UCF App. Essays - two separate statements on two topics?

I am confused about the essay prompt on the UCF application. This is exactly what it says:

"...We ask that you respond to two of the topics below. Your personal statement should be no longer than 500 words or a total of 7000 characters for both statements (refer to character remaining counter below the essay)."

Does this mean that I have to write two separate 500-word statements on the two topics I chose, or combine the two into one 500-word statement?

Good evening.

It sounds to me like you are asked to create two essays, but the combined number of words for both of them counted together as one piece be no more than 500 words or 7000 characters. For example, the first prompt you choose you will answer with a 250 word essay and the second prompt you choose you will answer with another 250 word essay. Depending on the prompts, they may be two totally different subjects, so you wouldn't want to link them together, rather writing them as separate pieces sharing the same overall word count.

I hope this helps clear things up a bit!

Regards,
Gloria
Moderator, EssayForum.com

Thank you so much for clarifying, I was really stressing out about it since their rolling admission started awhile back and I should have done this awhile ago. I ended up combining the two prompts into one 500-word essay but I tied them together in a way that I could make a connection between the two. I really appreciate your insight!