<p>How many words/ characters should the supplementary answer be? Mine is close to 250 words. I hope that's enough because they haven't specified anything when we have to upload the document.</p>
<p>My son’s was about 200 words, so yours is the perfect size. Less is more, especially with all those essays!</p>
<p>Mines hovering around the high 500s right now, but I still need to edit it a fair amount. It will probably be around 500 words total. I don’t know, I’m scared mine might be too long, but they don’t specify a length so I’m thinking as long as it’s not longer than the common app essay it shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>S was admitted ED1 and his supplemental essay was 301 words, not including 6 word title.</p>
<p>Actually, let me correct my earlier answer. The <em>writing sample</em> my son submitted had about 200 words. The <em>supplemental question</em> essay which is what I think you’re referring to) was around 500. Don’t worry too much about the length, just put a great idea in words. Good luck!</p>
<p>pommom: I’m a little confused, what is the difference between the writing sample and supplemental question? I was under the impression that was only one writing supplement for the Pomona app, which is under the title “Writing Supplement” on the common app.</p>
<p>mine’s about 500</p>
<p>I’ll check with son and let you know - maybe the writing sample was for Common App? Sorry, did not want to confuse you!</p>
<p>On Pomona’s supplement, there are two questions under “writing sample”:</p>
<p>If you had the complete attention of your community for five minutes, what would you say, and what would you hope to accomplish?</p>
<p>You are walking down the street when something catches your eye. You stop and stare for a long while, amazed and fascinated. What are you looking at?</p>
<p>there are also optional questions under general information</p>
<p>If your essay is a coherent thought, and it is really effective, then it can honestly be any length. However, that being said a 900 word essay likely would not achieve effectiveness in the context of an admissions officer reading thousands of applications. Always keep your audience in mind. Make it convenient for them to understand you.</p>
<p>Since there is no limit specified, I wouldn’t worry too much about the length. A well-written essay should be interesting and enjoyable to read. I don’t think anyone here can say definitively what is too long. My daughter’s was close to 2 pages, double spaced, I’ll let you know in March if she got in!</p>
<p>And my d’s was about 250 words. She said it was either that or 12 pages, so I think she made the right choice. 
And of course the joy of holistic admissions is that we’ll never have any idea whether anyone’s supplemental essay influenced their outcome in any way.</p>
<p>My essay was about 1 page, single spaced. Don’t worry about the length, so long as it’s interesting and couldn’t benefit from more or less detail. Remember that adcoms read these really pretty quickly so shorter/interesting is MUCH better than longer with more (less relevant) detail. Also make sure it’s consistent with the rest of your application! Good luck!</p>
<p>im an edii applicant and my essay was 1 page single-spaced (550 words)</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter. Mine was 887 words and I’m currently a freshman at Pomona.</p>