How Long Is The Common App Essay

The common application essay is a crucial essay that will determine your entry into an institution of higher learning. This type of essay has a specific length within which you need to present your ideas and prove your suitability for the institution. The common app essay presents a challenge for many students. In this post, we will guide you on how to write a common application essay. 

How Many Words Is The Common App Essay? 

The common app essay will limit you on how many words you can write. The length of the common app essay is adjusted several times over time. However, the general range at the moment is between 250 and 650 words. 

When you apply for the common application essay online, you will not be able to submit the essay if it does not meet the 250 words marks. The same is true if it exceeds this figure. It is, therefore, essential to keep the word count somewhere within this range. 

What Is The Appropriate Length Of The Common App Essay

This question will elicit different types of responses depending on who you ask. However, most experts that you consider the writing prompts available in the common app essay. Each year, the board that receives these applications will have different writing prompts available. Other times, the prompts remain the same for a couple of years. 

Considering the writing prompts will help you decide what kind of information will go into the essay that you want to write. Additionally, you will also have an idea of the approach to use when writing the common app essay. 

However, the general average for most essays is about 550 words. This figure ensures that you can have a captivating introduction, a thorough body, and a conclusion that sums up all your main ideas. 

What Can You Expect From The Common App Essay 

The common application essay’s main intention is to understand who you are why an admission into college would suit you. Some of the questions the essay expects you to answer are as follows.

• Who are you?
• How you got where you are?
• Unique details about you
• What is most important to you?

Who Are You? 

You need to state clearly who you are and the personality traits that make you the person that you are. The answer that you provide for this question allows the reviewers to figure out if you have the traits that would suit the student population in your target college. Additionally, if you answer this question well, it will say a lot about how you can express yourself. 

How You Got Where You Are? 

This question seeks to know the journey that got you to writing your college application essay. In this question, the reviewer will want to know about your experiences in high school and other levels of learning that contributed to your academic excellence. 

Unique Details About You 

This type of question expects you to illustrate those traits in you that you feel would contribute most positively to the college you want to join. For example, if you are good at public speaking, the college will want to know this in your common app essay. Focus on the strengths that make you stand out and illustrate the same by highlighting instances where that came out prominently. 

What Is Most Important To You? 

In this question, the college needs to know what you treasure most. For example, going by the strength highlighted above on public speaking, you can mention that communication is what matters most to you. 

Structure Of The Common App Essay

The essay does not necessarily follow the five-paragraph essay format. When it comes to this type of essay, you can suit the body to your liking depending on the issue you are addressing in the essay. This freedom allows you to tailor the essay to the number of paragraphs that you feel will be most convincing. However, the introduction and conclusion must be present. 

Final Thoughts 

The general length of the essay is between 250 and 650 words. This type of essay offers you flexibility in terms of its structure. The advantage of this is that you do not have to stick to a specific number of paragraphs in the body. Below is an example of a common app essay.

An example of a common app essay

How many words is the common app essay 2019?

The 2019 version of the common application has a minimum length of 250 words, with the limit being 650 words.

Is my common app essay too short?

Your common app essay will be too short if you have written below 250 words. Take note that the minimum length of a common app essay is 250words, and the limit is 650words.

How long is a 650-word essay?

A 650 word-essay that is double spaced, Times New Roman, and the font size is 12 should be two and a quarter page.