How long is too long?

College Essays
1

<p>I know that the minimum for the Common App is 250, but what is an appropriate limit for a maximum?</p>

2

<p>Until last year, the limit was 500 words. </p>

<p>The exact limit was removed, but imo applicants would do well not to go extremely far over 500 words.</p>

3

<p>I’m really not sure. If you’re doing a narrative or something then you might have license to go up ~700. It’s hard to tell.</p>

4

<p>500 words. Don’t go too far over.</p>

5

<p>Yeah 500 words should the around the limit.</p>

6

<p>Cut to the chase - a narrative? - readers do not want/need the descriptive sentences detailing the African terrain or the poor orphan faces. How did the trip to Africa (which is super common these days!) CHANGE your outlook once you got back to hometown USA? How did you FEEL about what you saw in comparison to how you live? If all that is in the last parrgraph of a 4 page essay, put that in the first paragraph of a 1 - 2 page essay and make your essay about your reactions to the experience, do not detail the experience itself more than bare minimum.</p>