About how long should my additional essay be? I’m not sure what I should be shooting for here
@lhw1998 - when I asked my AO - she said they have no specific minimum or maximum, but she said that they appreciate brevity. People I spoke to said to keep it to one page. Mine was about 500 words, one page FWIW.
This from several years ago: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/11/15/common-app-new-word-limit/
Yet another perspective
I guess the take-a-way is: don’t go over the 650 word limit of Common Application for your additional essay unless you absolutely, positively need the extra words to convey your point. And remember the adage: less is more. FWIW: I personally think students write too much exposition; often times essays are much better when a student deletes the first paragraph of their essay – and sometimes the first and second paragraphs of their essay – and just jumps right in and punches it.
Even one short paragraph is okay, if it says what you need to say. Good writing is concise. From what I have seen while tutoring college essays, too many try to be “creative” or :unique" when straightforward writing would work better.