<p>The Common App asks for a "brief 150" word description of one work experience, community service, extra curricular activity, etc. in addition to the approx. 500 word personal statement. I know that it is ok to go over by a little on the personal statement (I've heard of students writing 650-700 words). This works for me as my personal statement is 550 words. But just how close do you have to keep the short answer essay to 150 words? CommonApp.org allows you a max. of 6000 characters. I have written 350 words (2000 characters). Is this pushing the boundaries too much?</p>