Essay word overrun - a problem?

[mini]

<p>"Which, of course, means that a 500 word essay can be just as good as an 800 word essay, not taking away from the quality of the 800 word essay. You don't infer "more qualified" when someone says "just as qualified".</p>

<p>No, a 500-word essay is BETTER than an 800-word essay of similar quality, because it reflects the fact that the applicant knows how to follow directions. There is just no reason - none, zippo -- that an applicant can't fit what needs to be said into a LIMIT of 750 words when that is what is called for.</p>

[pebbles]

<p>It doesn't matter anymore, the OP probably has already handed in his/her essay.</p>

[laurenh87]

<p>LOL yep, I have Pebbles, and it ended up being 36 words over. But am I stressing? No, not at all. Other parts of the application made it EXTREMELY clear that going over the word limit was forbidden. Thus in those sections, I was always about 20 words under the limit. However the essay I asked about only once mentioned the 750 word limit, and unlike the other sections, made no mention of cutting off too long essays. So I think I'm fine. (And Mini, I find it hard to believe that any ad com is going to either notice the extra 36 words, much less count them!)</p>

[mini]

<p>Is this the way you plan to carry out college assignments as well?</p>

[laurenh87]

<p>Well if my professor specifically says "DO NOT EXCEED 1000 words" (for example), then by all means I won't. But if he says "Write a 1,000 word paper," I'll have no problem going over by a few. And in the case of the application, I interpreted it to mean "Write a 750 word paper," not "DO NOT EXCEED 750 words" (although there were parts of it that said that).</p>

[mini]

<p>To quote your very first post:</p>

<p>"If an essay prompt says "Please limit your response to 750 words,"</p>

<p>Doesn't say "write a 750-word essay", "write an essay of approximately 750 words".</p>

<p>I thought the instructions were very clear, and not subject to interpretation. The English language has its uses.</p>

[pebbles]

<p>mini - you need to let it drop. For some reason, you're extremely bothered by the fact that someone went over a word limit by 36 words, while none of the rest of world even notices, much less cares.</p>

<p>This isn't a college course run by an extremely uptight professor; this is an application to a school (we don't even know what school). A professor can do whatever he/she wants in a classroom, while college admissions officers cannot, at risk of losing thousands of applicants.</p>