<p>lol ok, so when commonapp says that the limit is 150 words, do they really want something like 100 words? mines exactly 150 words long and I'm a bit worried.
thx</p>
<p>It might be 150 to 160 maximum!</p>
<p>Waitatshu (and everyone else flipping out about word counts):</p>
<p>There seems to be a limitless amount of angst among applicants about essay length. My advice? Get up, go outside, and take a walk. Come back to your essay tomorrow and read it as if you have never seen it before. Is it any good? Tighten up the focus of your essay and don’t try to cover too much. Put away the thesaurus. Write in your voice. Stop counting words.</p>
<p>The admissions staff at the colleges are not going to count the words in your essay. I guarantee it. They don’t care how many words are in your essay. Really. As long as you’re in the ballpark, you’re good.</p>
<p>What they do care about is to see if you can put together a concise, well-constructed piece of writing that communicates something of value about you the applicant. There are no sirens that go off when you submit a short answer that is 151 words. </p>
<p>Now take a deep breath and go for that walk.</p>
<p>MacGyver’s right except for the part about them not caring about word count. They do if its waay over the limit.</p>
<p>My essay was 300 words. It fit in the box no problem. Because it’s clearly more than 150 words, do you think the reader will stop mid-essay?</p>
<p>exactly. the word count is sort of a guideline. it isn’t like “if you go over, sorry, rejection”. it is just a guideline saying “don’t write me a 2000 word essay about your life”. that’s about it. though, i am guilty, i adhered to the 150 word limit thing. :P</p>