PhD Application

I am in the thick of my application to the University of Utah's educational leadership and policy PhD program. It's mostly the personal statement and the argumentative essay that are tripping me up. I feel like my ideas aren't solid and my academic writing skills are rusty. I at least have 2/3 of the letters of recommendation set and the rest is just clerical. I am hoping to have it in by Thanksgiving and have some back-up doctoral programs in mind just in case.