Many college applications require a personal ... supplemental essay that's 200-300 words in addition to a 250- to 650-word personal essay. "Sometimes a shorter essay response is not as polished ...

If students can distill all of the above information into 250 words, there's likely no need to write about it in a full-length college essay, experts say. And applicants whose lives were not ...

So tell a story you'd tell to others, not just on a college essay. (And don't shy away from a topic you have strong feelings about because you feel it might be too "controversial.") One word of ...