<p>Here’s the message I received from the Assistant Director of Admissions who is in charge of my area:</p>
<p>“The Yale word limit for both personal statements is 500 words. The Common Application recently changed its wording in regards to student essays (it now suggests a minimum of at least 250 words) but Yale has retained our 500 word limit for both essays. You can find information regarding this online on both the Yale Supplement to the Common Application as well as under our Frequently Asked Questions regarding applying to Yale ([Applying</a> to Yale College | Frequently Asked Questions | Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/admit/faq/applying.html]Applying”>http://www.yale.edu/admit/faq/applying.html)) that encourages applicants to limit both essays they submit to 500 words or less. The two essays the FAQ response is referring to are the Common Application essay and the Yale Supplement essay.”</p>
<p>Still, I don’t see any clear, public, request to limit the general Common App essay to 500 words. So I would be surprised if they were strict about that.</p>