My Common App Essay - 975 words too long?

gt607rmcf
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:48:39 +0000

Here’s how I see it - as your essay gets longer, you get to talk about more aspects of yourself. Sure. But as your essay gets shorter, guess what gets cut? The parts you view as least important. What’s left? The parts that you feel are the most important, and consequently, are the strongest indication of the kind of applicant you are.

The recommended word limit is not for nothing. When I was writing my app essays, one of the schools I applied to said that we could go over the limit if we wanted, but the best essays tend to stay within the limit because whatever is said within the limit is tends to be richer and more powerful than what had to be cut to keep it under the limit.