<p>The Bucknell board isn’t usually that busy, so I don’t know if anyone will reply to this! But I was just wondering about the Bucknell supplement… the 3 most important things Bucknell should know about you? They say up to 200 words/1400 characters each, but I was just wondering if people are writing that full length, or how much. Thanks!</p>
<p>i applied two year ago (!!!) so the question was different (4 activities you’d be involved in and why or something)… i don’t remember the word limit but I know I was close to it for most of them.</p>
<p>This is a great opportunity for you to describe yourself in a way that compliments the best qualities of Bucknell. 200 words will slip away quickly - have fun writing it!</p>
<p>To be honest, I am pretty sure I went over that limit–maybe by about 50 words, haha. I applied regular decision too, two years ago. I figured, who’s really going to count the amount of words in your response? As long as it’s not way too much more (100 or 200+ is pushing it IMO), then they won’t reject you just because you wrote 5 (or 50) words more than stated. But um, if you feel compelled to stay within the limit for safety, I won’t blame ya.</p>
<p>(class of 2012!)</p>
<p>I applied last year and had the same question. In the way of word count, I really think that you should stick to it. The school most likely wants to see not only what you have to stay, but how you say it. The word limit means they want you to write succinctly (words that truly fit and not too wordy).</p>
<p>This may be slightly off topic, but part of the supplement talks about how chosing a major may affect our chances of admissions. I am sure this is due to them trying to build a diverse class. Does anyone know which majors are the most popular (or overpopulated) and which majors are not? Undecided seems the wrong way to go as they mention this may negatively affect also.</p>
<p>i wouldn’t try to game admissions by saying you’re interested in one major or another that you really aren’t. almost all the majors have no cap on them. that being said, management, biomedical engineering, and perhaps econ are historically more competitive. a lot of students do start out undeclared, and even if you know you want to major in something like English, they sort of consider you undeclared until second semester sophomore year. i don’t think undecided would count against you if you had a solid paragraph about why you are. check out the extended class of 2013 profile for the exact numbers of how many apply, were accepted to, and enrolled for each major.</p>
<p>There is a cap on the number of biomed engineering applicants admitted. Not sure about any of the othrs but I think the biomed is limited to 20 a year so they accept 30 to 40 a year and expect about half of those to attend.</p>
<p>I attended an admissions session for alumni and progeny a couple of years ago, and they were quite firmly referring to “buckets” for various degree paths. Some of the engineering programs would enroll as few as 12 students. It was clearly said that statistically one had a better chance of admission as “undecided” but you couldn’t count on being able to transfer into specific programs.</p>
<p>Just to make sure I understand, instead of stating a major as mechanical engineering, it would be better to state “undecided engineering” and then transfer into mechanical?</p>
<p>I applied as a biomedical engineering major at Bucknell and that is the only major that is capped and closed off to transfer students (you can’t even transfer into it if you declared engineering undecided). I don’t think any of the other engineering majors are like this, but just in case you should probably declare your intended engineering discipline.</p>
<p>My son is a student at Bucknell in the management program - he was accepted into it when he applied to Bucknell. I know that management (includes accounting) and economics are majors that are limited. My son says that some of his friends are having trouble getting into majors that they want now - I dont know which ones but suspect that management, econ, and engineering might be the majors. If there is a major that you really want to be in I would recommend applying for that major.</p>