this is a true story:
a person from Kansas wrote a 3-page-essay to show how much he loved upenn (the RULE SAYS IT SHOULD NOT EXCEED ONE PAGE), the penn admission officers said: “here’s a kansan dying to get in Penn, let’s grab him!” HE GOT IN, and HE VIOLATED THE RULE
SOO UNFAIR
i could’ve done taht, but i know i have to follow the RULE
i read it on Christian science journal…
<p>yes, and so do people who lie about ECs and fail to mention that they murdered their mothers.</p>
<p>lol. that’s interesting.</p>
<p>essays (even if they are 10 pages) won’t make or break an application</p>
<p>I wonder how long ago this story happened. It used to be that kids from states like Kansas who were qualified and wanted to go to a place like Penn were few and far between. My bet is that they really wanted a kid from Kansas.
I also imagine that his essay was pretty good. 
By the way, the statement on the application is actually a “guideline”', not a “rule” in the strictest sense, such as only applying ED to one school and things like that.
My counselor suggests sending in no more than one extra letter of recommendation than they ask for. Another guideline.</p>
<p>Kid at my school said he spoke 4 languages (he speaks 2) –> might’ve been his clincher @ columbia. :(</p>
<p>long essays are hard to write! if the person wrote 3 pages and still maintain the originality then i say kudos to him! I mean, writing a long essay is almost like winning a lottery, to get the first paragraph is like getting one number on a lottery ticket, but if you want to continue for 10 paragraphs and still write well, it’s like getting all the numbers on the lottery ticket, with each number, the chance gets lesser and lesser and with each increasing paragraph, an essay gets harder and harder. So if he wrote 3 pages and still wrote well, he belongs to penn :).</p>
<p>If a student writes too much, it’s not like he is “disqualified.” It’s not a final exam!</p>
<p>Some schools handle it by not reading anything beyond the amount asked for. They ask for one, you write three? They’re not reading your last two. Better make that first page good.</p>
<p>You’re starting to strike me as a person who’s looking for things to get mad about. You can find things to dislike about every school you apply to, every student you enroll with, if you look hard enough. I’m not sure what it gets you, though.</p>
<p>This reminds me, have you heard of the guy to whose answer “what does page (something) of your autobiography look like” wrote that page about writing that college essay, made it recursive (so he essentially only wrote one paragraph) and got in.</p>
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<p>It says SHOULD not, not MUST not. It also doesn’t say what, if any, consequences will follow from exceeding the limit. Unless there’s a statement in the application that exceeding the page limit means an automatic rejection, there’s nothing here to even bat an eyelash about, much less start screamy threads about.</p>
<p>As my kindergarten teacher would have said, keep your eyes on your own work.</p>
<p>Love it, Hanna. I’m going to keep that line for future use “keep your eyes on your own work”. </p>
<p>You do not have to follow guidelines and rules on applications, interviews, anything. And sometimes you can win. But you are taking that risk. My son applied to a number of audition schools this year, and we ended up going to an unscheduled auditon when we met someone at a scheduled auditon who was heading to this other school where S had applied but through his boneheaded mistakes and lack of follow up did not get the audition on that date. Somehow we were squeezed in, but S did not have the materials on that school with him, and we found out later that he did NOT follow the directions and auditioned with a piece that did not meet guidelines. Nothing was said at the auditions, and, guess what? He got in anyways, with a nice merit award. But would he have done that deliberately ? (well, knowing him, maybe) It is really not the recommended way to go. If someone wants a pre 1960’s piece, you give it to him. Because it is likely you get docked for it. Who knows if they did not look up the year of the piece or just decide to let it slide? Yeah, if you write an essay that is phenonomally good, the adcoms may overlook the fact that it runs over. Or maybe the adcme is so tired, he won’t notice, doesn’t bother with counting pages. But then again, if one feels the essay is a bit tedious and then notices it is over the recommended length and would have been cut off had you done it on line, the adcom might just toss your app in the reject pile, tired of people like you, and he would have the right to do so. Can’t follow simple directions. So it is a risk you take, but you are certainly welcome to do so. Anyone is welcome to do so. But it is a risk that swing either way.</p>
<p>but isn’t it kinda unfair to other applicants?</p>
<p>i have a friend who painfully cut his essay just because it’s 2 lines over a page, he has principle.</p>
<p>if i were an admission officer, i would either set strict rules on length or dont set rules at all (u can send a 200 page essay if u want)</p>
<p>No, it isn’t unfair. Applicants have a choice to push the envelope or play it safe. Either choice may pay off. There’s nothing “unprincipled” about sending in a longer essay. It’s a calculated gamble.</p>
<p>he’s also from KANSAS.</p>
<p>If i were from Kansas, I’d write a three-page essay every day…
and killing your mom isn’t that bad…is it???
jk/jk</p>