UNM’s biannual publication “Best Student Essays” is extending its deadline to Friday to take into consideration students struggling with academic stress.
The publication anticipates students are consumed by midterms around the publication’s deadline, said Ryan Tynan, the managing and web editor.
“What tends to happen is that students get really busy at the beginning of the semester, and everybody getting back on their feet,” he said. “So if we have to push back the deadline, we give ourselves that room to do so to allow students that have been trying to accommodate their own schedules.”
BSE publishes written and photo nonfiction essays each semester. Submissions are judged by individuals in relevant fields, and the most provocative, well-written essays are published, Tynan said.
Jay Reidy, BSE editor-in-chief, said that essays published add to the authors’ résumés and increased their visibility to other publishers.
“Multiple authors published in BSE have had their work discovered in our magazine, and they’ve gone on to be published in larger publications,” he said. “Because it has a pretty large submission pool, it’s a good thing that writers can put on their résumé.”
Tynan said students can use this to establish themselves in their fields.
“A lot of universities and colleges like to see students having prior work published,” he said. “It also helps you in the professional sphere, companies that see the student has taken initiative, they’re proactive, and are getting research in their field published, they like to see this. … It’s a fairly simple and painless way of distinguishing themselves.”
