A slap in the face.
Yesterday was the ED deadline for most universities. I seriously started preparing my application in September. I got my essays written, test scores increased, rec letters ready. And yet, one day before the deadline I decided not to apply to my target university and keep it for ED 2.
All of this was due to a single big mistake I made throughout the last two months: I never got expert feedback on my essays. And just to confirm my essay was "good", I sent it for review a day before the deadline. Then, I was told I wasn't ready and would likely get rejected if I applied. I decided not to repeat last year's mistake of applying a raw application and changed my mind of applying ED 1.
Conclusion: Always get feedback on your work (especially when the work seems good). The lack of feedback creates an illusion that everything is going good and you've got wonderful ideas. And constructive feedback is an interruption, like a slap in the face.
Yesterday was the ED deadline for most universities. I seriously started preparing my application in September. I got my essays written, test scores increased, rec letters ready. And yet, one day before the deadline I decided not to apply to my target university and keep it for ED 2.
All of this was due to a single big mistake I made throughout the last two months: I never got expert feedback on my essays. And just to confirm my essay was "good", I sent it for review a day before the deadline. Then, I was told I wasn't ready and would likely get rejected if I applied. I decided not to repeat last year's mistake of applying a raw application and changed my mind of applying ED 1.
Conclusion: Always get feedback on your work (especially when the work seems good). The lack of feedback creates an illusion that everything is going good and you've got wonderful ideas. And constructive feedback is an interruption, like a slap in the face.