<p>gstasin: what you may call arbitrary “nitpicking” by Yale is seen by Yale as: “how well can this student express an essay in these parameters compared with his/her peer applicants”</p>
<p>The essays serve two purposes 1) to learn about you and 2) to see how well you perform this exercise (500 word essay). While you may succeed at #1, you may do poorly at #2. </p>
<p>Would you get rejected because you’re at 850? Who knows. But why add a potentially negative aspect of your overall file? Why is your case more special than the other 22,000 applicants this year? It’s really not (even if you’ll receive an admit later). However, good luck to you.</p>