<p>Hello! I'm new to this forum, so I don't know if the question I'm about to ask is stupid or repetitive. I'm a senior this year, about to apply to some colleges that use the commonapp, and I was wondering how long some of responses are supposed to be. If anyone's familiar with the common app, there is a section in the writing samples page that lets us elaborate on an extracurricular activity that we've been involved in. It says that it should be about 150 words or fewer, but then on the bottom it says "3500 characters left in your response". My response is about 3400 characters, so it doesn't cut me off, but it's like almost 600 words. I'm afraid it's too long, but I don't think 150 words is enough to explain my full involvement in the thing I'm writing about. </p>
<p>Also, for the personal essay on the common app, it tells us that the essay's supposed to be 250 words minimum, but it doesn't say what the max should be. I just finished writing my essay, and it's 1784 words. :P Yeah it's probably too long, but if I make it interesting, would it be okay? I'm writing about a personal experience I've had the last year and I don't want it to sound rushed or superficial. </p>
<p>If anyone can help me out here, that'd be great!! :)</p>
<p>you're not supposed to write a full essay for the EC one, just highlight what it is, what you're involvement was, and show a little passion for it. i've heard 500 words is ideal for the perosnal essay, definetly no more than a page. if yours is longer than that, it's a sign that you are not being specific enough. longer than a page and no one will want to read it. there's a recent thread on length in the college admissions forum you may want to check out.
good luck!</p>
<p>Wow... 500 words? No more than 1 page? 1 page meaning no double-spaced? Then I really need to start shortening my essay, or think of something else to write. The problem with the essay I'm writing now is that it's focusing on an experience that lasted for like 1 year. I don't know how I'm supposed to shorten it without losing all of my transitions and stuff. </p>
<p>As for the extracurricular thing, how long do you reckon it should be? I'm going to talk about my passion for webdesign and how I've used it to help my community and school. I also mentioned some of the webdesign competitions I've entered and won, and how I got involved in webdesign in the first place. Do you think I should cut out the part when I said how I got interested in it or cut out the competitions part? There's no way I can fit all that I want to say about it in 150 words :(</p>
<p>For the extracurricular essay, it says 150 words or fewer, not 150 or more, so you should really try to stick to that, maybe go up to 200 words. Take out the stuff about the competitions you've entered and won, since you can put that under a different section, and this essay is for you to tell them something new. Cut it down to the most important parts.</p>
<p>As for the long essay, 1784 is way too long! You definitely need to cut it down to at least a third of that, maybe more. 500-600 words MAX. Again, cut it down to the bare bones. If you make it too long, your message will get lost. If you're really having issues, start by taking out uneccessary adjectives and adverbs and go from there. Try to be as concise as possible. Get someone else to read it, like a counselor or teacher who can help you take out the extraneous information.</p>
<p>In general, try to stick to the guidelines! Admissions officers have a million of these to read, and the more concise and to the point you are, the more they'll appreciate it.</p>
<p>thanks for all the great advice!:)</p>