how strict are the word limits on each essay?

CharlotteRH
Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:08:51 +0000

I noticed that Dan the admissions officer said in another thread that the 50 word essay can be more than 50 words–even 150. Does this carry to the 200 word essays? I know in another post he advised against, say, a 500 word essay. So how much can you go over? (If at all.) 250? 300? 350? I’m at a point where I (and those who have read my essays) think that shortening them would make them worse, not more concise.

And what about the 250-400 word optional essays?

And overall, will it look bad if all my essays are over the word limit? It’s not like a haven’t cut them, I have, but I just tend to write a lot/have a lot to say.

How have other people interpreted the word limits?

I know some of this has been addressed in other topics, but I wanted to make a general topic for all the essays.

(BTW–I know I once said it is possible to get from 500 to 200. I take that back. Maybe from 500 to 300. Just don’t want to be a hypocrite)