At the risk of sounding like your parents . . .

. . . I thought I'd mention to all you rising seniors that summer is a great opportunity to start your college essay!  I know, I know, you have plenty of time, it's not due for months, and hello, Harry Potter is eleven days away from release.

Here's the thing: first semester senior year will be like nothing you've experienced before.  It's not that the homework is harder, or that you'll suddenly be rendered incapable of writing 500 words in a single sitting.  But chances are, you'll be busy.  Maybe it's the first time you'll have those leadership positions you've been working towards the past several years.  Maybe AP Physics really is as challenging as legend portrays it.

Regardless, here's the truth -- college applications will take more time than you expect.  Requesting transcripts, visiting colleges, asking teachers for letters of recommendation (the earlier the better, please -- and extra credit if you give each recommender a resume and/or muffins), retaking the SAT, scheduling alumni interviews, copying and pasting your curriculum vitae onto endless stacks of supplemental forms, remembering where you stuck that little scrap of paper on which you wrote down your social security number that your parents told you not to lose . . . it adds up.  Fast.

Since you're still taking tough classes that require homework and staying involved in extracurriculars, you're going to be mighty busy, even without the mundane demands of the college process.  And eventually, it will be the very end of Christmas vacation, you will be writing your college essays on your grandparents' computer in western Pennsylvania (hitherto only used for playing solitaire) and making frantic phone calls to find the only post office open past 5 pm in the greater Pittsburgh area so you can somehow make the postmark deadline, even if it means submitting your essays with multiple typos.

Not that I would know anything about this personally.  But hypothetically, I hear college essays can seriously suck the fun out of winter holidays -- although at least online submission means you're spared the intimate knowledge of post office closures common to previous generations of college-going students.

The point is, your parents might be onto something.  Starting your college essays in the summer, six whole months before the deadline?  Not so crazy.  You've got time to explore your wackiest ideas for essay topics, to reject ideas that simply aren't working, to polish and refine something that is truly you.  

I posted my best essay tips last fall (and within the standard 500 word essay limit, just for kicks), so I won't repeat those now.  What I will tell you is what to write about -- or, at least what your options are.  While HMC's supplement isn't live on the Common Application website yet (it will be, so be patient), the essay questions will remain constant.  So if you're a student chomping at the bit, or if you're a parent who wants to thoughtfully tuck these questions in your child's sock drawer as an oh-so-gentle hint, here you are:

In addition to the Common Application essay, choose any one of the essay topics below.  

1. What is one thing we won't know about you after reading your application that you haven’t already reported in the Common Application “Additional Information” section?   

2. Describe an experience that sparked your interest in mathematics, science or engineering.  

3. In a world where technology continually adapts and progresses, Harvey Mudd College expects that our students will be aware of the impact of their work on society. How would you use new advances to improve your life and/or the lives of those around you? Describe your idea and its potential impact. Feel free to be as creative or as practical as you like. 

Consider it my Independence Day gift to you.  Happy writing!