What to work on this month

This is target-list season. Make a rough list of programs — a few stretch, a few fit, a few likely — and put the deadlines on a real calendar, not in your head.

Start a first ugly draft of your main essay. It's supposed to be bad. You cannot revise a document you haven't started.

Ask for recommendation letters while teachers still have breathing room. Two months out is generous. Two weeks out is a favor you're asking.

Most competitive deadlines land here. Submit at least 48 hours early — portals crash, files fail to upload, and your Wi-Fi will pick the worst possible night.

When decisions come back, take them seriously but not personally. A no is almost never about you as a person; it's about the shape of that particular cohort in that particular year.

Pick one thing for the summer and commit. An empty summer is the only kind that actually hurts you, and even those are recoverable.

If you're planning a project, start it now in small form. A weekend prototype in April will save you three weeks of confusion in July.

Do the work. Keep a two-line journal most days — what you did, what confused you. Future-you (writing next year's essay) will thank present-you.

Before your program ends, while you're still fresh in your mentor's memory, ask if they'd be willing to write a recommendation for what comes next.