URGENT ED1) Can my personal essay be THIS SHORT???

merlion
Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:55:36 +0000

The limit is 650 words, so you can write as much as you want within that, as long as every single word in your essay has a purpose. Because it’s such a short essay, and because admissions officers are reading so many of them, you can’t afford to leave in anything that isn’t necessary.

I’ve never heard of any 450-word limit, so I don’t know where your counselor is getting that from. But, if he’s just telling you to make your essay shorter, it might be good advice. As a general rule, shorter pieces are usually more gripping and more memorable. Length does not equate to content; a good essay says far more in 450 words than a bad one in 650.

Ultimately, no one here has read your essay, so we can’t really give you advice. You know your essay better than anyone, and if you’re convinced that the paragraph about your “previous life” is necessary to the story you’re trying to tell. One way to do this is to go through your essay and put every line through the “so what?” test. Read every sentence and ask yourself, “so what?” “what does this add to my essay?” “what will this tell colleges about me?” “does this need to be here?”

Basically, your counselor is wrong in saying to cut your essay down to 450 words as a hard-and-fast rule. But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reread every word carefully and cut out everything superfluous.