<p>"I didn’t do anything productive in my summers… "
^^ Maybe that’s what they were trying to find out…</p>
<p>So what’s the real deal with the supplemental word limits? My essays are between 280 and 330 words right now (all under 1800 characters). Are these appropriate or should I cut down?</p>
<p>I’d say cut down</p>
<p>BOTH stanford.edu and common app say that the MAX is 250 words
they probably won’t care if its 260-270 but just saying</p>
<p>Dang, for the question on what I did in the past 2 summers, I wrote like 3 paragraphs. :)</p>
<p>how did you fit 3 paragraphs into 4 lines haha</p>
<p>IMO I would say it’s not a big deal if it goes beyond 250 words. It’s not like they’ll be counting, and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between 250 and, say, 280.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>For the Favorite books, movies, music question, I used to read a lot but not very recently. So my favorite book would be something kind of childish like Artemis Fowl, or Stormbreaker, you know the kind of stuff I read in middle school. I mean, I do read intellectual magazines/websites so its not like I’m an idiot and don’t read, but should I just leave these books out or should I include them? I do have the space btw.</p></li>
<li><p>How do you answer in incomplete sentences. I’m sorry but I really don’t know what they mean by this. Like for the “biggest challenge in society” question does it mean my sentences don’t have to be gramatically correct or does it only mean you don’t have to say “the biggest challenge society faces today is…”?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>write what you want 
i had variety, including Artemis Fowl and more intellectual things</p></li>
<li><p>depends on the question. for that question, i answered in a complete sentence</p></li>
</ol>
<p>For the historical moment or event question, specifically “What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?” can I get away with mentioning a future historical event I wish I could have witnessed? What do people think of that? I know I’m overthinking the question, but I don’t want to look like an idiot just trying to differentiate himself over nothing.</p>
<p>Also, for the favorite books/movies etc. question that is limited to four lines–would I be best just giving a total of four titles in those genres? That’s the most that will fit as far as I can tell but I don’t want to end up looking like I half-assed the application by including less than others–it was hard to condense it all that far (you might be able to see I suck at brevity based off this post, ha!).</p>
<p>Anthro, the historical event question is expressly retrospective, so I don’t recommend choosing a “future historical event”, since that could seem a little gimmicky, and isn’t responsive in any case. Surely there’s an actual historical event you would have liked to witness; give it lots of thought if you want to avoid seeming trite.</p>
<p>You can simply list your favorite books, films, etc. for the other question. No other context is requested there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response! For the lists, I’m more worried about numbers. Is four good because it’s all I can fit or do they expect more because it’s a list? Four total in a vertical fit matches the “four line max” rule so that’s what I have now.</p>
<p>I understand what you say about the historical event though.</p>
<p>i never understood why people ask others if they can disregard the rules X-|
they write the rules for a reason, so i advise all of you to just follow them and do what is asked
if someone here says something, you should still check with admissions about whether it is ok</p>
<p>I’m not asking if I can disregarding the rules, but rather clarifying what exactly those rules stated. Many examples I’ve seen on the internet for the favorite bands/movies and performances/exhibits questions had more than four things. I don’t want to put less than they expect or more than that, as using a list wastes a lot of space on each line.</p>
<p>You don’t have to list them like:</p>
<p>Exhibit
Performance
Sporting Event
Activity</p>
<p>You can do: Exhibit; Performance; Sporting Event; Activity</p>
<p>Note that one question asks for five descriptive words in four lines, so the above would be a good way of doing that, too, so it makes sense.</p>
<p>True…let me actually take a check back at my commonapp to see how I worded it. See how much more I fit that way.</p>
<p>Actually, turns out I’m not saving much room that way. When I clarify with (exhibit), (musical artist), etc. after the actual title…it takes up practically the whole line. I probably should have checked that beforehand. <em>shrugs</em></p>
<p>It helps with the websites/magazines though…I can fit a few more now. Thanks!</p>
<p>Anthro, I commend you for giving thought to the best way to answer those prompts. I think the Common App main essay, and the “Why Stanford?” essay, deserve the vast majority of your time and attention, though. The “Why Stanford?” essay gives you a perfect opportunity to describe the symbiotic potential between you and Stanford, which I think is one of the major keys to distinguishing a successful application. The more specific you can make it, and the more it reflects both where you have been and where you hope to go (academically/intellectually speaking), the more powerful it can be.</p>
<p>Thanks zenkoan. I think I’ve been putting a lot of thought into the rest of the questions in a brainstorming effort of sorts. Just putting pen to paper (finger to keyboard if you will) if even on an unrelated subject helps my creative juices. And trust me, I’ve been struggling big time with my personal statement. I can see the Stanford one being difficult too, but O’ll just keep working on them and see what happens.</p>
<p>So do you list the items for the questions or do you offer explanation? Do the admission officers want to know why you like these things or do they just want to know that you like?</p>
<p>I tried to offer explanation, but then I get to write only a thing or two. Which is more appropriate?</p>
<p>@somehowyouwill:
I didn’t bother explaining. There really isn’t enough room and I think they would rather see a wide variety of things you enjoy or did over the summer than why you enjoyed them.</p>
<p>In terms of how long each section was for my app:</p>
<p>For the short supplements where it says four lines, you can actually see the print preview where it says max two lines printed. This is what the college admissions officers will see. You can actually get in about five lines typed, but don’t go up to the character limit.</p>
<p>For the three essays, it said to keep the essay at MAX 250 words
Mine ranged from 240-270 words
I don’t think they will count, but don’t fill up the entire thing.</p>
<p>For the summers question, do they just want the main activities that we did?</p>
<p>For example,</p>
<p>2010 - Cross Country, lab internship, volunteering for group</p>