The common application says to write a 250-500 word essay. My essay however is 750 words and I really think that in order to keep the quality of the essay, it has to be that long. Will I be penalized for keeping my essay over the suggested word limit or does it not matter to college admissions people?
2007-12-02 16:50:52 · 4 answers · asked by Leah 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
Yeah, it really matters.
Going over the word limit means:
(1) you can't follow instructions
(2) you have a problem with authority (sounds extreme, but that's really what it comes down to-it's like basically saying, "i don't care about the limits you imposed, this is the way I think is right, and this is how i'm going to do it")
(3)You can't express yourself well- this is especially relevant when your looking to go into language based areas like journalism or law. Expressing yourself within a limit is a core skill in these fields (and in most others) and going over the word limit, no matter how great your essay is, shows that your communication and language skills are lacking.
So i really think you should cut down your essay, especially since you're REALLY over the limit. A 10-20 word excess is the most you can afford to do, i think.
Best to start from scratch and redo the essay. Try to use shorter sentences and eliminate all teh irrelevant stuff. Delete all the empty sentences-those that don't really tell the admission people about you, but are rather just there for artistic effect.
I know where you're coming from. I finished some grad school applications a couple of months ago and i was over the limit by 50 words. Cutting it down was a nightmare, i did something like 10 drafts! But in the end i got it. It's not impossible. Scurtinize your essay and eventually you'll be able to work within the limit.
You need to give a good impression through your application and going over the word limit by 50% is a really bad start and the admission people with be prejudiced against you. ANd some just stop reading after the cut off word limit, so your essay may not even be fully read.
2007-12-02 17:23:48 · answer #1 · answered by iced out 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Going over the word limit by a 20 words or so won't be a big deal but my 250? it makes a huge difference. Another thing you can look at is the page length. On one of my essays i ended up having near 600 words for a 500 limit but if you keep in under a page and a half to a page and three quarters i think you are good. Oh yeah I also got accepted to the college that I went over on.
2007-12-03 01:53:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It definitely matters. Part of the application is following simple instructions, which you did not do. To be frank, I think if you submit a 750 word essay when they asked for less than 500, they will discard your application.
You say that you will lose the quality of the essay, but you just may have to do that. Maybe consider a topic you can keep under the word limit.
2007-12-03 01:00:13 · answer #3 · answered by Meghan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If their first knowledge of you is that you don't know how to follow the application instructions... yeah, that's not so good. I know how hard it is to trim something down so drastically, but you really need to if you're going to make any kind of good impression.
2007-12-03 01:06:39 · answer #4 · answered by Liz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋