When to start, and what happens if you are late
By Ryan Jaffe ·
The ideal window is sometime in eleventh grade through the summer before senior year. Not because the writing takes that long, but because there is room to throw out the first topic. The first topic is usually the most obvious one, and the most obvious one is rarely the best.
If it is already fall, you are not behind in any way that matters. A personal statement can be done well in three weeks. It takes the same number of passes, just closer together, and it requires being decisive about the topic early.
What actually hurts a late essay is not the calendar. It is writing it alone, submitting the second draft, and never having a reader tell you which parts are not landing.
So the honest answer is: start when you can, and if that is late, start by choosing fast and revising hard.