<p>1177 and I just got accepted to Harvard Med School.</p>
<p>btw that was a joke obviously.. but my common app essay was around 1000 words</p>
<p>mine's like 550 words</p>
<p>Mine vary from half a page to 2 pages and a half. Should be good, RIGHT???!!!</p>
<p>^ Yes. Mine are either a page of two and a half pages :)</p>
<p>Mine was 598 words.</p>
<p>734 words
Speaks volumes more than the ~500 word version I tried to cut it down to.</p>
<p>I think that all you need to do is write it well. Anything below like 1,400-1,500 words that is really engaging and well-written will not be seriously counted against you.</p>
<p>Somebody earlier in this thread noted that 500 boring words seem like 1,000. They’re totally right–think quality, not quantity.</p>
<p>I heard it has to fit in one page.</p>
<p>My college counselor (a former admissions officer at Wake Forest University, a pretty selective university in Winston Salem, North Carolina) always said to keep essays at an absolute maximum of 750 words.</p>
<p>I think mine were all 700 words are less.</p>
<p>College admissions offices are pressed for time with all the applications they have to go through, so the shorter you keep it, the more they’ll like you. Also, a sign of a good writer is the ability to express sophisticated ideas, diction, and sentence-structure concisely. </p>
<p>Unless you think you’re going to absolutely wow the admissions officer with your essay, definitely keep it to two pages or less, double-spaced. Preferably one page.</p>
<p>750 words or less is the rule I say. Its great to be concise. Adcons have to read thousands of papers. I’m shooting for 500. I have 556 right now.</p>
<p>Mine is 730 words so far. I started writing them after I finished junior year.</p>
<p>about 630
I started summer before senior year</p>
<p>It’s really not helpful to post things as facts unless they are facts, i.e. maximum word count for the long essay on the Common App.</p>
<p>over the limit thats the for sure lol.
700+ words :P</p>
<p>For people freaking out about long essays:
I know a guy who was accepted SCEA to Yale with an ~1200 word essay. He was a stellar applicant, but it was a cliche topic that he approached with more depth than the normal essayist. Quality>Quantity</p>
<p>However, my essay is about 530 words right now. I actually want to end at about 590 words because I feel I need a little bit more elaboration in some areas. I wrote another essay that was about 750 words.</p>
<p>Here is what you need to think about:
- Do you get tired reading it? Because if you do the adcom will too.
- Do you effectively convey your point while maintaining clarity? This will be the main guide of your length.</p>
<p>Also, to avoid OVER cutting and editing look at your original essay’s length. Then cut about 8-12%
For example, if you write and 850 word essay you want to cut at least 70 words.</p>
<p>My counselor suggests the essay should around 600 words. I wanted to make mine at around 570, but I found I ended up my first draft at 550.</p>
<p>So I might add some more before hand in the essay.</p>
<p>yeah ive got about 750</p>
<p>my common app essay is officially 660 words. i have no idea what “the maximum” length is. i made sure that my essay could fit on one page single spaced, because I think a one-page essay is more visually appealing, and easier to handle.</p>
<p>Mine currently is 500 words, but i’m probably going to advance to about 630 at the most before I’m finished the final draft. At the most, I say that you shouldn’t go over the 800+ limit, simply because it might seem like overcompensation unless you’re a REALLY good writer and know that you can keep your points coherent. I would start making it as long as you want, and then doing some serious editing and revising. Just figure out what really isn’t needed. Also, starting during the summer is a must, exspecially if you’re going to have a heavy courseload during your senior year.</p>