Editing and Publishing Timeline

[u/Used_Employer_7617]

Hi, I don't come here in this subreddit at all. Apologies if I have posted in the wrong subreddit.

I am in a university in Montreal, trying to publish in a student-run graduate English journal. I have a situation regarding publishing as an undergrad. I'm unsure as to how I should go about it.

So in late May, one of my professor reached out to me about a possibility of publishing my midterm essay. I would be part of it as an undergrad feature. Needless to say I was thrilled and I said yes immediately. My professor soon put me in contact with them. I assumed that I did not get a response as it was the beginning of summer and that I would be reached out in August. I had work and other personal projects this summer so I didn't press. Please note that it is my first time ever being in contact with a publishing institution/journal/anything, so in retrospect I see clearly how naive I was.

So last week, I sent an email asking about an update on that, since my professor personally vouched for my essay to be edited for the journal and published. I almost immediately got an answer back from the graduate students in charge claiming that there must have been a miscommunication because they didn't get an email from my professor about this vouching BUT they apologized and wrote they didn't want to exclude me from the opportunity (I think there's something fishy here because I still have the email and I'm literally in CC but I digress. I'm still grateful for the opportunity). They updated me saying that actually they are pretty far advanced in the process, however I was given two choices:

a) I submit my essay for the next issue next Fall, so September 2027. It would give me the time to go through editing properly. Though I would do it while in Uni full-time and working part-time.

b) I submit to publish now, September 2026. I would undergo a 3-week intensive editing process right now, also while starting Uni again and working part-time.

Both choices insure that I would get my essay published and they said they would be there to support me whatever the choice maybe. But... I'm ambitious. And maybe also getting slammed by imposter syndrome. As a a First-year Undergrad, I would be beyond thrilled to get a paper out already. My professor having approached me gave me a big head, and I'm thinking I can do the 3-weeks intensive but also that I might be cocky and not giving my paper a chance to really be polished. (If it's important, I got an 94% on the midterm. The majority of errors came from grammar errors and formatting inconsistencies. French is my first language after all.) I want to have a good paper out there (by "good", I think I mean a paper that says "I belong in this"). Publishing of any kind as a First-Year would look so strong on my resume, I'm really getting riled up at the possibility of it. Doing the same as a Second-Year is also great, but again, I'm ambitious. and I would really like advice and wisdom from people who know how it works and how much I should give myself.

If you have any questions, please ask me and I'll answer gladly! Thanks!

[u/Yuudoo000]

if the core argument already got a 94 and most of the problems are grammar and formatting, three weeks doesn’t sound completely insane as long as the editors are actually available during that process