<p>Is the "Why Columbia" short answer more about content or writing style? Should I spend a lot of time revising it or just answer the question?</p>
<p>Do both. 10 char</p>
<p>The problem is, we are only allowed 600 characters, which is like ~100 words. I personally find it really hard to explain my reasons while concentrating on style (ie. not listing).</p>
<p>if you are asking whether you should list then the answer is no, it should be in prose. but your prose doesn’t have to be overly verbose… it can be succinct and to the point</p>
<p>I agree w/ Shraf, good style and succinctness aren’t exclusive.</p>
<p>I asked this because I heard some people spend hours to days revising it, and that kind of worried me. Thank you for the advice. I’ll just answer the question.</p>
<p>it is an extremely important 600 characters, and should be taken very seriously as it is one of the few things that has a chance to really distinguish you in the admissions officers’ minds. and shraf is right, it should be terse but still prose, a list isn’t quite appropriate. these people are reading it to get a sense of your mind, not to check off some boxes like something out of Family Feud.</p>
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<p>They probably spent days drafting the First Amendment, which is a similarly short paragraph, yet quite important.</p>