<p>Do they count to make sure it's under 300? or is 350 ok..</p>
<p>350 is way over. I’d say keep it 300 or under; but if you <em>absolutely</em> can’t delete any words, try to not let it get past 310.</p>
<p>I doubt that they count, though there are some electronic applications that cut off input after a certain number of characters. Through some aggressive editing you can probably drop 5-10% of your word count without any damage to your essay. Remember, depending on the school some of these adcoms could be reading hundreds of essays a day. Keep it short and to the point.</p>