<p>What is the ideal length (word count) for the common app essay? Is 800 too long?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The limit is 1000 but nobody writes that much because adcoms don’t want to read that much. The more you can tell in the least amount of words the better. 800 is a bit wordy. I would shoot for 650 and below</p>
<p>My commonapp essay was like 540 or something. You should always cut your first draft by like 20% or more, since first drafts always have 20% or more BS.</p>