an example:

Fourth, outline your essay by using arrows or making a list. This will provide structure and ensure that you touch on all the important themes/main points you want to mention.

Below is an outline I made for this article. As you can see, there are four themes I wanted to include, but keep in mind that you can always change your outline as you go through the process.

Now that you have an outline, the final step is to free-write your first draft. You can do so by adding all of the “important stuff” into bullet points under each theme (ex: intro, resources, etc). 

The focus here is to extract all of your good ideas and put them into a document before you forget them. And don’t worry about grammar, syntax, capitalization, punctuation, or other technicalities of proper writing (just focus on CONTENT).

Tip: You can format your ideas as quick notes, short excerpts, incomplete/run-on sentences, passages, paragraphs, directives (instructions), or any combination of them. Do what feels natural to you.

This step is crucial because many students try to write perfect paragraphs in one go but get too caught up in technicalities that they end up forgetting all or portions of their good ideas.

Helpful tips (H2)

Checklist:

• Take frequent breaks
• Do something else for a while
• Follow a work-break schedule

If you find that your writer’s block is persistent, take a break or work on something else for a while (this is why it’s important to set aside enough time!).

Take breaks as frequently as you need them. Experts recommend taking a 15-20 minute break for every 50-90 minutes of work.

It is important that you make the most out of your breaks by NOT focusing on work. This is the time for you to reset mentally so stretch, hydrate, get a snack, meditate, or go to the bathroom.

Many students who are mindful about how and when they take breaks often find themselves more refreshed and engaged when they return to their work.

Tip: It may also be a good idea to follow a work-break schedule that works for you, such as the Pomodoro method.

Helpful resources (H2)

You can also check out these great resources to learn how you can overcome writer’s block, which I’ve ranked based on their level of helpfulness.

1. What Is Writer’s Block? How to Overcome Writer’s Block With Step-by-Step Guide and Writing Exercises
2. 7 Tips to Get Over Writer’s Block
3. Break Through Writer’s Block! Tips for Your College Admissions Essay
4. 5 Tips for Avoiding College Essay Writer’s Block This December