How did you format your list essays?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

RD '24 applicant here. For the >150 word list essays, the site instructs applicants to use semicolons or commas in separating items, but beyond that I am not sure if we should format it any further. Here’s an excerpt from my book list response:

"
… Principles of Mathematical Analysis; Lectures in Abstract Algebra Vol. II and III; Introduction to Bessel Functions; Flowers for Algernon; Americanah; …
"

And honestly, having everything crammed in one big paragraph looks kind of confusing and messy. Many past essays I have seen do something like:

Item 1;
Item 2;
Item 3;
…

Any recommendations? Thoughts? How did you guys format yours?

2

In years past, the Common App simply removed all of the formatting and jumbled everything into a single paragraph. Looks like the software is still doing the same thing.

For readability purposes, it seems like a good idea to separate by commas or semicolons.