<p>To the person that sent in the 950 word essay for the 500 word limit . . . </p>
<p>Ouch. If I was an admissions officer, I wouldn’t notice a 520 or maybe even a 560 word essay if I was reading a bunch of 500-word-essays. But 950? Think of the poor adcoms. If you had to read tons of 500-word-essays, most of which are probably not that great, would you really read a 950 word one? It may seem like not a big deal, but adcoms appreciate essays that are at least in range of the word limit.</p>
<p>To the original poster, I somehow doubt being 70 words under the limit is bad in the least. All they want is to limit the amount of time they have to spend reading essays, so it doesn’t disadvantage you outside of the fact that you might have said less than other applicants who were closer to the limit.</p>