Hello everyone,
I am a sophomore in community college, and I am preparing documents for transfer to the University of Chicago. I completed 4 essays, but I stuck with the extended essay. I didn’t find any requirements for this essay, but the essay which I completed is just 200 words. I wrote 1 extra paragraph which makes this essay a little bit worse, but the amount is 300 words… The deadline in 3 days. What should I do?
Are you saying that you are stuck ON the extended essay? Meaning that you have run out of things to say given the prompt?
Don’t add words for the sake of adding words; typically, as you have discovered in your case, doing so will not improve the quality. If your best effort is 200 words, so be it. There is no required essay length, if I’m reading your post correctly (that was the case as well for the new freshman application). My son’s essays weren’t long either, and he was accepted. Best guess: they are looking for quality, not quantity.
However, you do want to make sure you have answered the prompt thoroughly, so reading through for clarity or completeness is always a good idea. One suggestion: set it down for a day or two and then give it a re-read. You might find areas requiring further elaboration. Or another paragraph or two might pop into your head while you are away from it. Right now you are focused on making it longer, and that might be distracting you from focusing on making it BETTER. When you give it the re-read, you might discover a few ways to do the latter AND inadvertently lengthen it to your satisfaction.
Good luck!