Do you feel prepared to go into college composition? It seems like a lot of high schools don't really prepare their students to writing for college. Is it normal to feel this unprepared about writing a three to four page essay?

When I started my first writing courses in college I felt the same way. It's true, I really wasn't prepared. I got a lot of criticism on some of my essays but each time I wrote a new essay, I improved because I took every suggestion and worked to improve myself.

There is nothing like practice to improve your writing skills. But I absolutely agree that many students don't receive the formal preparation they need in high school. More importantly, I don't believe the importance of written communication skills is impressed upon students in many high school settings.

I was fortunate to have been very well prepared in high school to write essays. There was a course called Advanced Composition taught by a lady on a crusade to ensure college bound students had good writing skills.