<p>Damn you, Barnard, and your unclear specifications!</p>
<p>Is that what, 5 sentences, 10? 20? There are 4 essays, all with that length specification. Each has 1,000 characters of space on the Common App, so does it just mean ~250 words is the limit?</p>
<p>I think that’s open to interpretation, as long as you stay with the 1000 character limit. I would use whatever suits you as a paragraph that best describes yourself.</p>