For "unlimited text" secondaries, how much is considered ideal?

[osprey099]

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Some secondaries (Wake Forest comes to mind) allow you to write as much as you want. How much do people usually write for these prompts and how much is considered ideal? Thanks!

 

[DAPI]

Some secondaries (Wake Forest comes to mind) allow you to write as much as you want. How much do people usually write for these prompts and how much is considered ideal? Thanks!

I had two of these last cycle (including Wake) and both came out to 3,000-4,000 characters and both resulting in interview invites. I think about a page is ideal if you actually have something to talk about, but do not just write to write. A well written 1,500 character answer is going to beat a 3,500 character answer any day.

 

[HopefulReapp]

I had two of these last cycle (including Wake) and both came out to 3,000-4,000 characters and both resulting in interview invites. I think about a page is ideal if you actually have something to talk about, but do not just write to write. A well written 1,500 character answer is going to beat a 3,500 character answer any day.

What if the 3,500 character answer is also well written? What about a 5,500 character answer?

OP, keep in mind that Wake screens for the secondary. It might behoove you to work on other secondaries first.

 

[DAPI]

What if the 3,500 character answer is also well written? What about a 5,500 character answer?

OP, keep in mind that Wake screens for the secondary. It might behoove you to work on other secondaries first.

You guys are over thinking this. The length of the response is not going to make or break an interview invite. What matters is the quality. White what you think is necessary, but don't just write to write.

 

[cookiemonsters]

Last cycle, I applied to about 5 schools with no character limit. If I had a good answer for the question, I wrote a little longer response (~4000 characters). If I didn't really have a good answer, I just did my best to get in a few sentences. One of my responses to the BU secondary was literally three sentences as just side blurb that I didn't fit elsewhere in my app, and I got an II there.

 

[487806]

What if the 3,500 character answer is also well written? What about a 5,500 character answer?

OP, keep in mind that Wake screens for the secondary. It might behoove you to work on other secondaries first.

I hope you're being sarcastic for purposely missing the main point by overlooking the details.

DAPI makes a good point that quality >>> quantity.

 

[sinombre]

I hope you're being sarcastic for purposely missing the main point by overlooking the details.

I think he is...