How Long Should Your College Application Essay Be?

How Long Should Your College Application Essay Be? In other words, when all else is equal between competing applicants, a compelling essay can make the difference. A powerful, well-written essay can also tip the balance for a marginal applicant. If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance. If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines. Write your essay as though you would be a great second date. Sometimes even a single word that stands as a paragraph can make the reader wonder and read on. Put the reader in medias res, that is, in the middle of things. Students should consult with a representative from the school they select to learn more about career opportunities in that field. Program outcomes vary according to each institution’s specific program curriculum. Financial aid may be available to those who qualify. If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim down anyways. What if you were to take the negative approach to answer the prompt? Maybe you can tell what your hopes are by writing what you do not hope for. If you look at things a little differently from others you stand out. In answering an essay prompt, you need not always do it the most normal way. If there are a lot of mistakes in your essay, it can not be pretty. Place the reader in the middle of something happening or in the middle of a conversation. Suggest that they seek essay advice from teachers who know them well. College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions. The information on this site is for informational and research purposes only and is not an assurance of financial aid. EducationDynamics maintains business relationships with the schools it features. The sources for school statistics and data is the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. As much as you wish to shine, the shine will be lost if your sentences and thoughts do not string together logically. You might even bury your answer to a prompt in a story or in a moral tale or even in a description. Perhaps you can create a little mystery by not answering the prompt immediately. Maybe you could reveal that in the last sentence of your prompt after telling about all the little things that have some relevance to your area of study. For example, you might describe many natural flora, observe fauna, then list feelings you have about nature to lead up to writing that you want to study biology. Make sure you have spelled everything correctly. If you are on a date, you would naturally want to be smart, funny, nice, caring, unique, not boring. You also want to have an opinion, not step back like an unthinking geek.