<p>The supplement asks for about 500 words for the essay, but mine has 700 words. I can probably cut it down to 650, but cutting more might undermine its effect. Is it a reasonable wordcoout/common for students to go over that much?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I went to a Yale session the other night, and the admissions lady strongly advised that applicants not go over the word limit or to give more than the required number of teacher references.</p>
<p>I know about the Yale supplement. The difference is that on the Yale supplement, it clearly states that the essay should have LESS than 500 words, while on the Princeton supplement, it just states the essay should have ABOUT 500 words. </p>
<p>That's why I'm not sure of 650-700 words is still reasonable.</p>
<p>if something says ABOUT 500 words and not FEWER THAN 500 words (like Yale's) then the assumption that i have been led to believe (by myself and by the advice of my college counselor) is that about 500 words means 500-700 words... basically, try not to go below 500 words (i.e. 525-550 words is good), but don't go over 700 if at all possible.. over 700 just gets annoying to read... i'd say 600 words is a healthy essay... or go by this rule: do about 2 pages double-spaced (princeton says NOT to double space, so just do 1 page single-spaced.. that's the same as 2 pages double-spaced) -- that should be around 600-ish words, which is perfect for one of those essays</p>
<p>Well my career counsellor suggests a 10% leeway is acceptable i.e. 450-550 is quite good. But if you really believe that the extra 100 words can really highlight your strengths and make you stand out, I think the admission office would be quite happy to read the extra 100 words! Good luck with it!</p>
<p>yeah, just don't overdo it... it is good to make it as short as you can while still being able to convey what you want... between a 700 word essay and a 550 word essay, both of which portray the same meaning, the 550 word essay would be more effective.. i'm not saying a 700 word essay is bad, not at all, but if you can condense it, do it.. it saves the admissions people an extra couple of minutes by not having to read through a longer essay (they have to read thousands of applications -- any help you can give them will make them like you more.. theoretically)</p>