<p>How long should the supplemental essays be? Right now mine are each a little over 200 words. Is this acceptable? Too long or too short?</p>
<p>Seems short.</p>
<p>I think they are supposed to be short-- I seem to remember my daughter's supplemental essays being around 150 words. I'll see if I can dig them up and do a word count.</p>
<p>OK -- found one -- the word count on "character from fiction" was 134.</p>
<p>"Why Barnard" was 182 words. </p>
<p>"Daily Routine" was 168 words.</p>
<p>I remember we had some discussion about the "hour with a government official" one because I thought my d. should flesh out her points in greater detail, and she told me that it was already running too long at 206 words, which she said was "pushing the limit". So I think she really had the idea that they should each be kept relatively short.</p>
<p>keep the around 200 words or shorter if you can>>>> just make sure theyre REALLY GOOD!!!!!</p>
<p>Supplementals are supposed to be short.. you know, they say 'keep it a short paragraph'.</p>
<p>Just make sure they have substance and tell the reader about yourself!:]</p>
<p>okay, thanks for the help! =)</p>
<p>Well, on the Common App there's a character limit of -- 1,000, I think? Something like that. So mine are just a couple characters short of that, but range from around 160 to 180 words based on how long my words were.</p>
<p>200 words seems about right. I ran over the character limit on some and just put the rest of the essay in the "additional information" section.</p>
<p>I’m bumping this old thread because I thought you Barnard women might enjoy reading about what Debora Spar chose to write when assigned to answer the “daily routine” question on her own. You have to go to the end of the article… they mention Spar in a tease at the beginning, but then save her account until last:
[Holding</a> College Chiefs to Their Words - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155688466088871.html]Holding”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155688466088871.html)</p>
<p>(Note: based on the description of her writing process and the excerpts of her essay at the end, I’d say she’s a good fit for Barnard. Whadda you say? Should we admit her?)</p>
<p>Here’s the direct link to Pres. Spar’s essay:
[College</a> Presidents Pen Admissions Essays - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155156458688435.html]College”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124155156458688435.html)</p>