<p>What is the recommended/maximum word limit for the short answers? Currently, I have one essay that is 390 words; one that is 320; and one that is 280.</p>
<p>On the online application last year, these were the character limits (including spaces and punctuation):</p>
<p>Long essay (11a/b): 5400 characters
Short essay 1 (meaningful activity): 1500 characters
Short essay 2 (intellectually exciting): 1500 characters
Short essay 3 (roommate letter): 1400 characters</p>
<p>I found that when I wrote, I usually got 6 characters for every word on average (including punctuation and spaces). So if you write like I do, your word limit would be 900 words on the long essay, 250 words on the first two short answers, and 233 words on the last short answer. Try doing a character count with your word processor.</p>
<p>If you aren't doing the online application, you can write however much you can fit without making it unreadable.</p>
<p>turtle got it covered</p>