college essay lenth problem :(?

Question

ok, so i am finishing up this college essay and i saved the essay for last :)

"please submit a one-page essay that explains...etc"
* "one-page" is in bold

do i use MLA format here?
if i do this essay will have to be extrememly short.

Basically, can anyone tell me how i should space this paper?

Can anyone possibly suggest a spacing I could use if they do not think MLA is what is needed?

the essay asks to describe why i have chosen my major (which is engineering)

not a personal opinion
there were 3 essays total in this application, and this is the only one without a specific word count, it just says "one-page" -nothing more

Answer 1

If this is the essay for your college entrance (and I am guessing it is, you are usually asked a personal opinion question, not a research question. If it is personal opinion there is no need for formatting. If they want strict MLA format, that is a header, a heading, a title and a double spaced essay with parenthetical citations and a Works Cited at the bottom. Usually a one page essay would abe about 500 words in 11 point font, double spaced.

Answer 2

I can't imagine why you might need to cite references in a college essay, since the essays are usually about yourself, unless there are some published autobiographies about you or something. And actually not everyone in the academic world uses MLA format. There are quite a few other systems out there for citing sources.

Answer 3

Okay.. forget the page length, the average college esssay should be no more than 500 words in length. They won't read it if it's too long, so don't ramble, make it short and sweet. Remember they have thousands of essays to get through, so never go over the 500 word limit! Hopes this helps...