How much over CAN we go??

Colleges & Universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Hey guys, quick question: For the “End of the World” Essay (500 word limit) I have approximately 536 words - is that too much?</p>

<p>I really don’t know what I can cut out anymore…</p>

2

<p>also, if I’m uploading the essay, should I keep it double-spaced? or change it back to single-spaced?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>

3

<p>I think under 550 is good. Why not just copy paste it into the box? I think that’s the safest way to go.</p>

4

<p>It’s just that there are some italicized words and such that are needed for emphasis - that’s why I’m going to upload it.</p>

5

<p>i think uploading actually kills the formatting even worse-is anyone finding their paragraph indentations missing, dashes not appearing etc. when they upload a word document or is yours getting uploaded fine? Also, is it a big deal or will they know specifically what formatting is lost in uploading?</p>

6

<p>The last time I tried, uploading doesn’t keep any formatting beyond paragraph indents and tabs. To quote an MIT admissions officer to whom I asked a question about essays:</p>

<p>“Your formatting problem stems from our implementation of a universal text encoding standard. This standard is necessary to regulate and make uniform (with regard to font, style, punctuation, etc.) the thousands of textual responses we get via the web every year.”</p>

<p>If italicized text or whatever is important to your essay, your best bet is to snail-mail it (postage FTL).</p>

7

<p>@ niceilike: Look more carefully. The MIT application does keep your indentation/tabs, however their length is greatly reduced so they appear more like spaces.</p>

<p>The content of your essay, not its presentation, should by itself be sufficient to capture the reader’s interest. If you need to format it with fluff, then think harder of what you are writing, and not how your are decorating it.</p>

8

<p>yea that was the only formatting i was talking about (indents), nothing decorative about my essay</p>

9

<p>I think I had around 650’ish? I even said in my essay, this next paragraph is optional though recommended for the reader.</p>