<p>If the essay response for a university is supposed to be around 250 or 300 words, it would be acceptable to have just a one-sentence intro. and conclusion instead of a whole paragraph, RIGHT?</p>
<p>Whenever the essays got that short, I skipped the intro entirely and jumped right into whatever I was supposed to be talking about. Depending on the topic, I sometimes included a one sentence wrap-up and sometimes not. When it’s that short, they just want you to cut to the chase and give them the important information. If you really feel you need an intro and conclusion, I’m sure one sentence is fine.</p>
<p>^I’m not sure. In terms of visualizing the essay, one sentence at the beginning and the end with large body paragraphs sandwiched in between would look weird. So that may be something to consider. Although that’s just my opinion. </p>
<p>So I’d either just jump into the essay like tapper recommended, pile the intro into the conclusion (so 2 sentence conclusion) or write at least 2 sentences for each (unless you have longish intro/conclusion sentence, with like a semicolon).</p>