<p>College admissions officers, not just at Yale, but everywhere, are tired at this time of year. They’re reading hundreds of essays, sometimes thousands, most of them pretty pedestrian. Even when there’s no express word limit, it just makes sense to be concise. And when there is an explicit word limit, it’s dumb and somewhat arrogant to ignore it. Go 10% or so over the limit, if you must, but no more.</p>