<p>My exact word count for the essay is around 820 words. I have written about a lot of things- why am I interested in a particular fiels, my research and my family background.</p>
<p>So is it fine? Or do I have to cut down my essay?</p>
<p>I’m having the same problem. I’m going to cut mine down as much as possible, getting rid of unnecessary words. Most of the essays I have written ask for you not to go over 500 words. the people who read these only have a limited amount of time per student so they don’t want to read something overly long. I suggest just shortening it down to what is absolutely necessary.
good luck!</p>
<p>How well does your essay handle all those things? I think sometimes a few over 800 is fine, if that’s the most concise it can be, but your summary concerns me. Is the main idea of your essay only one idea, one that could be expressed in a fairly simple sentence? I can sort of imagine an essay with a unified point about your field, research, and family, like “I’m interested in developmental psychology research because I have a lot of little brothers and sisters and so I want to know why children grow up the way they do.” That’s fine. If you’re trying to make separate points about your field/research and your family background, though, you should probably cut it down, because separate points like that indicate one essay trying to be two simultaneously. If that’s the case, even if both points seem important, you’re going to have to either make the connections between them more clear, or cut one of them out. Otherwise that will weaken both points a lot.</p>
<p>@exultationsy- I have mentioned a lot in my essay. I have devoted a para where I discuss about my research and also the topic of my paper as well. I also talk about how my interests developed in economics. And by my family background I mean about my great grandfather. He was a prolific writer and also an established philosopher as well… I have mentioned these things in my essay… You think I should rid it with many ideas and try to focus on one thing?</p>
<p>^You’d better…</p>
<p>Right now it just sounds like the additional info section on the common app, but written more cohesively in paragraph form…</p>
<p>The essay has to have a controling idea/ central point.</p>
<p>If you can connect your grandfather, research and family stories to your academic interest, then it may work. ;)</p>
<p>Actually it does in some ways. I am somewhat interested in economics and several other subjects as well. But the common point of the essay seems to be telling how my school experience (which wasn’t good at all), the people around me, my family and my research actually helped me in molding my outlook towards the world. Yea I guess thats the connecting point…</p>