What most of us would really love to have instead is a time machine that takes us back just a few minutes. When we say or do something really embarrassing, when we take a wrong turn or get into a car wreck, when we speak in anger and hurt someone's feelings, we'd really love to go back two minutes and have a do-over. Most of the time when it came up in class, it was when somebody (usually me, the teacher) said something silly, and the students would tease "don't you wish you had the two-minute time machine!"

Alas, the two-minute time machine is not real. When I say something embarrassing I can't just jump back in time and make it go away. But what is so cool, so magical even, is that if I write something embarrassing I often can go back and make it go away.

You know where this is going. This is about admission essays and revision.