Parents of seniors, ask your child one very direct question tonight: Is your personal statement actually done? Not "Have you thought about it?" Not "Do you have a topic?" I mean done, as in there is a complete draft that can now be revised and strengthened.

At this point in the fall, an unfinished personal statement quickly becomes an application problem, then a deadline problem, and before long, a family problem. I see it every year. Students have multiple Google Docs titled "College Essay Final," "College Essay FINAL FINAL," and "College Essay Final Mom Comments," but somehow there is still no finished essay.

That is when panic starts.

Parents begin offering sentences. Students begin avoiding the c...