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).
For my A-Levels, normally it takes me about six hours or so, it's ridiculous. Other people in my classes can just do an essay in an hour or two because we only write short essays (2000 words max) but my whole process of thinking, planning, writing and proof-reading just takes so long. hours usually, 4 max. I've written them in 1 hour before but that was a little bit mental and there were wrong words everywhere. Usually I write about 2000 words so they're quite short really as essays go.