How Long Should A College Application Essay Be?
Posted By: Admin
When a student is applying for a college admission the question of how long should a college application essay be is going to be a really important one. Do the college admission officers really literally count? May be, may not be. However, most of the college admission officers suggest and look for quality in the essay. What is more important for them is the clarity of thoughts with which a student explains or conveys his/her messages. How concise and precisely they express using their everyday words.
Is it really important to know “how long should a college application essay be” Yes, it is important. Generally, most of the college essays are between 250 words to 650 words. That means half a page to a full page with single spacing. However, sometimes students tend to use more words and write 2-3 pages. That may create a bad first impression for the admission officer. It is important to remember that most of the admission officers will have to go through thousands of admission essays every year. So, the absolute count of the words doesn’t really matter much. Which matters most are the quality of writing and the clarity of thought.
Do you think you should bother about the question of how long should a college application essay be? You better be bothered about that. If the personal statement you are making is good enough to be explained effectively with 250 words, then better be proud of that. But, most of the time the students try to increase the word count by using unnecessary points. This is kind of fluffing the essay with unnecessary materials. But, the more damaging factor is that it dilutes the strong personal statement that you would have already expressed in the 250 words. Sometimes you may really write great things and make a strong personal statement using 500 words. But, if the cut off for the same was expected to be around 350 words, then you are at a disadvantage. You really need to think hard about how to reduce the word count while not impacting the overall strength of the personal statement.
Do you think students should really bother about how long should a college application essay be? Not really. If it is like a 650 words essay while it should have been 250 words, it is easily noticeable. But, if it is 290 or 320, no one really care much about that. What is more important for the admission officer is to see how clearly you have expressed your thoughts and were able to convey why you could be the right choice for the admission. In an absolute term, 650 is the physical cut off limit in most of the cases. If the space is given on a web page for writing, it will stop you from writing any further once you reach that limit.
Therefore, on a concluding note, do not break your head on long should a college application essay be. Rather focus more on the quality of your writing and try to express your thoughts with clarity and precisely.
