STAGE 5: The First Rehearsal

Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for - it’s time to write your first essay draft!

It’s All About the Content

By this stage, you should feel more than prepared to start writing. With the help of your blocking organizer, you are going to complete the FIRST rehearsal rough draft. We’re emphasizing the word ‘first’ because this isn’t the only draft you’ll be writing. As we’ve emphasized, writing is a process, and you aren’t going to magically produce a great college essay in just one ‘rehearsal’ rough draft. That’s why you’ll be writing three drafts over the next few stages. With each stage, your writing will become less rough and more focused and polished!

We understand that you might not be excited by the thought of writing so many drafts. But this is actually good news for you. The pressure is off! Instead of worrying about word count, organization, grammar, and everything else in between, just focus on the content for now. Treat the first rough draft as a rehearsal–a chance to practice what you’ve prepared and see if and how it works. Maybe you’ll find yourself writing too much in one section and not enough in the other. Maybe you’ll start to drift off your focus or forget to include transitions. Maybe you’ll even include details you didn’t remember until you started drafting. Don’t worry! Use your blocking structure as a guide and see where it takes you.

We also encourage you not to pay too much attention to the word count at this point. It’s better to write more, even if your draft ends up being 1000 words. With each draft, we’ll edit, and the word count will naturally move closer to the 650 mark.

Your Assignment:

Open your STAGE Essay Program Materials Google Drive folder and select the subfolder STAGE Essay Drafts. Click on the “STAGE 5 Draft” document to begin your draft. Make sure your chosen Common AppⓇ essay prompt is written at the top of the page!

Once your first draft is complete, you’ll submit it to your coach in advance of your next meeting. Use the buttons below to submit your draft and book your next meeting (if you haven’t already).

The STAGE Program

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