Common Application Personal Essay Word Count

While SAT scores, your past course load, and your grades provide a quantitative picture of you as a student, the Common App essay offers adcoms a refreshing glimpse into your identity and personality.For this reason, try to treat the essay as an opportunity to tell colleges why you are unique and what matters to you.

One way to construct a high-level idea would be to delve into a passion and focus on how you interact with the concept or activity.

For example, using “creative writing” as a high-level idea, one could stress their love of world-building, conveying complex emotions, and depicting character interactions, emphasizing how writing stems from real-life experiences.

If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Despite the significant changes to the essay prompts, Jim Montague, Program Director of Guidance and Support Service at Boston Latin School, said that he hasn’t changed the essay writing advice that he gives to his students.

For the first time, the Common App will strictly enforce the limit of 250 to 650 words.

Additionally, the 150-word activities and extracurriculars paragraph is now gone, so you can focus your time and energy on the• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it.

“There are still many ways to respond to these choices, though.

Raising the limit on the number of words allowed is also perceived by students to be helpful and allows them to express themselves more easily and completely.”ces and interests that might form the core of an essay or a direction worth pursuing,” wrote Montague.

Insider tip: if you’re going for funny, have people read your essay and make sure your brilliance and wit translates on the page.

There’s nothing worse than an essay that tries and fails to be funny.• Keep a notebook or file to write down every idea you have, even if you don’t think you’ll choose it.