Paste your draft into this essay length checker and you see your count beside the limit the application will hold you to. Your Common App essay word count goes up against 650. UCAS? Characters against 4,000. A UC Personal Insight Question? 350 words a box.
Choose the application, paste, then look at the bar and the line below it. Fits or doesn't, it says so. The counting runs in your browser.
Writing a supplemental essay, a scholarship answer, a statement of purpose or a job application text box? Choose Custom and type the limit in words or characters.
The limits this essay length checker knows
These are the rules the presets carry, read off the code, with the official page for each number.
| Preset | Maximum | Minimum | Counted in | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common App personal essay | 650 words | 250 words | Words | Common App help: Are there word limits? |
| UCAS 2026 entry, three questions | 4,000 characters across the three answers, including spaces | 350 characters per answer | Characters | UCAS: personal statement for 2026 entry |
| UC Personal Insight Questions | 350 words in each of four answers | None | Words | UC admission: Personal insight questions |
| Custom | Your number | None | Words or characters | The form you are filling in |
Two Common App boxes have no preset. Additional Information takes 300 words and the Challenges and circumstances question takes 250, both set in the 2025-26 update deck from Common App, pages 22 and 23. Use Custom with 300 or 250 for those.
The UC preset shows four boxes. UC gives the four questions equal weight, so pick the ones you answer best. The Common App word limit guide covers the other Common App boxes and how to budget 650 words. The UCAS limits guide has a split for the three answers.
One 679-word draft, cut to 631
I wrote a sample personal essay for this test, about fixing neighbors' bikes, and padded it the way first drafts get padded. On November 6, 2026, I pasted it in with the Common App preset.
The count turned red: 679 / 650 words. The line under it said "29 words over the limit: you cannot submit this." Underneath, the breakdown: 679 words, 3,486 characters, 52 sentences, 8 paragraphs.
Six cuts later it fit. Here is what went and what each cut saved.
| What I cut | Why | Words saved |
|---|---|---|
| "It was a cold, gray morning in early March, the kind where the sky cannot decide what it wants to do." | Weather. Says nothing about the writer. | 21 |
| "which felt like a very long time while she stood there checking her watch" | The next sentence already says she was late. | 14 |
| "meaningful at the time" and "simply" | Hedges. | 5 |
| "tied up with a bow" | A stock phrase. | 5 |
| "long, frustrating" before "evenings" | Four evenings on one wheel is frustrating without the label. | 2 |
| "honestly" | Filler. | 1 |
| Total | 679 to 631 words | 48 |
After the cuts the counter read 631 / 650 words and the line said "19 words remaining." The bar stayed amber, because 631 is past 90 percent of 650. Amber is fine. Red is the one that stops you.
None of the cuts touched the story. The opening lost its weather and the ending lost a cliche, and the essay still had 19 words in hand for a last fix.
Two numbers on the breakdown line need a note. It said 52 sentences and I count 47.
The essay has Mrs. Okafor, Mr. Delgado and two "a.m.", and the counter ends a sentence at each of those periods. Paragraphs count only when a blank line separates them; eight blank lines gave me 8.
The same 631 words under the other presets
I then switched presets without changing the text. The essay word count checker reads the same draft three ways.
| Preset | Counter | Line under the box |
|---|---|---|
| Common App | 631 / 650 words | 19 words remaining. |
| UCAS 2026, pasted in question 1 | 3,231 / 4,000 characters | 3,231 characters used. The budget card above reads 3,231 / 4,000 used: 769 left |
| UC PIQ, one box | 631 / 350 words | 281 words over the limit: you cannot submit this. |
631 words, then, made 3,231 characters with spaces. Call it 5.1 characters a word, trailing space included. Do the sum and 4,000 characters fits roughly 780 words of mine.
Our UCAS guide plans at six characters a word, closer to 660, and your own ratio shows on the breakdown line. Plan in words, check in characters.
The UC row is the one students trip on. A finished Common App essay is not a PIQ answer; it is 281 words too long for one box. The Common App guide has a section on reusing the essay for the UC questions.
Cutting to a limit without losing the essay
The order I cut in, cheapest loss first:
- Read the gap off the status line before you touch a word. Mine said 29 over. I cut 48 so the last edit had room.
- Weather, time of day and scenery in the first paragraph. One sentence of mine was 21 words and could have opened anyone's essay.
- Clauses that say what the next sentence shows anyway. "She was late" was enough by itself.
- Hedges and intensifiers. Mine were honestly, simply, very, meaningful, long, frustrating.
- Stock phrases, mostly in the last paragraph, where everyone wraps up the lesson.
- Paste it back in. Read the line. Once it says remaining, stop, ideally with 10 to 20 spare.
Still over? The paraphrasing tool can shorten a paragraph per run. I'd use what it gives you as a hint and nothing more. Your essay should sound like you, so put the idea back in your own words.
Watch the floor too. Drop under 250 words on the Common App preset and it warns you you're short. Each UCAS box does the same below 350 characters.
UCAS: three boxes, one character budget
Pick UCAS 2026 and three boxes appear, one for each question, with Count spaces switched on to match the UCAS character limit. Under 350 characters, a box tells you how far short it is.
The Shared character budget bar above the boxes adds all three. With under 200 characters left, its number goes amber. The bar goes amber past 90 percent. Push the three past 4,000 between them and both go red, and it tells you by how much.
Blank lines between paragraphs cost 2 characters each here. In my eight-paragraph sample that came to 14.
Does UCAS count line breaks the same way? I looked and couldn't find it on their page. So this total leans safe. Land 50 or more under 4,000 and one last edit won't tip you over.
What it does not do
- No file upload. You copy from your document and paste.
- It saves nothing. Close the tab and the boxes are empty, so keep your draft in a document.
- Counters disagree on what a word is. Here it's anything between spaces. "First-generation" is one. "U. S." with a space in it is two.
- It carries three sets of rules. Coalition, QuestBridge, scholarships and supplemental essays go in Custom with the limit from the form.
- The portal's own counter has the final say. Paste the final version into the real application and check its number before you relax.
- Copy as text grabs the summary lines only, for example "Personal essay: 631 / 650 words", handy for notes or your counselor. The essay itself isn't copied.
Nothing you paste leaves your device. The counting runs in a script that loads with the page, and no draft is sent to our servers or stored.
GetJobTools built this checker and keeps the presets current; the about page has the story. If a portal changes a limit, send the official link through the contact page and we will update the preset.
For a plain count with no admissions rules, the word counter and character counter do that. A page requirement converts to words in the words to pages calculator. Every essay tool and guide sits on the essays and word limits hub.
FAQ
How many words should a Common App essay be?
A Common App essay word count can be anywhere from 250 to 650. Word 651 won't go in the box. At 250 the reader barely gets to know you. My test essay landed on 631, which is 97 percent of the room with 19 left.
Is my essay too long?
Paste it, right preset on. Red, plus "over the limit: you cannot submit this"? Then yes. Amber is past 90 percent yet still under. Green, you've got room.
How long should a college essay be?
Whatever the application allows, and not a word more. Common App: 250 to 650 words. UC: 350 per Personal Insight Question. UCAS: 4,000 characters over three answers. Supplementals? Each college's form sets its own.
Does the UCAS 4,000-character limit include spaces?
Yes. UCAS says 4,000 characters with spaces, split across the three 2026-entry answers, and at least 350 in each. That is why the UCAS preset switches Count spaces on.
Why does my word count not match the UCAS character count?
Because UCAS counts characters, and how many fit in a word depends on how you write. Our UCAS guide budgets six a word, which makes 4,000 about 660 words. My 631-word test came out at 5.1, so nearer 780. Check in characters.
Can I write more in one UCAS answer than the others?
Yes. Two things are fixed: 4,000 characters overall and 350 at least per answer. Make one long if you like, as long as the other two clear 350. The shared budget bar keeps the running total.
Is there a minimum length for the UC Personal Insight Questions?
No. UC caps each answer at 350 words and sets no floor, which is why the UC preset never warns you about being short. Each answer is a quarter of your PIQ writing, so a very short one gives away room.
Can I check a scholarship or supplemental essay here?
Yes. Pick Custom, enter the form's limit, then words or characters. In character mode a Count spaces switch appears; leave it on unless the instructions say spaces do not count.