<p>They’ve said before that they don’t impose a word limit because they really just care about content. More or less, it doesn’t matter, as long as its got the right stuff. </p>
<p>It would never hurt to apply to a few more schools. Most of the other schools similar to Chicago [in terms of intellectual atmosphere] are liberal art colleges (like Reed), which often have slightly weaker math departments. So, whatever that’s worth to you.</p>