Essay Prompts For College 2011

In 2011, that decision was taken away as the Common Application moved to a relatively short 500-word limit.With the August 2013 release of CA4 (the newest version of the Common Application), the guidelines changed once again.Instead, ask yourself why you hit a wall at 300 words. To make a good impression, be sure to check out these five tips for a winning essay, and if you're writing a Common Application essay, take a look at the tips and sample essays for each of the seven options.

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Note that there is also a minimum length—CA4 won't accept any essay under 250 words.

If you are applying to a college that does allow you to go over the limit, or if you have a supplemental essay with a recommended word count that isn't enforced by the application software, you still should not go over the limit.

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For further information, including about cookie settings, please read our Cookie Policy .I've heard counselors advise students to keep their essays on the shorter end of the spectrum because college admissions offices are very busy, and they will appreciate short essays.While this advice may be true for some colleges, for many others it will not be.If you've chosen the right focus for your essay—one that reveals something meaningful about you—you're going to need far more than 250 words to provide the type of detail and self-reflection that makes an essay effective.Sure, the admissions folks might be glad to get through a short essay quickly, but a beautifully crafted 600-word essay is going to make a more meaningful and lasting impression than a good 300-word essay.Prior to 2011, the length of the essay was set by the judgment of the applicant (and some applicants who wrote 1,200-word essays showed bad judgment).Many colleges who don't use the Common Application also have clearly defined length limits for the essays.The University of California, for example, allows 350 words for each of an applicant's responses to four personal insight questions, for a total maximum of 1400 words.You'll find supplemental essays with length limits ranging from 50 words and up. After all, 650 words is not a lot of space in which to convey your personality, passions, and writing ability to the folks in the admissions office. In previous years, applicants could attach their essays to the application, and this allowed them to attach essays that were too long.To learn more or modify/prevent the use of cookies, see our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.The 2018-19 version of the Common Application has an essay length limit of 650 words.