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Deadlines (Why They’re Important and How to Meet Them)

3-minute read

• 25th February 2016

Even famous writers struggle with deadlines: George R. R. Martin made the news by missing one, while Douglas Adams used to joke about the ‘whooshing sound they make as they fly by’. Unfortunately, missing a deadline is rarely a laughing matter for students , as submitting work late will mean you lose out on valuable marks. As such, deadlines are a frequent source of anxiety when writing an essay . It needn’t be this way though.

Why Deadlines Matter

Hitting deadlines makes sure you don’t lose marks or become overwhelmed by heavy workloads when you fall behind, thereby aiding your academic performance. But this applies outside university too, since the whole world runs on deadlines ! Learning to work to a schedule is thus a valuable skill.

4 Tips for Getting Stuff Done On Time

1. start early.

Leaving your work until the last minute is rarely a good idea, forcing you to rush and making essay writing a far more stressful experience.

Starting well ahead of the deadline, on the other hand, will allow you to produce a well-written essay on time (without any of the anxiety) by working on it in smaller, manageable chunks. Even if you only write a few paragraphs a day, it can quickly add up! And you should have tie for redrafting, too.

2. Plan Your Essay

A common mistake is launching into your essay without planning. This may mean your work is not well structured, or you could run out of steam if you run into a problem or struggle to express a particular point.

By planning your essay, on the other hand, you’ll have a much better sense of what you want to say and how to structure your arguments. A good way to do this is to note the deadline and schedule accordingly, setting aside enough time for research and re-drafting as well as writing the essay itself.

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3. Prioritise and Organise

Prioritising means recognising the amount of time you need to get your work done. In other words, it’s about knowing the deadline and tailoring your activities accordingly. Have an essay due on Tuesday? This might not be the moment to go away for the weekend.

Meanwhile, being organised simply involves having a grip on what you’re doing. Planning is a big part of this, letting you work out when you will have time to write your essay. But having a regular working routine can also help, allowing you to make the most of the time available.

4. Request an Extension

If you really don’t think you can get an essay done on time, you need to request a deadline extension from your school or tutor.

These are generally only granted in exceptional circumstances, such as serious illness. Thus, you can’t rely on an extension as an alternative to doing the work on time. It should only be a last resort!

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Meeting Deadlines: A Comprehensive Guide [Tips & Infographic]

There are countless articles online that teach you how to meet deadlines. However, most of them only provide general strategies. In this article, we’ll focus on the root of the problem instead of the minor issues.

We’ve prepared a complete guide to turning your assignments in on time and meeting other deadlines.

There are two crucial things to understand about deadlines:

• Why do we need them?
• WHY DO WE MISS THEM?

Below, you will find helpful information on what to do, what not to do, and how to develop a positive attitude towards deadlines.

Get back to that burning deadline you have right now! And come back when you’re done.

• ❓ Why Are Deadlines Good?
• ⭕ What Are Some Common Mistakes?
• ❗ How Do You Meet Deadlines?

📢 Meeting Deadlines: Recap

❓ why do we need deadlines.

To be honest, deadlines motivate us to do more in a limited time.

Being able to meet deadlines = being productive. Consider deadlines as small targets that help you to achieve a bigger goal.

In this section, we will explain why everyone needs to set deadlines.

Deadlines Stimulate Activity

• Deadlines are stimulators. Even if you leave something until the last moment, a deadline still pushes you to finish your work.

People love to procrastinate, right? And sometimes, it’s hard not to. Imagine if there weren’t any deadlines…

It’s quite likely that we wouldn’t do anything at all without a deadline.

Deadlines Clarify Goals & Steps

• When we have a deadline, we try to plan the appropriate steps and time required for the task. Knowing that you have a little time increases awareness and productivity.

It is better to make an action plan and follow it through until the end. You can create a to-do list, a table, a reminder in a calendar, etc.

It’s vital to create a picture of what you need to do before you begin. You might modify it later, but a clear structure will help you achieve your goals.

Deadlines Help You to Stay Balanced

• Some people become more creative under pressure. A deadline can inspire you to look at your work from a different angle and help you to optimize your time. When you think under pressure, your brain can come up with some unexpected ideas.

At the same time, deadlines protect you from perfectionism. There is nothing wrong with striving to do a good job, but focusing too much on perfection can waste your time. A deadline limits the time you have to work and rest. You can still be productive and attain great results without overcomplicating your tasks.

Deadlines Are a Collaborative Tool

• When it comes to teamwork, a deadline is an essential part of efficiency. It is a tool that coordinates people’s schedules and creates the opportunity for them to brainstorm together.

Knowing you are a part of a team creates a sense of responsibility. It gives you an incentive to work harder, knowing that missing a deadline would spoil the outcome for everyone.

⭕ What Do We Do Wrong?

Okay, now we understand the importance of setting deadlines.

But why, on average, are 6 out of 10 deadlines missed?

Here are the most common mistakes we make when working with deadlines.

We Take on Impractical Projects in the Given Time

You might think that working hard and working a lot are hallmarks of productivity. However, they are not. You must strategically plan your work to take advantage of your time.

Taking on a big project means devoting most of your time to it. Taking on several projects simultaneously means multitasking, which inevitably decreases your productivity. You must choose your priorities.

Plan your time wisely so that you have moments to rest and enough energy to work hard.

We Don’t Create Specific Incentives

You need to ask yourself two questions and answer honestly.

What happens if I miss this deadline? The answers might be range from receiving a bad grade to damaging your reputation or getting expelled.

What happens if I meet the deadline? You might have less stress and more free time. Also, you could receive a good grade or a pay raise.

We Use General Statements Rather Than Small Deadlines

Big goals sound great, but they don’t help you to achieve big things.

We’ll explain with this example:

Let’s say you decided to lose weight. “Lose 15 pounds this year” is a vague goal.

However, what if we said instead, “buy a gym membership; do three workouts a week; lose one pound each week.” Now, that is a clear goal that gives you a small, attainable deadline each week, so you’re more likely to stick to your plan.

We Don’t Consider Unpredictable Problems

This is one of the most common reasons for missing a deadline. Don’t overestimate your productivity, especially if you’re starting a new task. You never know what can happen. Being realistic is better than being too optimistic in this case.

Leave 25% of your time to unexpected circumstances. Don’t worry if you don’t need this extra time. It is always better to finish the task earlier than you expected.

❗ How Can You Meet Your Deadlines?

Now, we’ve gotten to the most exciting part of this article. How can we meet our deadlines?

15 Rules for Meeting Deadlines

• Create a list of deadlines and tasks. Even if you are a naturally responsible person, you can’t keep everything in your head. A simple piece of paper will help you to monitor your progress.
• Have a clear and detailed plan, complete with a timeline. You need to know what to do from the very start. Make sure you estimate the time for each of the steps. Complete your daily and weekly goals step-by-step.
• Divide your job into milestones. Set small deadlines for each part of your work and focus on them, not on the entire project.
• Use a timer or clock to track your productivity. This is the most straightforward instrument. Track your time for each task to know your approximate pace and schedule future tasks.
• Devote enough time to the task. Don’t think that you will be productive during the entire work period. You do need to rest from time to time.
• Don’t work overtime (unless it is a critical situation). You become less productive when you are tired. Give yourself scheduled times to rest.
• Create a reward system. Take a break each time you complete an important task or choose other rewards.
• Focus on the current step. Planning is an essential part of your work, but don’t get caught up in it. Avoid spending more time thinking about doing something rather than actually doing it.
• Use backward planning if you have little time. This means you should set a deadline for each milestone first and then think about how you can meet it.
• Keep your workplace clean. Keeping your area tidy will save you time and keep you organized. A neat space keeps your thoughts arranged too.
• Communicate and get feedback. Perhaps your supervisor or friend can look at your work with fresh eyes. Don’t be afraid to ask them for advice.
• Don’t create impossible deadlines . You might be very motivated and productive at first, but sooner or later, you will begin to feel burned out. Having stamina is more important than going at a fast pace.
• Set reminders. A mobile phone or laptop can become your saviors. Set push notifications or note events in a calendar according to your working plan.
• Create a team. People with similar goals and deadlines tend to work more productively together.
• Define the risks. Think of the difficulties that might arise in the process and make sure you can deal with them.

So, here are the main things we learned today:

Good luck and stay productive!

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Why deadlines matter (and how to set deadlines you’ll achieve).

It’s crucial to create deadlines for yourself to help you achieve your goals.

Whether you want to complete a project at work – or achieve a personal goal – it’s important to set realistic deadlines for yourself.

I started this blog to force myself to publish content every week. If I don’t set deadlines, then I’ll just let articles sit forever because I’m never fully satisfied. There is always a way to tighten it up a paragraph. There’s always a way to tweak a word and make a sentence sound better.

If I don’t set deadlines, then I’ll just keep tweaking my work and never accomplish anything.

can you order gabapentin online Here are some reasons why deadlines are important:

derogatorily Deadlines force you to think about what it will take to accomplish your goal. When creating a deadline for yourself, it forces you to think through the steps you need to achieve it. Each step will require a certain amount of time – and that will better inform how long it will take you to finish the project. Visualizing all the steps involved (and finishing it) can help motivate you to start tackling each small step.

Deadlines help you prioritize what you’ll work on (and for how long). There is nothing like a strict deadline to help you prioritize your workflow. Even while writing this article, I’ve set a deadline to finish this before getting out of my seat. This helps me avoid checking email or doing anything else on the web before finishing this article. My self-imposed deadline is forcing me to stay on task so I will move on to other tasks later.

Deadlines push us. Do you remember all the papers and projects you were assigned in school? You had to push yourself to get everything done – and sometimes stayed awake all night just to finish an important paper. If we didn’t have deadlines with consequences, we would never push ourselves. The same is true now. You need to set deadlines (and possibly consequences) for yourself so that you will push yourself.

The trouble with setting deadlines is that we often don’t know how long something will take. Psychologists refer to this problem as the planning fallacy – wherein we often underestimate how long it will take to achieve something. We often set goals that are too ambitious – and don’t think about all the challenges along the way.

So how do we create better deadlines we’ll achieve?

Some suggestions:

Create realistic deadlines by thinking through all the steps and challenges involved. Don’t think about the “best case scenario” to get a project done. Instead, think through each step and any challenges you might experience along the way. Give yourself some wiggle room when creating a deadline date to ensure you’ll meet it. The deadline date shouldn’t be too easy to achieve – or too challenging.

Create deadlines with consequences and rewards. In school, there were consequences for missing deadlines on papers – and there were rewards for doing a good work by getting higher grades. Give yourself deadlines with consequences and rewards. For example, if you achieve your deadline, you will celebrate by doing something fun or buying something you’ve been wanting. If you miss your deadline, you’re not allowed to do something you enjoy.

Get others involved to hold you accountable to your deadlines. An important way to achieve important deadlines is to have someone hold you accountable. This can be your boss at work, your partner, or a trusted friend. Choose someone that will ask you about your goals and check in with you. Getting others involved can drastically help you stay focused so that you have both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to get your goal achieved.

Lastly, remember that setting deadlines for yourself is geared to help you finish. Don’t create a deadline if you don’t intend to achieve it. After all, if the date doesn’t matter – then it’s not really a deadline.

So how do you set deadlines? What strategies work for you? 

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Effectiviology

Deadlines: How Effective Time Constraints Can Boost Productivity

A deadline is a point in time by which something must be done. Deadlines can be implemented by and for various types of entities, such as individuals and companies, and in various types of domains, such as school and the workplace.

Deadlines can be beneficial in various ways, so it’s worthwhile to understand how to use them effectively. As such, in the following article you will first learn more about deadlines, and see how you can use them yourself as effectively as possible.

Examples of deadlines

An example of a deadline is a project manager saying that the prototype for a certain product has to be ready for testing by a certain date.

Other examples of deadlines are the following:

• Having to hand in a research paper by the end of the week.
• Deciding to finish all your daily work calls by 2 PM each day.
• Committing to losing a certain amount of weight by the beginning of summer.
• Believing that there’s a certain age by which one should achieve certain life goals, such as leaving home and getting married.

Types of deadlines

There are several different types of deadlines, including the following:

• Hard and soft deadlines. Hard (or fixed ) deadlines cannot be modified, whereas soft  (or flexible ) deadlines can sometimes be modified.
• Absolute and  relative deadlines.   Absolute deadlines are those where there is no value to completing a task once the deadline for it has passed, whereas relative deadlines are those where there might be some value to completing a task after the deadline for it has passed . When it comes to relative deadlines, the value of completing the associated task often decreases as more time passes after the deadline, and there is often a point past which completing the task no longer has any value. For example, in the context of academic assignments, an absolute deadline might mean that the assignment can’t be submitted at all after the deadline has passed, whereas a relative deadline might mean that 10 points will be deducted from the grade for the assignment for each day that it’s late.
• Other-imposed (or external ) and self-imposed (or internal ) deadlines.   Other-imposed deadlines are set by someone other than the person who has to abide by them, whereas self-imposed deadlines are set by those who have to abide by them for themselves. Note that the external/internal distinction may also be used based on whether the enforcement of the deadline involves any external mechanisms; for example, a self-imposed deadline may be considered external if the person who imposed it on themselves asked someone else to hold them accountable.

In addition, deadlines can also be differentiated on other criteria, such as:

• Whether the deadline marks a point by or at which something needs to actively be done (e.g., undertake a certain action), or the point by or at which some goal needs to be achieved (e.g., pass a certain threshold).
• Whether the deadline is concrete (e.g., “by Friday at 5”) or abstract (e.g., “by the end of the week”). Deadlines generally fall somewhere on the concrete-abstract spectrum (e.g. “by Friday at 5” is more concrete than “by Friday”, which is more concrete than “by the end of the week”).
• Whether achieving the deadline is associated with any consequences, and if so, what kind (e.g., positive consequences, like a reward for doing something on time, or negative consequences, like a punishment for failing to do something on time). Other considerations may also play a role in this regard, such as the likelihood of the consequence being enforced.

Finally, while deadlines are generally directly time-based , meaning that they are based on a specific point in time (e.g., a date), they can also be based on other things. For example, a company can have a deadline to launch a new product once their competitor launches a similar product, even if they don’t know when that will be.

Psychology and benefits of deadlines

The key benefit of deadlines is that they can prompt people to take action in a timely manner , and consequently reduce the likelihood of procrastination. They can do this through various mechanisms, including the following:

• Making goals and tasks feel more concrete. For example, saying “I will do this task by the end of the week” makes a goal feel more concrete than saying “I will do this task later”, which generally increases the likelihood that you will take action on time .
• Creating or increasing urgency. For example, knowing that you have an upcoming deadline can create enough pressure to help you overcome issues such as lack of motivation .
• Creating or increasing commitment. For example, setting a deadline for some task and associating some consequences with it can increase your commitment to completing the task .

In addition, deadlines and the act of planning and setting them can also be beneficial in other ways.

For example, if you have to study for a test, setting intermediate deadlines by which you have to study different parts of the material can help you figure out what exactly you should study and when. Furthermore, planning this in advance means that when it’s time to study, you can focus on studying, rather than on planning what to study.

Similarly, setting a deadline by which you have to publish a certain work can help ensure that you won’t spend more time on it than necessary .

Note that many of these benefits are interrelated. This means, for example, that planning which deadlines to set for a task can make it more concrete, which in turn can increase your commitment to it and increase the pressure that you feel to complete it on time.

Overall, the key benefit of deadlines is that they prompt people to take action in a timely manner through various mechanisms, such as making goals feel more concrete, creating a sense of urgency, and increasing commitment. In addition, deadlines can have other benefits, such as helping people plan in advance, and many of these benefits are interrelated.

Note : Deadlines can also influence people when it comes to domains that are very different from personal productivity, time-management, and goal-setting. This includes, for example, consumer decisions and negotiations .

Limitations and dangers of deadlines

Though deadlines can sometimes be beneficial, these benefits don’t always occur , for example in cases where the deadline doesn’t prompt people to take action on time. Furthermore, deadlines can also lead to various issues, such as anxiety, stress, reduced interest in the task, and resentment toward whatever is responsible for the deadline.

As such, you should not assume that deadlines will necessarily be beneficial in every situation, especially since different people perceive and react to deadlines differently .

How to set optimal deadlines

When setting deadlines for yourself and others, there are various things that you can do to ensure that the deadlines are as optimal as possible, in the sense that they help you achieve the goals that you want to achieve by using the deadlines, while minimizing potential issues.

Specifically, the first thing you should generally do before setting a deadline is assess the situation, to consider factors such as:

• Who will the deadline apply to?
• What task will the deadline be associated with?
• What do you hope to achieve by applying the deadline?

Then, you can take all these factors into account when considering what’s the best way to apply a deadline in your particular case, for example when it comes to figuring out what’s the most effective way to enforce it. Furthermore, this can help you determine whether having a deadline is even the best course of action in your particular situation, since there are case where not having deadlines can be preferable.

In addition, when setting deadlines, you should generally make sure that they abide by the following guidelines:

• Deadlines should be appropriate . This means that the deadline shouldn’t give too little or too much time to complete a task or achieve a goal, since having too little time can lead to issues such as stress and compromised work quality, while having too much time can lead to issues such as wasted resources and increased procrastination. As such, when setting deadlines, you should strive to give as much time as needed , rather than as much time as you can, while potentially leaving some margin of error available for any unexpected issues.
• Deadlines should be concrete . This is because people are more likely to follow through on deadlines that are concrete (e.g., “by Friday at 5”) than on those that are abstract (e.g., “sometime this week”).
• Deadlines should be meaningful . This means that the deadline should be able to influence people’s behavior, for example by involving an incentive (e.g., reward or punishment) that is substantial enough to motivate them.

Finally, when setting deadlines, you should also keep in mind the following:

• It can sometimes be beneficial to write down deadlines. This can make the deadlines feel more concrete and meaningful than keeping them in your head. Furthermore, this can also have various other benefits, such as increased accountability in the workplace.
• It can sometimes be beneficial to set interm ediate deadlines . For example, if you have to hand in a large paper at the end of the semester, you can give yourself intermediate deadlines throughout the semester, each of which signifies a certain period of time by which you have to write a specific part of your paper. This can allow you to benefit from the pressure of upcoming deadlines multiple times on your way to achieving your overarching goal, and can help you plan how to break large tasks into manageable steps.
• Longer deadlines can be counterproductive. For example, past a certain point, giving people more time to complete a project can substantially reduce their efficiency without leading to any improvements in the quality of their work. This can be attributed to various causes, such as temporal discounting , which means that people will not feel as motivated by deadlines that are far in the future , and by  Parkinson’s law , which denotes that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
• It can sometimes be reasonable to modify deadlines, but you should be cautious about this. The potential benefit of modifying deadlines is that doing so can allow you to deal with various issues, such as unexpected delays that you encounter while working. However, there are also potential downsides to modifying deadlines, such as that this can reduce their effectiveness and consequently increase the likelihood of procrastination. As such, while you can consider modifying deadlines in some cases, you should make sure to carefully assess the situation beforehand, to determine if this is truly the best course of action, in both the short term and the long term.
• Consider using deadlines together with other techniques. Though deadlines can be beneficial on their own, it can often be better to use them together with other techniques and concepts. This can include other productivity techniques , such as the Napoleon technique , as well as various other types of techniques, such as debiasing techniques that can help you assess situations rationally.

Overall, to set optimal deadlines, you should assess the situation, to consider factors such as who the deadline will apply to and what you hope to achieve with it. Then, you should generally make sure that the deadline is appropriate (i.e., doesn’t involve too much or too little time),  concrete (i.e., defined in clear terms), and  meaningful (i.e., is able to influence people’s behavior, generally through an associated incentive). In addition, keep in mind that it can be beneficial to write deadlines down and set intermediate deadlines, that longer deadlines can be counterproductive, that it’s sometimes reasonable to modify deadlines (but you should be cautious about doing so), and that it can be beneficial to use other relevant techniques together with deadlines.

Summary and conclusions

• A deadline is a point in time by which something must be done.
• The key benefit of deadlines is that they prompt people to take action in a timely manner through various mechanisms, such as making goals feel more concrete and creating a sense of urgency, and they can also have other benefits, such as helping people plan in advance.
• Whether or not deadlines are beneficial depends on various personal and situational factors, and there are also cases where they can lead to issues, such as anxiety, stress, reduced interest, and resentment toward whatever is responsible for the deadline.
• To set optimal deadlines, you should assess the situation, to consider factors such as who the deadline will apply to and what you hope to achieve with it, and then you should generally make sure that each deadline is appropriate (i.e., doesn’t involve too much or too little time),  concrete (i.e., defined in clear terms), and  meaningful (i.e., is able to influence people’s behavior, generally through an associated incentive).
• When setting deadlines, keep in mind that it can be beneficial to write deadlines down and set intermediate deadlines, that longer deadlines are often counterproductive, that it’s sometimes reasonable to modify deadlines (but you should be cautious about doing so), and that it can be beneficial to use other relevant techniques together with deadlines.

Other articles you may find interesting:

• Parkinson's Law: Get More Done by Giving Yourself Less Time to Do Things
• The Napoleon Technique: Postponing Things to Increase Productivity
• Good Enough is Good Enough: Let Go of Perfectionism to Get Things Done

The Pros and Cons of Deadlines

Deadlines can both motivate and stand in the way of completing goals..

Updated November 9, 2023 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• What Is Motivation?
• Find counselling near me
• Distant deadlines can cause procrastination and poor planning, whereas proximal deadlines inspire action.
• Complex goals are more likely to be completed when chunked into simpler tasks, each with its own deadline.
• Students generally don't like being assigned sub-deadlines, so give them some autonomy in deadline selection.

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. —Douglas Adams

Deep down inside, all of us know that, without deadlines, not a lot would get done in this world. It comes as no surprise that we attach deadlines to unpleasant experiences, like paying bills or doing taxes, but even actions with huge benefits can "whoosh by" without a deadline. In one experiment, adding a deadline to an interest-free loan for small business owners increased applications by 24 percent and loan receipt by more than 12 percent. Adding a second, “early bird” deadline increased applications by another 26 percent. Deadlines like these motivate action by eliciting a sense of time scarcity, which narrows our focus to the task at hand, stifling procrastination (sometimes) and triggering our fear of missing out.

So, it’s with good reason that we inundate students with deadlines, from early admission to the last day to apply to graduate. Along the way, there are deadlines for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), essays, scholarships, projects, internships, competitions, and more. But rarely do we consider how deadlines impact behavior, or how to optimize deadlines to help students achieve their goals. Luckily, behavioral science has much to say about the pros and cons of deadlines.

The Cure for, or Cause of, Procrastination?

Deadlines are often leveraged to inspire action and prevent procrastination. But this only works when deadlines are pressing. In one study, people given a gift certificate to a French café were more than twice as likely to use it when it expired in three weeks versus two months. Logically, more people should use the two-month certificate because they have more opportunities to do so, and any setback, like getting sick or going on vacation, shouldn’t stop them for the whole redemption period. But, when deadlines are too far into the future, procrastination seeps in and we often fail to act despite having more time to do so.

Distant deadlines can also change our behavior. Perhaps people with the two-month certificate stuck it in a drawer instead of on the fridge, making it less salient. Or they devised a far-off implementation intention (“I’ll use this next month when mom visits”) that fell through. Deadlines, in fact, are one reason why we regularly underestimate how long it will take to do things, known as the planning fallacy. Instead of planning how we’ll complete tasks starting from today, we work backward from the deadline, ignoring potential barriers and ultimately shorting ourselves on time.

Chunking and Deadlines

Unfortunately for our students, most deadlines are far away until they’re not. The final paper due in December feels distant in September. Applying to college isn’t that demanding until winter rolls around. The window for completing the FAFSA is nine months long! Our brains are simply not wired for this kind of future thinking, so we need to chunk these tasks into smaller pieces to create some urgency.

Chunking is the dissection of complex tasks into simpler ones and planning for each subtask. For example, registering for classes involves several steps, such as scheduling an advisor appointment, reading the course catalog, completing a credit audit, and more. Identifying each step provides a better sense of how long the whole process will take and allows you to set sub-deadlines instead of relying on a single, ultimate deadline. In fact, high-school seniors who used an app that chunked the FAFSA and set a deadline for each step were 22 percent more likely to complete the FAFSA and 80 percent more likely to receive federal aid .

Assigning Sub-deadlines

Thus far, the advice I’ve offered seems pretty straightforward: Break down complex tasks into manageable chunks and assign a deadline to each in order to harness the motivating quality of deadlines. However, assigning sub-deadlines requires a bit more finesse to maximize students’ performance. In one study, college students were paid to find 300 grammatical and spelling errors within three, 10-page texts. Students required to submit one text per week for three weeks spent 65 percent more time on task and earned about four times more rewards than students told to complete all of their work within three weeks. Students given weekly sub-deadlines, however, enjoyed the work significantly less than those given just the ultimate deadline. This difference may not matter much for meaningless proofreading, but if you’re trying to inspire students to fall in love with a subject, assigning sub-deadlines may be counterproductive.

An alternative is to encourage students to set their own sub-deadlines. Unfortunately, students tend not to optimize their time. In the previous study, students who created their own sub-deadlines earned about 60 percent as much as those who submitted weekly, and their enjoyment of the task fell between the other two groups.

Another study remedied these issues using what I call the “inception” method. College students were asked to build a crane using Lego. One group was given just the ultimate deadline (15 minutes), one group had to complete a section every five minutes, and the last group could create their own sub-deadlines, but each student accepted the default of every five minutes. The students who “chose” to finish a section every five minutes completed the third part more than 20 percent faster than the other two groups and, when given the opportunity to free play, spent more than twice as long building with Lego on their own as those students who had the five-minute sub-deadlines imposed upon them.

Making Deadlines Work for Your Students

From the time we enter school, deadlines are a constant in our lives, and perhaps no time more so than leading up to and during college. When determining deadlines for everything from classroom assignments to college scholarships, consider what behavioral science tells us about optimizing their utility.

• Remember that deadlines are just as important for activities that students enjoy and from which they will benefit as they are for activities that students find unpleasant and want to avoid. Leverage deadlines to help students thrive.
• Chunk complex processes into smaller steps and create sub-deadlines for each chunk. More proximal deadlines will inspire action and prevent procrastination.
• When possible, allow students to set their own deadlines, but with guardrails. Perhaps you can provide students with a deadline range (e.g., turn in your first draft the week of October 10th). Or set default deadlines that require a small amount of effort to change, dissuading students from going against your suggestions.

Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines, and performance: Self-control by precommitment. Psychological Science, 13 (3), 219-224.

Burgess, M., Enzle, M. E., Schmaltz, R. (2004). Defeating the potentially deleterious effects of externally imposed deadlines: Practitioners’ rules-of-thumb. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30 (7), 868-877.

Shu, S. B., & Gneezy, A. (2010). Procrastination of enjoyable experiences. Journal of Marketing Research, 47 (5), 933-944.

Ross E. O'Hara, Ph.D. , is a behavioral researcher and he applies his expertise in behavioral science to develop scalable interventions that improve college student retention.

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• How to Cope with Deadlines

Some of the world’s greatest and most famous writers have been terrible with deadlines.

You should also read…

• How to Make Your Coursework as Good as It Can Possibly Be
• 7 Common Study Problems and How to Deal with Them

We’ve already written about how Douglas Adams had to be locked up to make him finish his novels. The philosopher Alain de Botton has said that, “Work finally begins when the fear of doing nothing exceeds the fear of doing it badly.” And the fantasy writer GRR Martin is so notoriously bad at producing books for the initial publication deadline that his readers have taken to pestering other popular fantasy writers about it ( and received strongly-worded and unsympathetic replies ). So when you have that horrendous combination of a fast-approaching deadline and a blank page, you may wish to take comfort in the fact that you are in excellent company. Unfortunately, that’s unlikely to impress the teacher who is supposed to be marking your work. Instead, here are our suggestions for how to cope with deadlines of every kind.

Long-range deadlines

The typical example of a long-range deadline that you might encounter at school is a coursework deadline. You might figure out a rough title or area of study in October, but not be expected to hand anything in until February. The extreme of this is when you’re working towards a PhD, and your final deadline is a brain-melting three or more years away. If you do have any plans to continue in academia in the long term, mastery of the long-range deadline is essential. Some ways of dealing with the long-range deadline are so obvious that we’re not going to go into them in detail here. In brief: break down the task into stages, figure out what dates you need to have each thing done by if you want to do it well, and keep to that timetable if it proves realistic when you get started. But of course, it’s never really as simple as that. Procrastination is your biggest enemy in the long-range deadline. Some people – perhaps most people – need the press of urgency to push them into working, and when that isn’t there, the time will just slip by and the work will only get done once it really is urgent.

It might be that you have a 5,000 word coursework piece to write over three months. You don’t want to get started just yet, because some of what you’re still learning in class might prove relevant, and you don’t want to have to go back and rewrite. So three months becomes two months. That’s still plenty for writing and research. Then there are other deadlines, and a couple of friends’ birthdays in a row, and a trip away, and two months becomes one month. At this point, tidying your room and the duller parts of the internet become unfeasibly fascinating. One month becomes two weeks. At this point the urgency will either be enough for you – or you’ll already be quite familiar with the processes by which two weeks turns into the night before… The key way of beating this is simply to get something written down as soon as you can. Yes, even in the first week of the three months, when you don’t know anything much about the topic and you’ll probably have to rewrite the whole lot anyway. It’s perfectly fine to write 10,000 words and delete 5,000 of them – in fact, it’s probably the preferable way of going about it.

Your own essay style will dictate what kind of something you want to get written down at this early stage. It could be a plan, or your own rambling notes, or even an attempt at some kind of proto-essay that you can tear apart and reconstruct as you get to know your topic better. But don’t let it turn into procrastination-work – the kind of work where you redraw mindmaps and timelines of things you know already, while all the time the blank page keeps staring at you blankly with all the force of its intense blankness. Whatever type of ‘getting something written’ you choose, it needs to result in the page not being blank any more. The other technique is to reduce your deadline artificially. This doesn’t work for hardcore procrastinators because it’s too easy to remind yourself that the deadline is artificial, so it doesn’t induce the necessary sense of urgency. For others, setting yourself a deadline of a month or a fortnight ahead of the real deadline is always advisable, in case something goes wrong in that time or some part of the task took you longer than expected. If you’re a dedicated procrastinator wanting to use this technique, you’re going to have to create urgency around the artificial deadline some other way. Do you have a particularly grumpy friend, relative or teacher who you could ask to read over the finished thing at that deadline? Could you put a donation in an envelope, to be sent to a cause you hate, if you haven’t met that deadline? It’s OK to use methods that are a bit weird (reset your phone’s date to two weeks ahead of when it actually is to spur yourself on? deny yourself any form of non-fruit sugar until the blank page is gone?) if they work for you.

Medium deadlines

One of the main reason that the long-term deadline induces procrastination so fiercely is that frequently, it offers more time to carry out the task than is necessarily required – so you already know you don’t need to start straight away to produce something good ahead of the deadline. A medium deadline doesn’t offer this dangerous temptation, because the deadline is close enough to be in sight, rather than far away in the distance where it can be forgotten and the work seems like it can be postponed. Try to choose deadlines of this kind for yourself, when you can; they’re by far the easiest to meet, and most standard time management advice relates to medium deadlines. The first tip for managing a medium deadline is to figure out how much time you need to spend on the task. A good medium deadline set by your school will be based on how much homework time you can be expected to spend on that subject, which will vary considerably depending on your age, school level and the number of subjects you are taking. Once you have figured out how much time that is, figure out where in your schedule it’s best placed – not only when you haven’t got anything in your diary, but also where last-minute commitments aren’t likely to appear and knock your plans out of balance.

In terms of getting down to work, some people find the following rule very useful: you set yourself an amount of work to do (whether that’s ‘one hour’ or ‘500 words’) and you don’t stop until it’s done. If you’re really in the mood to work, you can keep going – but keep track of the amount of ‘extra’ work you’re doing. You can take that amount off at a later date, but no more than that. This reasonably simple idea is the cure to “oh, I worked really hard on Saturday, I don’t need to do anything today. Or tomorrow. And I don’t really need to try too hard the day after, either” – a line of reasoning that sounds absurd written down, yet that we all fall prey to at some point. Setting an artificial deadline is healthy even when your real deadline is good. However, in the long-term deadline example, you should treat your artificial deadline exactly like the real one, and aim to have a completely finished product by the time you reach it. In the medium/good deadline example, it’s fine to have something like a second draft – essentially finished, fit to be handed in, but benefiting from a little polish if you have time for it.

Too-short deadlines

The most dreaded form of deadline. Of course, as we’ve covered above, the danger of all deadlines is that they can turn into too-short deadlines as a result of procrastination, distractions and bad planning. An Oxford graduate has laid out her tools for coping with all-nighters in this excellent article – so here, we’ll be looking at too-short deadlines that aren’t quite as horrendous as that, but where you still, categorically, cannot get the job done to the extent that you’d like in the time available. The first option is to request an extension to the deadline. If the too-shortness of the deadline is because of constraints on your time (rather than the deadline being inherently unrealistic), then your teacher may be prepared to give you some flexibility, especially if you’ve met deadlines reliably in the past and your reason is a sound one. If the deadline is inherently unrealistic or an extension isn’t a viable option, then you will have to use other techniques to get the task done on time. First of all, figure out how important it is that it gets done well, and how well you need to do it not to affect your future academic career. This is definitely not the time for perfectionism. Can you do an adequate job on this and then compensate by doing a good job on the next task? Is it better to do a mediocre job on the whole task, or to hand in only half of it, but done really well? A concrete example might be that you could write a 3-page English essay without quotes or references, or an essay that’s outstanding in terms of what’s there – but it’s only a page long. What’s preferable will depend on who’s going to be marking your work, so think in terms of their expectations of you. There are other things you can put by the wayside in order to get the job done. For instance, is the task important enough to miss out on a couple of hours’ sleep? Will you need to work through mealtimes and graze on snacks to keep going? Can you ask people around you – friends, family – to help you out with other commitments, like chores, until this deadline has passed? These are techniques that you can use a handful of times, but if you’re having to use them for every deadline, it’s a sign that something’s gone wrong with your workload, and rearrangement of your plans in the long-term may be required. It may be that you’re trying to take on too much – or that one of your teachers is setting unreasonable targets, in which case hopefully you have a form tutor or guidance counsellor you can do to for assistance.

Other than that, there isn’t much you can do but work. If it’s a writing-based task, putting on a piece of music and writing from beginning to end, without stopping to correct typos or even make sure that what you’re saying makes sense, can be a good way to get a solid chunk of words down on the page (and the music drowns out your inner perfectionist, too). The 10-minute version of Bat Out of Hell is a good length and volume for this, with about the right sense of urgency, though it may not be suited to your musical tastes. Whatever your length of deadline, remember that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – having something finished and ready to go, even if it’s not very good, is better than having a really excellent idea that you can’t quite put down on paper. Editing is easier than writing, and teachers are good at looking through the typos and fuzzy expression to see whether the core of what you’re saying shows your understanding or not. Yes, a really fine-tuned finished product would be ideal – but something is always better than nothing. So get going! Do you have any tips for dealing with deadlines? Share them in the comments!

Image credits: banner ; phone ; blank page ; horizon ; working ; night sky ; headphones .

How to Write a College Application Essay

Find the right college for you..

Your essay reveals something important about you that your grades and test scores can't─your personality. It can give admissions officers a sense of who you are and showcase your writing ability. Here are some things that admissions officers look for in a personal essay for college.

1. Open Strong.

Knowing how to start a college essay can create a strong opening paragraph that immediately captures the reader’s interest. You want to make the admissions officer reading your essay curious about what you say next.

2. Show You Can Write.

Colleges want to see that you have a command of the basics of good writing, which is a key component of success in college.

3. Answer the Prompt.

Admissions officers also want to see that the student can give a direct answer while sticking to a comprehensive narrative. When writing college essays, consider the point you want to make and develop a fleshed-out response that fits the prompt. Avoid force-fitting prewritten pieces. Approach every personal essay prompt as if it's your first.

4. Stick to Your Style.

Writing college essays isn't about using flowery or verbose prose. Avoid leaning too heavily on the thesaurus to sound impressive. Choose a natural writing style that’s appropriate for the subject matter.

Also, avoid stressing about trying to write what you think colleges want to see. Learning how to draft a good essay for college is about showcasing who you are. Stay true to your voice. Keep in mind that authenticity is more important than anything else.

5. Proofread.

Correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling are essential. Proofread several times after you've finished. Then ask a teacher, parent, or college English major to give it a quick read as well.

6. Keep Track of Length.

Finally, admissions officers value succinctness. Remember to pay attention to the recommended essay length or word count.

Bonus Tips and College Essay Writing Help

For more on how to write a college essay, check out these Tips for Writing Your College Admissions Essay .

What is the college application essay?

A personal essay for college applications is an opportunity for admission admissions panels to get more insight into who you are and what you have to offer. It's often the most personal component of the application, going beyond grades and standardized test scores. Essays usually have open-ended prompts, allowing you to flex your writing skills and make a personal statement.

Does my college application essay really matter?

Learning how to write a successful essay for college is crucial. This essay's exact weight on your chances of acceptance varies from one school to the next. But it's an element of your application that all admissions teams consider. Your essay could be the thing that gets you off a waiting list or gives you a competitive edge over other applicants.

What are colleges looking for in my application essay?

Knowing what to include in a college essay is half the battle. Admissions teams look for many things, but the most influential are authenticity, writing ability, character details, and positive traits. The purpose of the essay is to shed light on your background and gain perspective on your real-world experiences.

When should I start writing my college essay?

Because you'll want to tailor each application to each school, expect to write multiple personal essays. Advisers typically recommend starting these pieces during the summer before your senior year of high school. This will give you ample time to concentrate on writing a college essay before you're hit with schoolwork.

What can I do to write an effective college essay if I'm not a strong writer?

Good writing skills matter, but the best college essay is about the quality of your response. Authentic stories in a natural voice have impact. The story you want to tell about yourself will work better for you if it’s told in language that’s not overly sophisticated. Work with a writing coach for help with the academic aspects. Make responding with substance a priority.

How can I write my college essay if I have no monumental experiences?

You don't need life-changing moments to impress an admissions panel. Think about your personal experiences. Describe moments that left a lasting impact. The important thing is to have a fleshed-out narrative that provides insight into your life and way of thinking. Some of the best essays revolve around meaningful moments rather than flashy ones.

How should I start brainstorming topics for my college essay?

Most colleges provide open-ended prompts. Using the topic as inspiration, think about critical milestones or essential lessons you learned during your academic career. Tell stories about real-life experiences that have shaped the person you are. Write them down to brainstorm ideas. Choose stories that highlight your best traits.

What is a good list of essay topics to start with? What essay topics should I avoid?

Good topics when writing college essays include personal achievements, meaningful lessons, life-changing challenges, and situations that fostered personal growth. It's best to avoid anything too intimate or controversial. You want to open up, but it's not a good idea to go overboard or alienate members of the admissions panel.

What format should I use for my college essay?

Read the prompt and essay instructions thoroughly to learn how to start off a college essay. Some colleges provide guidance about formatting. If not, the best course of action is to stick with a college standard like the MLA format.

How long should my essay be?

The average length of a personal essay for college is 400─600 words. Always read the prompt. Follow the instructions provided in the application.

Who should I ask to review my college essay?

Turn to your school counselor for review. They understand what college admissions panels are looking for, and they can provide valuable insight into your piece's quality. You can also reach out to English teachers and other educators for proofreading.

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The Beginner’s Guide to Working With Deadlines

Because you’re the hero of your own story, you need to have a villain. All writers, it seems, have the same villain: The Dreaded Deadline. Unyielding, imposing, and severe, the deadline has thwarted many writers’ attempts at greatness.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that there’s a way to overcome this common foe. In this post, we’ll discuss what you need to know about working with deadlines. Let’s get started!

Hey writers, here’s a checklist to help you meet your deadline. Subscribe to receive this extra resource.

Download your bonus content:

Be Realistic

Can you meet this deadline on time?

This is a tough but necessary question to answer before accepting a deadline. Think about your unique set of circumstances. Most writers don’t work exclusively as writers. For those of us who work day jobs and moonlight as writers, think about how much time you can actually devote to the process of writing.

Even if you have the ability to devote more time to writing, life has a way of demanding your attention. From social obligations and household chores to family time and quiet time-- you have to find a way to insert “write novel” into your already busy life.

Exit idealism and enter realism. Can you pull this off, realistically? Only you can answer this question accurately, and it’s going to take a harsh dose of honesty to do it.

Start Writing Right Away

What are you waiting for? The time to start writing is right now.

I get it. I’m a procrastinator, too. It’s easy to waste time in writing-related pursuits without actually writing. For example, a lot of writers get bogged down by too much research. Another common time trap is outlining and planning. Although I wholeheartedly recommend that you spend time in preparation, there needs to be a cut off time. Otherwise, before you know it, you’ve spent half a year or longer researching, interviewing, outlining, and world building, but haven’t actually written one usable word.

Your novel won’t write itself. As soon as you finish reading this post, get to work.

Have a Deadline for Research, Too

As mentioned above, research shouldn't be open-ended.

Impose a deadline for how long you’ll spend in research mode. Some topics require more research than others. For example, if you’re writing a historical fiction, you’ll need to spend a lot of time in research to make sure that you recreate a time-appropriate world. On the other hand, a memoir may not require as much time investment into research. However, you should also allot time to fact check your memory (we all know how shaky and selective memory can be).

From choosing names to getting historical events correctly, research can require a lot of hours. Before you start with research, consider setting a deadline so that you’re not trapped in a vicious cycle of reading and learning about the characters, time period, etc.

Take it One Step at a Time

Ahead of you is a daunting task: Write an entire book. For some people, writing a book takes a lifetime. For others, it takes three months. Because we’re talking about deadlines here, you’re probably closer to the three-month end of the spectrum. But no matter how far in the future your deadline is, you need to make an actionable plan for how you’ll meet it, starting today (or tomorrow at the latest).

Let’s say your deadline is three months in the future. If you’re planning to write a generous 90,000 words (word count depends on your genre), then you’ll need to write 1,000 words each day. If you’re new to writing, 1,000 words may sound like a massive amount, but as you get accustomed to the writing process, you may even find yourself exceeding that total each day. However, the point is to make a goal and reach it every day. That way, once your finishing date arrives, you’ll meet your goal.

Impose More Deadlines, Not Less

The answer to meeting deadlines is imposing even more deadlines. Here’s what I mean:

Piggybacking off of the last tip, consider making several deadlines. The more deadlines that you create and meet, the better your chances of reaching your ultimate deadline.

Here’s a list of deadlines you can set for yourself:

Ideation - Come up with your story idea

Characterization - Choose your main characters and learn about them

Outlining - Plan your story from beginning to end

Word Count - Create a daily word count minimum

Revising - Decide how long you’ll spend shaping your first draft

This is just a starter list of ideas for deadlines. You can go even more in depth if you’re motivated by deadlines.

Reward Yourself for Meeting Deadlines

If you’re not motivated by deadlines, you may be motivated by a simple reward. Consider rewarding yourself every time you reach a specific goal, whether that’s a daily word count or the end of a chapter.

How you reward yourself depends on what you like. I want to be cute by saying that you can reward yourself with a nice bubble bath or a social event with a friend, but for me, nothing’s better than food. In fact, I have a candy bar waiting for me at the end of this article. Make your reward special for you, and it will, in fact, motivate you to reach your deadline on time.

Adopt a Writing Partner

As the saying goes, misery loves company. Sometimes, having another person who's in the process of writing to a deadline can be comforting. You can motivate each other to make it to the finish line on schedule.

Do you have a writing friend that you can partner up with? You don’t have to write the same story or even have the same deadline, but commiserating with another writer can improve your ability to meet your own deadline.

Set Aside Time Every Day to Write

You may be blessed with the talent to write, but remember that writing isn’t magical. Don’t expect to be taken by inspiration every time you sit down to write.

There will be days when you feel uninspired and you don’t want to write. Write anyway. That’s the only way you’ll reach your goal. Eventually, inspiration will come. It always does. Before you hit that daily word limit, you’ll have found some spark that makes your time investment worthwhile.

Remember that the real magic comes in during the editing process. That’s when you shape up your story and make it into something beautiful and compelling.

Get Rid of Distractions

Social media is a time suck. YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram can send you down a rabbit hole.

The solution? Turn off the Internet. Not for good, but when you write. Otherwise, the Internet is always calling you as a siren. An old-school solution is to just unplug your Internet altogether. However, if you don’t want to do that, you can also install a browser extension to block tempting websites.

Don’t forget about your phone. Turn off automated notifications or simply put your phone on silent and hide it in a drawer until you’re ready to re-enter society.

Other distraction can be housework, especially if you’re working from home. It’s hard to not see the pile of laundry or dirty dishes or whatever disaster from your peripheral vision. Do your chores ahead of time so that your writing time isn’t consumed by the constant nag of housework that you need to do.

Additional Resources

Before you go, check out these related posts:

• Start It Already! How to Start Your Novel
• How to Prepare for NaNoWriMo
• 8 Unusual Ways to Boost Your Writing Productivity

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Deadline looming? How to write an essay in a hurry

P rocrastination. The age-old nemesis of the student species. Lurking beneath desks, living inside your laptop and hiding in the library. It teases you with Facebook, dangles your favourite TV show in front of you, and convinces you that now really is a good time to read the Song of Ice and Fire saga.

Or, at least, that's what we want to believe. Instead procrastination is merely an inability to dedicate our time appropriately to the task at hand. It is something that many students, myself included, do.

This advice is not meant to condone laziness or leaving things to the last minute but as a guide for if you do happen, for whatever reason, to be zeroing in on deadline. Anyway, we all know you'll work harder next time...

1. Have your books nearby

Before you start writing, work out what textbooks are likely to be of help and find them in the library. Having the texts beside you will reduce the time spent running around aimlessly trying to find a book. It also means that if someone has taken out the last copy, you can find a replacement early on.

2. Don't overreach yourself

Yes, you want to get a good degree in the end. But if the deadline for this particular essay is hurtling towards you, this is not the time to be aiming for perfection. Read enough to do the essay. Once you've finished it, if you still have time, you can add a bit more. Remember that handing in a complete essay will always net more marks than handing in unintelligible shards of writing.

3. Plan, plan, plan

Everyone works at a different speed and only you know how much is possible. Set a schedule where time is allocated to outlining, reading, and writing. Also, make sure that there is enough time left to double check the essay and bibliography.

4. Reference as you write

Speaking of the bibliography, do it while you write. It will save you from having to search through masses of textbooks to find that one quote used 10 hours ago. Failing this, at least it will make you bookmark pages that have been used.

5. Take regular breaks

This may seem counter intuitive but a break (watching a TV show, talking to a friend, or having a walk) keeps you awake, and alert. Taking time out is often helpful during troublesome sections, allowing you to think about the problem, and clear your mind, without having to stare at a blurry screen of text.

6. Stay away from sugar

The immediate high may help but, especially during marathon sessions, the low can derail the entire session. Try substituting fruit or cereal for chocolate bars and biscuits. The odd chocolate biscuit will not do too much harm but munching away constantly doesn't help.

7. Ban yourself from Facebook

This could mean the difference between getting your essay done or wasting valuable time checking what your flatmates are eating for dinner. Pass your details on to a trustworthy friend, or family member, and get them to change the password; with strict rules not to give it back to you until you hand in the essay. Trust me, your work will reap the benefits.

Or use a productivity tool such as Leechblock , that'll keep you away from social media for set periods.

Spending time on an essay, and doing it in advance, will always provide the best results (and put you in the lecturer's good books.) But we all stray sometimes, so try not to rush through your work and stay calm. One advantage of starting late is that the whole horrible ordeal will soon be over.

• Advice for students
• How to get ahead in your degree
• Higher education

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Writing Deadlines: The Unlikely Secret to Creative Freedom

by Sue Weems | 0 comments

Do you know how to set your own writing deadlines to accomplish your dreams? Ruthanne wrote here about how a move helped her discover the power of deadlines . Joe heartily endorses setting your own deadlines with consequences as accountability (that's how he wrote his most recent book ).

Learning to set and meet your own writing deadlines not only helps you get your work done, it provides creative and productive freedom.

I’m a firm believer in deadlines.

Some will argue that creativity has no end point and that they can’t be inspired if there’s a timeline. If that mindset results in powerful writing and stories that resonate with readers as regularly as you’d like, then go forth and continue with the process that is working for you!

If, however, you can’t seem to finish in the time and manner you desire, a little deadline practice might be just the thing you need to propel your writing forward.

Why you need a writing deadline

I’m a teacher. My students regularly develop ideas, draft, revise, and submit their writing.

When I don’t set a deadline for assignments, guess how many students voluntarily turn in their work in a timely manner? Very few.

This probably sounds familiar if you’ve had a traditional school experience (adult working environments often work this way too!).

We tend to think we’ll have more time to do it later, or that we just need a little more research, experience, or coffee. (You probably do need more coffee.) Others believe they do their best work at the last minute, but sometimes that is because it’s the only time they write.

A deadline cuts down all those reasons and forces us to get to work.

Planning for a writing deadline

As I plan for student deadlines, I always make room for thinking and idea development. We draft. Then we take several passes at the writing to revise.

I realized early in my teaching career that most students were going to spend about the same amount of time on a first draft whether they wrote it in one speed session the night before it was due or spaced it out over several days. Most students didn’t take the time to revise, because they didn’t know how or there wasn’t time after an all-nighter.

As a result, I began in-class writing sprints, telling students the first draft was due at the end of the period. Whining inevitably ensued, but guess how many students had a draft at the end of the period? All of them. Funny how a ticking clock activated the words.

If you are planning your own deadline, look at when you want the final draft done and then back plan, giving yourself time to revise, write, and develop the idea. (Pro tip: leave yourself a little more time for revision than you think you’ll need if this is your first time revising.)

When you blow a deadline

You might be thinking, “I’ve tried that before and I blew it. Deadlines don’t work for me.” Just because you miss a deadline doesn’t mean they don’t work. It means you have an opportunity to grow.

I recently missed a deadline here at The Write Practice. I felt terrible, but I didn’t wallow in it. I apologized and did some self-evaluation. Why did I miss it? What could I do to avoid letting it happen again?

Consider that sometimes your writing deadlines are unrealistic. Manage those expectations more effectively and set a new, better deadline. Sometimes you are in a difficult writing or life season. Be honest about that and forgive yourself, knowing the situation will change.

The more you practice setting and meeting writing deadlines, the better you will get at estimating time and the amount of work needed.

The secret freedom of setting your own deadlines

My high school students claim to want independence, but they are just like me. I want the fun parts of independence without the responsibility. At the beginning of the year, I am the one who provides deadlines and due dates, but I slowly begin to turn that responsibility over to students as the year progresses. Why?

When they require someone else to set their deadlines, they aren’t really in control of their life and process. I’m the same way. If I know an article is going to take me an hour to write and another hour or two to edit, I can wait until the night before it’s due and stay up late to finish, or I can do it when it makes the most sense in my schedule.

Why wait for someone else to tell me when it is due? I take control of my creative process by setting my own writing deadlines.

When you ignore your own deadlines

For a long time, I set goals or deadlines for myself, and then I wouldn’t follow through. I thought maybe it was just me. I realized though that no one had ever taught me to push through the process.

I believe it was Tim Grahl who once talked about how he would push through procrastination and tell himself, “You need to do this now, because Friday-you isn’t going to have the time or energy.”

That resonated with me. I have since used it with students to help them think through to the end.

I also realized I couldn’t continue to ignore my own writing deadlines after completing a 60,000 word draft during NaNoWriMo a few years ago. I still needed about 20K to finish the story.

No one had a deadline on that book but me. If I hadn't set my own deadline, the book wouldn't be in revision right now. It would still be sitting on my hard drive — not even collecting dust like a respectable unfinished manuscript of old.

If you are still in the I-should-write-a-book stage, no one is going to give you a deadline. You have to do it for yourself. Accept that truth and find freedom in knowing you are in control of this part of the process.

Deadlines have a best friend: accountability

When you combine a deadline with another writer or group to hold you accountable , you will find yourself meeting writing deadlines left and right. When I first joined Becoming Writer , our forum here at The Write Practice, I knew I needed to post something each Friday. Suddenly, I had a deadline and a group of people who checked on me.

If you are struggling to set and meet your own deadlines, find a partner or group to help hold you accountable.

I still work under deadlines that others set for me, but I have found that more often than not, I can challenge myself to beat those deadlines by making my own.

What has been your experience with deadlines? Have you found them to be freeing or constricting? Share in the comments .

Today, we're going to practice setting and meeting deadlines. Here's your challenge: write 300 words in the next fifteen minutes .

If you have a work in progress, continue that. Or, use this writing prompt: Anna's biggest dance performance of the year is a week away. There's just one problem . . .

When your time is up, share your practice in the comments below . Be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers and spur us all on to meet our deadlines!

Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

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Importance of deadlines in business: why does it matter.

Meeting deadlines is an important part of any business . They’re set for businesses and their employees, and signify the completion of projects or assignments. They do more than just that though. Deadlines are also an important part of overall time management, and a part of your daily routine. Just because a deadline isn’t set in writing doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Learn all about the importance of deadlines in business below!

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

What Is a Deadline?

Why do deadlines matter, how do you manage deadlines, key takeaways.

A deadline can be described simply as a time at which something is due. However, a deadline is much more than that. It’s really a goal that’s been set, as well as an expectation that one party has of another. In the workplace, there are all sorts of deadlines. Depending on your business, you may have any one of the following types of deadlines:

• Realistic deadlines or tight deadlines
• Rigid deadlines or soft deadlines
• Internal deadlines or external deadlines
• Achievable deadlines or impossible deadlines

Chances are, you’ll have all of the above mentioned deadlines at one point or another. The important thing to realize is that where there is an absence of deadlines, there is likely a lack of focus. Deadlines serve as an excellent motivational tool, as well as a great indicator of time management.

Deadlines matter for a number of reasons, however, there are three that stand above the rest.

Deadlines Set Expectations

When a task or a project is given a deadline , it means that it’s expected to be completed by that time. Deadlines provide a clear expectation of what’s to be delivered, and when it should be delivered by. This allows employees to take control of their work, and implement deadlines in their time management skills. It allows for time constraints to be evaluated, as well.

Deadlines Motivate Completion

As a deadline approaches, the average person becomes more motivated to complete the work associated with it. When a task or a project has an endpoint, it becomes easier to track it. It also makes it far easier to assign urgency to it.

Deadlines Make Work Flow Smoother

If deadlines are set for tasks, it makes it easier to organize your work. Deadlines lead to natural adherence to a flow of work. Employees are more likely to work on tasks that are due sooner, and wait to work on tasks due at a later date. A deadline is a great organizational tool.

There are 5 simple steps when it comes to managing deadlines that can make anyone’s life much easier.

1. Review the Work

When you’re given a deadline, the first thing you should do is review the work you need to do to meet it. Knowing exactly what you’re going to have to accomplish can help you prioritize your tasks. It can also allow you to focus on the deadlines that are coming due sooner than others. Deadlines force you to keep track of time more seriously.

2. Gather Your Resources

Once you understand the work that needs to be done, you can gather the necessary resources for the work. Get everything you need to complete the task by the deadline. This may require planning when you’ll meet with people, or when you’ll do parts of the task. Regardless, knowing what resources you’ll need is important.

3. Plan Ahead

Your work may be delayed, so it’s important to plan ahead when managing your deadlines. Understand that some people may not be available, and some resources may be delayed. Planning ahead can help you to avoid the tragedy of missing a deadline.

4. Pay Attention to Time, and Set a Time Limit

Deadlines influence every part of time management. As such, you’ll need to pay close attention to your time, and set time limits for every phase of the task that has a deadline. This is the most effective way to plan to meet your deadline. Dedicating time to the task helps you meet the deadline you have set.

5. Deliver What You Can by the Deadline

Sometimes a deadline gets missed. It’s important to remember that communicating that your deadline will be missed is important. It’s also important to deliver what you can when you communicate that with your boss or your client. Give them a timeline for completion, and deliver parts of the task or project that are completed, if you can.

Deadlines are important when it comes to business for a number of reasons. They set expectations, and they help to motivate work in the office. Managing deadlines is an important part of time management overall, but is a relative task. It just takes planning ahead!

Be sure to head over to our resource hub for more articles just like this one! We’ve got what you need when it comes to business information.

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Extracurriculars.

A Guide to College Application Essay Timelines

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Robert Crystal and Christopher Kilner in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered

Make a plan.

• September and October

November and December

Anyone can write an excellent essay if they have enough time, and it’s important to prioritize writing a strong essay because it plays such an outsized role in the application process. With sufficient time and preparation, you can also decrease your word count and produce a piece of writing that is brief and high quality. “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” is a phrase often attributed to many famous scholars and statespeople. The best thing that you can do to set yourself up for success is to plan ahead, giving yourself plenty of time to engage in the writing process and produce multiple drafts of your essay.

It is most helpful to use the summer before your senior year of high school—or the year during which you are applying—to prepare your college application essays, with the goal of completing at least your personal statement by early September. The following timeline roughly outlines the steps of the writing process that you should take each month to achieve this goal.

For more guidance on writing your personal statement, read our article on how to write the Common Application essays for 2022-2023 .

Review the Common Application essay prompts for the most recent application season. These prompts often remain the same as the previous year. Pick a few essay prompts that resonate with you, and start to contemplate them as you go through your day. Maybe you can use your daily bus ride or afternoon stroll to brainstorm possible topics for the prompts that interest you. It is always helpful to have a journal, a note-taking app on your phone, or scratch paper on hand where you can record your ideas. 

In addition to journaling about potential material for your essays, it’s helpful to practice thinking about and articulating your responses to various questions about who you are and how you think and view the world. Here are a few examples:

• What are your core values? How did you develop this system of values? 
• What motivates you? How do you motivate yourself? 
• What are you passionate about? If you could study anything, what would you want to learn more about? 
• What issues in your local community or at the city, state, national, or global level are most concerning to you?
• What are your short-term goals and long-term dreams and aspirations? Where would you like to see yourself in five or 10 years? What are lifetime goals that you have?

For more brainstorming questions, read “ 7 Questions to Help You Start Writing Your College Essays .”

Your goal for May is to outline and write a complete rough draft of your personal statement. The hardest part of writing your essay is committing something to paper, and the best draft is often a bad first draft. Everything becomes easier once you have words to edit. Your first draft does not need to be amazing or even passable; it can be completely awful, and it will still be better than a blank page.

Use June to edit the rough draft that you produced in May. This is where you will dive into the process of constructing your narrative. Then, you should aim to produce at least three or more additional drafts. These will likely be the most time-intensive drafts that you produce.

At this point in the process, you should work on developing your ideas mostly on your own. You do not need to share your essay with anyone else unless you feel confident that your draft is ready for others to review or that you cannot progress without outside input. 

You should continue producing new drafts of your personal statement. This means you should read aloud your essay from beginning to end and make changes to word choice, grammar, sentence structure, paragraph structure, and content. You should do this every three or so days. 

Now is a great time to share your drafts with a close family member, friend, teacher, or high school counselor. In addition to showing your essays to members of your inner circle, you should prioritize finding a neutral third party to review your essays and provide critical feedback. This third party should be someone familiar with the college admissions process, such as a current college student, a recent college graduate, or a college consultant, like a CollegeVine Advisor . 

Ask each person who reads your essay to provide written feedback, or have a conversation with them about their impressions, suggestions, and questions. Of course, too many cooks can spoil the broth, as the saying goes. Show your essay to enough people to get a broad range of opinions but not so many that you feel overwhelmed or confused.

This month should be devoted to incorporating feedback from people who have read your essay and doing the final polishing work that will take your essay to the next level. By the end of August, you should have a final draft of your personal statement that you would feel confident submitting.

September and October 

Work on and complete your supplemental essays in preparation for meeting the early action and early decision deadlines.

Work on and complete your supplemental essays in preparation for meeting the regular decision deadline.

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Elite College Admissions Have Turned Students Into Brands

By Sarah Bernstein

Ms. Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist in Brooklyn.

“I just can’t think of anything,” my student said.

After 10 years of teaching college essay writing, I was familiar with this reply. For some reason, when you’re asked to recount an important experience from your life, it is common to forget everything that has ever happened to you. It’s a long-form version of the anxiety that takes hold at a corporate retreat when you’re invited to say “one interesting thing about yourself,” and you suddenly believe that you are the most boring person in the entire world. Once during a version of this icebreaker, a man volunteered that he had only one kidney, and I remember feeling incredibly jealous of him.

I tried to jog this student’s memory. What about his love of music? Or his experience learning English? Or that time on a summer camping trip when he and his friends had nearly drowned? “I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “That all seems kind of cliché.”

Applying to college has always been about standing out. When I teach college essay workshops and coach applicants one on one, I see my role as helping students to capture their voice and their way of processing the world, things that are, by definition, unique to each individual. Still, many of my students (and their parents) worry that as getting into college becomes increasingly competitive, this won’t be enough to set them apart.

Their anxiety is understandable. On Thursday, in a tradition known as “Ivy Day,” all eight Ivy League schools released their regular admission decisions. Top colleges often issue statements about how impressive (and competitive) their applicant pools were this cycle. The intention is to flatter accepted students and assuage rejected ones, but for those who have not yet applied to college, these statements reinforce the fear that there is an ever-expanding cohort of applicants with straight A’s and perfect SATs and harrowing camping trip stories all competing with one another for a vanishingly small number of spots.

This scarcity has led to a boom in the college consulting industry, now estimated to be a $2.9 billion business. In recent years, many of these advisers and companies have begun to promote the idea of personal branding — a way for teenagers to distinguish themselves by becoming as clear and memorable as a good tagline.

While this approach often leads to a strong application, students who brand themselves too early or too definitively risk missing out on the kind of exploration that will prepare them for adult life.

Like a corporate brand, the personal brand is meant to distill everything you stand for (honesty, integrity, high quality, low prices) into a cohesive identity that can be grasped at a glance. On its website, a college prep and advising company called Dallas Admissions explains the benefits of branding this way: “Each person is complex, yet admissions officers only have a small amount of time to spend learning about each prospective student. The smart student boils down key aspects of himself or herself into their personal ‘brand’ and sells that to the college admissions officer.”

Identifying the key aspects of yourself may seem like a lifelong project, but unfortunately, college applicants don’t have that kind of time. Online, there are dozens of lesson plans and seminars promising to walk students through the process of branding themselves in five to 10 easy steps. The majority begin with questions I would have found panic-inducing as a teenager, such as, “What is the story you want people to tell about you when you’re not in the room?”

Where I hoped others would describe me as “normal” or, in my wildest dreams, “cool,” today’s teenagers are expected to leave this exercise with labels like, Committed Athlete and Compassionate Leader or Environmentally Conscious Musician. Once students have a draft of their ideal self, they’re offered instructions for manifesting it (or at least, the appearance of it) in person and online. These range from common-sense tips (not posting illegal activity on social media) to more drastic recommendations (getting different friends).

It’s not just that these courses cut corners on self-discovery; it’s that they get the process backward. A personal brand is effective only if you can support it with action, so instead of finding their passion and values through experience, students are encouraged to select a passion as early as possible and then rack up the experience to substantiate it. Many college consultants suggest beginning to align your activities with your college ambitions by ninth grade, while the National Institute of Certified College Planners recommends students “talk with parents, guardians, and/or an academic adviser to create a clear plan for your education and career-related goals” in junior high.

The idea of a group of middle schoolers soberly mapping out their careers is both comical and depressing, but when I read student essays today, I can see that this advice is getting through. Over the past few years, I have been struck by how many high school seniors already have defined career goals as well as a C.V. of relevant extracurriculars to go with them. This widens the gap between wealthy students and those who lack the resources to secure a fancy research gig or start their own small business. (A shocking number of college applicants claim to have started a small business.) It also puts pressure on all students to define themselves at a moment when they are anxious to fit in and yet changing all the time.

In the world of branding, a word that appears again and again is “consistency.” If you are Charmin, that makes sense. People opening a roll of toilet paper do not want to be surprised. If you are a teenage human being, however, that is an unreasonable expectation. Changing one’s interests, opinions and presentation is a natural part of adolescence and an instructive one. I find that my students with scattershot résumés are often the most confident. They’re not afraid to push back against suggestions that ring false and will insist on revising their essay until it actually “feels like me.” On the other hand, many of my most accomplished students are so quick to accept feedback that I am wary of offering it, lest I become one more adult trying to shape them into an admission-worthy ideal.

I understand that for parents, prioritizing exploration can feel like a risky bet. Self-insight is hard to quantify and to communicate in a college application. When it comes to building a life, however, this kind of knowledge has more value than any accolade, and it cannot be generated through a brainstorming exercise in a six-step personal branding course online. To equip kids for the world, we need to provide them not just with opportunities for achievement, but with opportunities to fail, to learn, to wander and to change their minds.

In some ways, the college essay is a microcosm of modern adolescence. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either a forum for self-discovery or a high-stakes test you need to ace. I try to assure my students that it is the former. I tell them that it’s a chance to take stock of everything you’ve experienced and learned over the past 18 years and everything you have to offer as a result.

That can be a profound process. But to embark on it, students have to believe that colleges really want to see the person behind the brand. And they have to have the chance to know who that person is.

Sarah Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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I reviewed my Yale admissions file to see what the Ivy League school really thought about my application. What I learned surprised me.

• I reviewed my Yale admissions file to see what the Ivy League school thought about my application. 
• Most of my scores weren't that impressive, but they really liked my genuine attitude and excitement.
• Reviewing my application reminded me how far I have come as a student. 

"Brian spoke so fast it was electrifying."

This was the first quote from my Yale interviewer. She wrote those words in my admissions file, a document I finally got my hands on three years after being accepted into Yale University .

I remember that interview like it was yesterday. It was a Zoom call — my application cycle happened at the crux of pandemic remote learning — and I was wearing my father's old, oversize dress shirt. The interviewer was lovely. Some of my answers to her questions probably didn't make sense, and she was right. I definitely forgot to breathe in between my sentences.

But viewing my admissions file years later gave me a peek into what my interviewer was actually thinking that day, and I learned what really got me into Yale.

I reviewed my application as a junior with the registrar

Every student in the US can review their college admissions file under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. I emailed my university registrar, and within 45 days, a member of their support staff reached back out to schedule a virtual meeting. Picture-taking and recording were not allowed, so I jotted notes by hand.

There was very little verbal interaction between me and the staff member. She screen-shared my admissions file and let me read in silence. Something told me she understood the emotional weight of this moment for students, and I appreciated that. It is intimidating for any teenager to package their identity into a 650-word common application essay and a questionnaire — but it is arguably even more so to witness retrospectively how everything was judged.

I got a behind-the-scenes look into Yale admissions when they read my application

Each aspect of my application was rated out of nine points. My readers gave me a six for my extracurriculars and for my first teacher recommendation. They gave me a seven for my second teacher recommendation and my counselor's recommendation. I received an "outstanding" for my interview and a 2++ for my overall rating. The overall rating is given on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 being the highest, and pluses were a good sign.

Related stories

In all, my ratings weren't exactly bad, but they weren't extraordinary either. The numbers on the pages stared back at me — cold, formulaic, and transactional. It felt strange to be reduced to a system of numbers, knowing that something as qualitative as extracurricular activities could still be broken down and scored.

Beyond the ratings, however, what truly stood out were the comments left by the admissions officers . Many of the comments were on my character, my essays, and the possible contributions I would make as a student.

"I teared up reading Essay 1," one reader wrote of my common application essay. Another said of the same essay: "His Chinese New Years are untraditional in that they remind him of his family's financial struggles."

I got emotional. All the memories of writing that essay came flooding back. I remembered how difficult it was to start it. I knew there was no easy way for someone to understand me without first knowing my background. I wanted to prove that I deserved a seat at the table where legacy students and the wealthy continue to outnumber their first-generation, low-income peers like myself.

I kept reading and found more comments from admissions officers that moved me: "He treats his mom well;" "He seems to have a truly good heart;" "One of the most intelligent, sincere, jovial students ever met;" "I have no doubt that Brian would push his peers at Yale to stand up for what's right;" and "I come away with compelling impressions that the student would contribute significantly to the undergrad community."

I searched for a negative comment. There were none.

I didn't deserve this, I muttered under my breath. Here I was, a junior in college, no longer a 4.0 student , my post-grad plans murky, balancing two part-time jobs and hoping to make it out of midterms alive. It felt good knowing that someone had rooted for me to be here.

The process reminded me how far I have come

Coming from an underserved household where no one had gone to college, I had always looked at the Ivy League application process skeptically.

Without the resources to enroll in SAT test prep and the financial safety net to pursue unpaid leadership positions and resume-boosting activities at school, I had doubted the "holistic" admissions process many colleges boast. My critiques about Yale remain numerous.

But at least in their comments, the admissions committee gave me grace in that they reviewed my application in light of my circumstances. I might never know exactly what happened in that reading room. Still, a couple of lessons ring true, based on my own viewing experience and my conversations with others who had done the same: Good character and potential are the key; I didn't need to be perfect.

And finally, I — not anyone else — needed to give me the fighting chance of applying in the first place.

"GPA is outstanding, especially in context," an admissions officer said. "This is a home run."

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Admitted students talk role of ChatGPT in essays amid changing admissions policies

Princeton admitted students to the Class of 2028 on Dec. 14 as part of its Single Choice Early Action round.

Louisa gheorghita / the daily princetonian.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is receiving a growing focus at Princeton, serving as the subject of the Class of 2028 Pre-Read and spurring the creation of the Princeton Language and Intelligence Initiative (PLI) in September 2023. ChatGPT’s growing popularity has recently sparked conversation about its place in the classroom and whether it can be accurately detected .

Questions about the role of AI in essay writing and the weight essays should hold in the admissions process remain, during an admissions cycle already upturned by the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action. These concerns have already resulted in Duke University’s decision to abandon the practice of scoring applicant essays.

The newly admitted Class of 2028 is the first Princeton class to have access to this controversial technology during the admissions process. The Daily Princetonian spoke to admits on their perspective on the usage of generative AI during the college application process, and a professor with expertise in the field.

All three incoming members of the Class of 2028 interviewed by the ‘Prince’ said that they had not used any form of AI in their essays, though one student experimented with AI during the essay-writing process.

They expressed that they felt the personal focus of the essay made it an ill-fit for AI assistance. 

“I don’t really know what it would help with because you’re supposed to write about yourself, and it doesn’t know anything about you,” Jacob Emerson ’28 said.

Jamie Creasi ’28 expressed a similar sentiment. “There’s no way for it to communicate the challenges I’ve experienced, or what kind of life I have,” she said.

Hemant Sharma ’28 described his experience with attempting to use AI. He found that his essay “lost its emotional touch” so he ended up reverting to his old essay. “[ChatGPT] just made everything worse,” he said.

The University shares this position. In a written statement to the ‘Prince,’ University Spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote, “An essay generated by an AI platform is unlikely to be as rich and nuanced as a student’s own words.”

The ‘Prince’ spoke with Associate Professor of Computer Science Arvind Narayanan about ChatGPT's writing abilities. Professor Narayanan said that while AI may be capable of writing a passable essay, it likely would not be any easier than writing an essay without AI assistance. 

Professor Narayanan said, “If the use of AI assistance causes [the college admissions essay] to matter even less, I see it as an entirely positive development,” finding the essay to be “an exercise in performative authenticity.” 

The new admits differed in opinion about regulating generative AI use in the college admissions process. Creasi likened the usage of ChatGPT to a calculator which helps conduct simple calculations in order to allow a focus on more complex tasks. 

“At first, people saw calculators as a way of cheating because you don’t have to do a lot of the equations that you once did or use your mind in the same sort of way. But since then, we’ve adapted to calculators … we can do higher level math or physics,” he said.

Conversely, Sharma felt that detection of AI usage in a college essay should be allowed, stating, “I think there should be at least a minor punishment because it’s easier if we curb it now so that it doesn’t hurt anyone later in the future.” 

However, even if schools agreed to take action against students suspected of unauthorized AI use, Professor Narayanan believes AI-identification technology is not at the “level of accuracy that would make it justifiable to penalize applicants for using AI assistance.”

Although the University did not respond with explicit rules about the use of generative AI in the college application process, Morrill wrote that all applicants “sign a statement acknowledging all information in the application (including the essays) is their own work.”

Claire Meng is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

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Regions Riding Forward® Scholarship Contest

Their Story. Your Voice.

Your voice is your own. But it's also been impacted by others. Who, we wonder, has inspired you? Let us know by entering the Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest. 

You could win an $8,000 college scholarship

For the opportunity to win an $8,000 scholarship, submit a video or written essay about an individual you know personally (who lives in your community) who has inspired you and helped you build the confidence you need to achieve your goals.

The details

The 2024 Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest consists of four (4) separate Quarterly Contests - one for each calendar quarter of 2024. Regions is awarding four $8,000 scholarships through each Quarterly Contest.

Each Quarterly Contest has its own separate entry period, as provided in the chart below.

The entry deadline for each Quarterly Contest is 11:59:59 PM Central Time on the applicable Quarterly Contest period end date (set forth in the chart above).

No purchase or banking relationship required.

Regions believes in supporting the students whose passion and actions every day will continue to make stories worth sharing. That’s why we have awarded over $1 million in total scholarships to high school and college students.

How to enter, 1. complete an online quarterly contest application.

Enter the Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest by completing a Quarterly Contest application.  The second Quarterly Contest runs from April 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024. Complete and save all requested information. 

2. Prepare your Written Essay or Video Essay

For each Quarterly Contest, the topic of your Written Essay or Video Essay (your “Essay Topic”) must be an individual you know personally, who lives in your community. Your Written Essay or Video Essay must address how the individual you have selected as your Essay Topic has inspired you and helped you build the confidence you need to achieve your goals.

Written Essay and Video Essay submissions must meet all of the requirements described in the contest Official Rules. Your Written Essay or Video Essay must be (i) in English, (ii) your own original work, created solely by you (and without the use of any means of artificial intelligence (“AI”)), and (iii) the exclusive property of you alone.

Written Essays must be 500 words or less. You can write your Written Essay directly in the application, or you can copy and paste it into the appropriate area in the application form.

Video Essay submissions must be directly uploaded to the contest application site. Video Essays must be no more than 3 minutes in length and no larger than 1 GB. Only the following file formats are accepted: MP4, MPG, MOV, AVI, and WMV. Video Essays must not contain music of any kind nor display any illegal, explicit, or inappropriate material, and Video Essays must not be password protected or require a log-in/sign-in to view. You must upload your Video Essay to the application, and you may not submit your Video Essay in DVD or other physical form. (Video Essays submitted via mail will not be reviewed or returned.)

Tips to Record Quality Videos on a Smartphone:

• Don’t shoot vertical video. Computer monitors have landscape-oriented displays, so shoot your video horizontally.
• Use a tripod. Even small movements can make a big difference when editing.
• Don’t use zoom. If you need to get a close shot of the subject, move closer as zooming can cause pixilation.
• Use natural lighting. Smartphone lighting can wash out your video.

3. Review and submit your Quarterly Contest application

Review your information on your Quarterly Application (and check the spelling of a Written Essay) and submit your entry by 11:59:59 p.m. Central Time on the applicable Quarterly Contest period end date. The second Quarterly Contest period end date is June 30, 2024.

4. Await notification

Winning entries are selected by an independent panel of judges who are not affiliated with Regions. If your entry is selected as a Quarterly Contest winner, you will need to respond to ISTS with the required information.

Eligibility

For purposes of this contest:

• The “Eligible States” are defined as the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
• An “accredited college” is defined as a nonprofit, two- or four-year college or university located within one of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia.

To be eligible to enter this contest and to win an award in a Quarterly Contest, at the time of entry, you must:

• Be a legal U.S. resident of one of the Eligible States.
• Be age 16 or older.
• Have at least one (1) year (or at least 18 semester hours) remaining before college graduation.
• If you are not yet in college, begin your freshman year of college no later than the start of the 2025 – 2026 college academic school year.
• As of your most recent school enrollment period, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 in school (and if no GPA is provided at school, be in “good standing” or the equivalent thereof in school).

View Official Rules

NO PURCHASE OR BANKING RELATIONSHIP REQUIRED. PURCHASE OR BANKING RELATIONSHIP WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. The 2024 Regions Riding Forward Scholarship Contest (the “Contest”) consists of four (4) separate quarterly contests (each a “Quarterly Contest”): (1) the “Q-1 Contest;” (2) the “Q-2 Contest;” (3) the “Q-3 Contest;” and (4) the “Q-4 Contest.” The Q-1 Contest begins on 02/01/24 and ends on 03/31/24; the Q-2 Contest begins on 04/01/24 and ends on 06/30/24; the Q-3 Contest begins on 07/01/24 and ends on 09/30/24; and the Q-4 Contest begins on 10/01/24 and ends on 12/31/24. (For each Quarterly Contest, entries must be submitted and received by 11:59:59 PM CT on the applicable Quarterly Contest period end date.) To enter and participate in a particular Quarterly Contest, at the time of entry, you must: (a) be a legal U.S. resident of one of the Eligible States; (b) be 16 years of age or older; (c) have at least one (1) year (or at least 18 semester hours) remaining before college graduation; (d) (if you are not yet in college) begin your freshman year of college no later than the start of the 2025 – 2026 college academic school year; and (e) as of your most recent school enrollment period, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 in school (and if no grade point average is provided at school, be in “good standing” or the equivalent thereof in school). (For purposes of Contest, the “Eligible States” are defined as the states of AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MS, MO, NC, SC, TN and TX.) Visit regions.com/ridingforward for complete Contest details, including eligibility and Written Essay and Video Essay requirements and Official Rules. (Limit one (1) entry per person, per Quarterly Contest.) For each Quarterly Contest, eligible entries will be grouped according to form of entry (Written Essay or Video Essay) and judged by a panel of independent, qualified judges. A total of four (4) Quarterly Contest Prizes will be awarded in each Quarterly Contest, consisting of two (2) Quarterly Contest Prizes for the Written Essay Entry Group and two (2) Quarterly Contest Prizes for the Video Essay Entry Group. Each Quarterly Contest Prize consists of a check in the amount of $8,000 made out to winner’s designated accredited college. (Limit one (1) Quarterly Contest Prize per person; a contestant is permitted to win only one (1) Quarterly Contest Prize through the Contest.) Sponsor: Regions Bank, 1900 Fifth Ave. N., Birmingham, AL 35203.

© 2024 Regions Bank. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. Regions and the Regions logo are registered trademarks of Regions Bank. The LifeGreen color is a trademark of Regions Bank.

2023 Winners

High school:.

• Amyrrean Acoff
• Leon Aldridge
• Kharis Andrews
• Colton Collier
• Indya Griffin
• Christopher Hak
• Aquil Hayes
• Jayden Haynes
• McKenna Jodoin
• Paris Kelly
• Liza Latimer
• Dylan Lodle
• Anna Mammarelli
• Karrington Manley
• Marcellus Odum
• Gautami Palthepu
• Melody Small
• Lauryn Tanner
• Joshua Wilson
• Mohamed Ali
• Kayla Bellamy
• Lauren Boxx
• Alexandria Brown
• Samuel Brown
• Thurston Brown
• Conner Daehler
• Tsehai de Souza
• Anjel Echols
• Samarion Flowers
• Trinity Griffin
• Kristina Hilton
• Ryan Jensen
• Miracle Jones
• Shaniece McGhee
• Chelby Melvin
• Lamiya Ousley
• Kiera Phillips
• Gabrielle Pippins
• Ethan Snead
• Sydney Springs
• Kirsten Tilford
• Tamira Weeks
• Justin Williams

2022 Winners

• Paul Aucremann
• William Booker
• Robyn Cunningham
• Kani'ya Davis
• Oluwatomi Dugbo
• Lillian Goins
• Parker Hall
• Collin Hatfield
• Gabrielle Izu
• Kylie Lauderdale
• Jacob Milan
• Jackson Mitchell
• Carmen Moore
• Madison Morgan
• Kaden Oquelí-White
• Kaylin Parks
• Brian Perryman
• De'Marco Riggins
• Brianna Roundtree
• Sydney Russell
• Carlie Spore
• Morgan Standifer
• Ionia Thomas
• Ramaya Thomas
• Jaylen Toran
• Amani Veals
• Taylor Williams
• Alana Wilson
• Taryn Wilson
• Aryaunna Armstrong
• Hannah Blackwell
• T'Aneka Bowers
• Naomi Bradley
• Arianna Cannon
• Taylor Cline
• Catherine Cummings
• Margaret Fitzgerald
• Chloe Franklin
• Camryn Gaines
• Thomas Greer
• Kayla Helleson
• Veronica Holmes
• Logan Kurtz
• Samuel Lambert
• Jaylon Muchison
• Teresa Odom
• Andrew Payne
• Carey Price
• Emily SantiAnna
• Curtis Smith
• Jered Smith
• Mariah Standifer
• Maura Taylor
• Anna Wilkes

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NeurIPS 2024, the Thirty-eighth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, will be held at the Vancouver Convention Center

Monday Dec 9 through Sunday Dec 15. Monday is an industry expo.

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The Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation is a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to foster the exchange of research advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, principally by hosting an annual interdisciplinary academic conference with the highest ethical standards for a diverse and inclusive community.

About the Conference

The conference was founded in 1987 and is now a multi-track interdisciplinary annual meeting that includes invited talks, demonstrations, symposia, and oral and poster presentations of refereed papers. Along with the conference is a professional exposition focusing on machine learning in practice, a series of tutorials, and topical workshops that provide a less formal setting for the exchange of ideas.

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121st Annual PAMLA Conference Romanticism Session

This year's theme is  “Translation in Action.”  While most scholarship about translation deals with the interlingual, we welcome scholarship on the other areas discussed by Roman Jakobson such as intralingual and intersemiotic translation. We plan on celebrating the work of a wide range of scholars and translators such as Michael Cronin, Moira Inghilleri, and many others. We seek proposals dealing with translation as a diverse set of practices, a dynamic field of study, and a set of complex networks that affect our lives. Once again, we are open to a variety of interests, but for this year, we are especially interested in proposals on the theme of “Translation in Action.”

The Romanticism session seeks papers that examine any aspect of Romanticism, whether German, French, English, or in other languages (although we ask that papers and proposals be primarily in English). We are particularly interested in papers attuned to some facet of the conference theme, "Translation in Action.” 

Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

· Translations of Romantic works, ideas, or concepts from one language /culture to another

· Romantic ecologies and human/nature entanglements

· The intersection of Romanticism and the environmental humanities

· Rethinking Romanticism via a political, Marxist, queer, or new-Historical lens

· Ruins and disasters

· Post-apocalyptic worlds

· Cosmic voyages and portrayals of the cosmos

· Global spaces and travel

Please submit a proposal directly at  https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/  by April 30. 

The  PAMLA 2024 Conference  will be held at the lovely  Margaritaville Resort in sunny Palm Springs, California . We will be opening our conference with a welcome event on the Thursday, November 7, and continuing the conference through Sunday afternoon, November 10, 2024.

The 2024 PAMLA Conference is being held entirely in-person at the Margaritaville Resort Hotel and Conference Center.  We won’t be having any virtual or hybrid sessions or papers.