Well, most active and passive basses when you don't use EQ are very similar. After all, the front end of your head is basically an active preamp! An active bass merely moves part of that EQ circuit into the bass where it more convenient to adjust while you are playing.
In the Common Application, it says that the Personal Essay should be at least 250 words, and attached on a separate sheet (presumably, if you're submitting it online, you attach a one-page file).
In academic work, your paragraphs are likely to be a bit longer than most of the ones you see in this blog post. On average, there are usually 100 to 200 words in a paragraph. So if youâd like a guesstimate, you can assume that a 1,000-word essay will have between five and ten paragraphs.