<p>the prompt doesn't specify word count, but I fear that 500 is a bit wordy. lol, the only thing it says is "short response". obviously it's too long, but I think it's meaningful. would anyone care to read it? without reading, do you think 500w is outrageous for a "why" essay?</p>
<p>all my why essays are around 350 words! 500 might be little too much!</p>
<p>This essay is crucial at Emory. The most elite schools like Harvard do not care about demonstrated interest because they have nearly a 80% yield anyway. Schools like WashU, Tufts and Emory that are just out of the top 10 care alot about interest shown. Go to local presentations, request the DVD tour, try to visit the campus, and anything else that you can do in order to show interest. The "Why Emory?" essay is where you need to show interest in the school. Go to their website and find special programs at the school that you are interested in and mention them by name. In terms of campus life, Emory doesn't have sports teams that anyone cares about but they are huge on intramurals, and it is a beautiful campus with great gym facilities.</p>
<p>I know they insist on the visit, actually that's why the essay is so damn long, half of it is a recount on how visiting helped me establish that Emory is my place.... the other is pretty much generic stuff from the website, but I think it also shows some commitment to the school.
still, i'm worried about adcoms getting anal on the wordcount
they said short sresponse, but how to respond shortly when I have so muych to tell them?
I'm gonna go with it, never herd of anyone getting rejected for a long essay. CC is full of success stories that include some wordy essays.</p>
<p>My one piece of advice would be that if it's going to be 500 words, make sure that your most important points stand out clearly. In other words, expect that the essay will be skimmed rather than read word for word and make sure your sentence and paragraph construction is such that the things you really need to communicate get picked up. Emory may well read the essay word for word, but whenever something is a bit on the long side, write in such a way that the reader can pick out the salient points without a thorough reading.</p>