<p>I need the advice of experienced parents. I’ve written my Common App essay about my love of an EC. It’s just under 500 words (supposed to be 250-500). My short answer is also just under the 150-word maximum required. </p>
<p>Now, to tell you the truth, I could have written more, but I streamlined both responses based on the written requirements. </p>
<p>My question is - is it important to stick to the required word count? Do you think schools will penalize students whose essays are over the 500 word limit? </p>
<p>Yes. If I wanted to know whether a student knew how to follow directions, this would be a very simple way to find out.</p>
<p>Will college adcoms count words? Likely not. Will they notice if your essays are longer than other folks’? Likely will. Will they take that into account? Who knows?</p>
<p>“Streamlined” is usually better writing, anyway. That’s what editing is all about. Or, as Stephen King says in his delightful monograph On Writing: “Omit needless words.”</p>
<p>Two adcoms at different schools where I attended info sessions stressed that they don’t want more than 2 pages double spaced. They don’t count words but this seems to be the guideline they follow before they get mad.</p>
<p>It’s just under 500 words (supposed to be 250-500). My short answer is also just under the 150-word maximum required. </p>
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<p>To the original poster: A well-written, carefully crafted essay just shy of the 500 word limit is fine. In fact, it is probably preferrable to trying to add words needlessly to bring the essay up to the maximum word length. As long as you have said everything you needed to say, you shouldn’t worry about being a little short of the maximum.</p>
<p>I’ve read many essays from various students over the past few years, and the ones that seem to work best (at least in my eyes as a writer) are the ones that are succinct and to the point. Go for it!</p>
<p>I basically agree that one should aim to keep the word count in the ball park that’s requested. However, if after revising and editing and revising some more, any further shortening seems to compromise the quality of the piece, and it still goes over (but is within the visual two page, double spaced limit), I would not shorten it further. Both my kids did go over somewhat with no ill effects whatsoever. I do not believe adcoms count words, and if the essay grabs them and keeps their attention, they won’t care. We were also reassured after noting, in the Harvard book of accepted essays, that a few examples were actually quite a bit longer than 500 words.</p>
<p>I was just going to say that Donemom. I have found all those essay books practically useless. Almost every essay has to be at least 1,000 - 1,500 words. I can write a great esay when I have that kind of word count. Trying to write an essay in anywhere from 250 - 600 words is really hard.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve always wondered if one of the reasons my son got into MIT was that his main essay had exactly 500 words and his three smalll essays each had exactly 100 words. Yes, they were good essays, and yes, he did pare the words to make them fit exactly. That kind of brain might be one reason he fits in so well at MIT.</p>
<p>And yes, short little words like is, a, and & the count, but contractions do count as one word, not two. </p>
<p>I’ve been reading student essays (on all kinds of topics) for the last few weeks (and for a few weeks last June), and I have yet to see one that couldn’t benefit from some serious editing. It’s much harder to write shorter rather than longer.</p>
<p>Sorry, but it is different at different schools. Yale wants you to follow directions and stick to 500 words; my son’s top ten school said his two essays (both a bit over 1,000 words, each) were what clinched the deal. Everyone, they said, has the scores, the grades, the recs, the ecs - but they are still talking about his essays, and even the president of the school knows him by name because of them.</p>
<p>That’s so interesting, nedad. 1000 words is certainly much longer than I was thinking (my son’s essay for Harvard was in the low 700’s, I think.) Could it be that the adcoms are so wary of the humongous amount of reading they have to do that they tell everyone to keep it in bounds, but then when a great essay comes along, the quality is what they focus on.</p>
<p>I should think so. After all, if everyone ignored the 500 word limit and wrote 1000 words, adcoms would have twice the amount of reading- and with 18,000 or more applicants, that’s a lot of reading. </p>
<p>My teachers like the KISS formula for essays- keep it short, stupid :)</p>
<p>There’s always a rulebreaker who gets away with it on the sheer strength of the performance, but for every one of those, there are probably 100 who fall flat on their faces.</p>
<p>HELP! my common app essay is 628 words… is that way too much? There really seems to be nothing I can cut from it though and it flows rather well… aahh!!</p>
<p>If you and people who deserve your trust with regard to good writing feel its really good, and cutting anything else will mean losing something important you have to say, or the flow, than I say leave it alone. As I said before, I think the quality should be prioritized over concern over a hundred extra words, and I don’t think the adcoms will count them.</p>
<p>There is a bigger issue at stake with wordiness. </p>
<p>The common app limits the total number of characters NOT words for responses. If the essay goes over the limit, then be certain that the other free responses stay within the overall limitations. Check “print preview” to be certain. Otherwise something will be deleted if you submit the application online.</p>