College Essay Tracker

This is the best way to write, organize, get feedback, and submit your college admissions essays. Period, end of story. And I know you're probably really skeptical of me, so let me answer the questions you probably have:

1. Why did you create this?

Good question! I applied to 7 schools for Early Action, and I had to write 23 total essays. I tried to put them all into a Google Doc, and it was an absolute nightmare. The doc was 10 pages long, filled with different fonts, and worst of all – it was nearly impossible for my parents and college counselor to even find my essays so they could give feedback on them.

So I built this. It's way better, and it operates in Notion, which everyone freaking loves. I've put dozens of hours into making the College Essay Tracker intuitive yet powerful, and it's the best Notion template I've ever built.

2. What problems (of mine) does this solve?

Well, it solves... quite a few. Here's the list:

1. Problem: In a typical doc, it's hard to keep track of the essays you've started and the ones you haven't. Solution: Each essay has its own status. Essays you haven't started have a 'Not Started' status, the essays you're currently writing have a 'Writing' status, and so on.
2. Problem: In a typical doc, it's annoying to scroll down to the essay that, for some reason, lives on page 12, but moves to page 13 whenever you write more of the essay on page 6. Solution: in the College Essay Tracker, an essay will ALWAYS retain its status unless you change it yourself. This makes it very easy to locate any essay because you can just search by status.
3. Problem: In a typical doc, it's hard to keep information about each essay in one centralized place. Solution: each essay has its own unique page, where all of the attributes of the essay (ie. max word count, university, prompt) live. All of the drafts for an essay ALSO live in the same place, which is very convenient.
4. Problem: A typically long, 10+ page doc isn't visually appealing. Solution: the College Essay Tracker is visually appealing and less intimidating than a Google Doc.
5. Problem: In a typical doc, it's hard for parents and counselors to give feedback on so many essays. Solution: feedback-givers only have to look at ONE SPOT to propose changes in the form of comments. No more 'look at Rice Essay Prompt #1 on Page 4' or 'oh wait, I'm still writing that draft on Page 7, so don't give it feedback yet!' Feedback-givers just comment on all essays with the 'Needs Review' status. Super simple.
6. Problem: In a typical doc, it's extremely hard to visually see the essays you're writing for one school. Solution: in the College Essay Tracker, it takes one click to switch to a view that will show you exactly that.

That's a lot of problems! And they're all solved with the College Essay Tracker.

3. What does the College Essay Tracker include?

Glad you asked! As it turns out, it includes a LOT:

1. A streamlined system for inputting all of your essays
2. Three separate views to view your college essays
   1. By Status: view the essays you have to work on
   2. By School: view the essays you're submitting to each school
   3. By Due Date: view your essays on a calendar
3. Example essays to help you make sense of the system
4. A full-blown user manual to get you started

4. Who is the College Essay Tracker for?

High school juniors and seniors applying to schools in their senior fall & winter. If you're a parent, you might want to show your kid this.

5. Why should I buy this?

I built the College Essay Tracker in late September – when I only had one month until the deadlines for Early Action. Despite this, the College Essay Tracker's superiority to a Google Doc saved me around ~10 hours. I am selling this product for $12. Do the math, and you'll discover that this is a screaming good deal.

Or consider this: a meal at Chipotle (with tax) costs about $12. Now I do love some good Chipotle, but if I had to choose between a meal that provided me 20 minutes of deliciousness and a template that saved me 10 hours? I know which one I'd pick.

6. What if I have more questions?

I am always happy to help! Just send me an email at heys1mplify@gmail.com, and I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can.