<p>Question for common app--is 535 words too long for a 500 word limit? How many words is too long?...like is 10% generally a good rule?</p>
<p>Also, if we have a title, do the words of the title count toward the word limit?</p>
<p>Thanks, y'all!!!</p>
<p>Well, I have heard people say that words like "it" "and" "as" etc don't count as words...</p>
<p>I've heard 5% as the rule, 550 is way too much</p>
<p>what do you think about 535 for 500 limit?</p>
<p>It's fine, don't worry about it.</p>
<p>i dont think they will count the words, just make sure it doesnt look too long</p>
<p>It's FINE! I can't tell if all these people who are saying 536 is too long are being sarcastic or not, because it's REALLY NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL. 800 is too long, not 530. That's ridiculous, who sits there with an awesome essay and stresses out over the fact that you went over 30 words? my common app essay is 590 if that makse you feel better.</p>
<p>pebbles, i'm having the same problem determining sarcasm and it's really starting to aggravate me...i'm going to try to cut it if i can...if not, oh well! i tried...thanks everyone!</p>
<p>I don't think that even 800 words is necessarily too long. It really depends on the essay. If it is very good and engaging, the reader will not mind. However, the risk you take is that your essay will not be amazing and you will bore the reader. </p>
<p>I wrote an essay that I felt came from the heart and I could not edit it down much; the content was not superfluous. I emailed my admission officer and expressed my concern that I wanted to respect their word limits, but I felt that the person I am best came across in my long essay. His response was that the long essay was fine if it gave them a better understanding of me as a person.</p>
<p>Hope that helps :)</p>
<p>newt, that definitely helped! thanks so much!</p>
<p>It really depends on the essay - if the reader feels like you could have made your point in fewer words, they may care more that you went over the limit. However, I would not worry about being 35 words over at all, the overall essay is much more important</p>