<p>Hey guys! I was wondering, how many essays do we write for the application and what are the topics/questions that we are typically asked to write about? Thanks!</p>
<p>You can write whatever you want for the big essay (the personal statement). It's supposed to be around 500 words. Then they ask you some short answer questions like what's your most important EC, why do you want to go to Columbia...and those are the only two I can think of. The why Columbia question's pretty important, though (but I bet most people end up writing the same thing).</p>