<p>I'm submitting my common app via snail mail and I was wondering I should send hand written copies of my essays and short answers or typed copies. My hand writing is neat and legible so there's no worries there, just looking for some honest opinions, whatever will get me accepted y'know?</p>
<p>I think they should be typed. Essays, long and short, are the most significant chunks of writing that the (often tired) adcom officers will pay attention to and you don’t want to aggravate them by adding more clutter. No matter how neat your handwriting will be, the typed copies would always be less visually straining (with appropriate fonts of course). Handwriting your personal info is fine as they are only a few words long, but a 600-word essay handwritten, not a good idea imo.</p>