<p>Okay, before I start the major cutting down edits on my essay, how close do we have to be to 500 words? I notice they say "about 500"...so is 600 fine? 700? How long do you guys suppose one can make it and be fine? Right now it's at 696; is that too much?</p>
<p>Hmm, I can’t tell you for sure, but mine is at about 430 right now. I’d try to stick to 500 as closely as possible, I would try to trim it by cutting out what isn’t essential.</p>
<p>I’d say the range there is 450-550ish words</p>
<p>I’d agree with Rtgrove123. If you feel that it is really needed to express what you want to say, up to 600 would be fine in my opinion. Still, I would be hesitant to submit anything longer than that, lest you appear to be ignoring their instructions.</p>
<p>696 is far too long. cut it down to <550, and you’ll be good. the absolute maximum should be around 600, and IMO that’s pushing it.</p>
<p>I got it down to 545 words (without the quote) and 575 (with the quote). Hopefully that’ll be fine. 
Thanks, guys!</p>
<p>Why does Princeton give 7900 characters for this…</p>
<p>I went on a campus tour/information session and the adcom guy said that 600 is far too much. So, I am expecting the max to be around 550. He was also referring to the immense number of essays they have to read and the longer ones tend to be repetitive. In my opinion, why spend more time to write more words when you can be writing essays for other colleges? </p>
<p>Hopefully that helped</p>
<p>Mine’s around 700. But if I cut anything it just doesn’t sound right, so I think I’m leaving it at that.</p>
<p>I think that as a general rule of thumb, anything over a page is too much. </p>
<p>I also heard somewhere that people like to read essays that are divided up into short paragraphs rather than essays with one long paragraph.</p>
<p>Wait, would Princeton admissions officers deem this repetitive. When listing my activities, I noted when I worked for the Red Cross that I helped to manage donor registration and helped to oversee donor health. Then, in my summer essay, I said something to the effect off, “Four times a week, I would gladly travel to any Red Cross location to help register patients and help faciliate the donation process.”</p>
<p>^If you’re worried about shortening it, you could just say “Four times a week, I traveled to the Red Cross to volunteer”, and they’ll probably know what you’re talking about since they likely will have already read your activities. But if you already submitted it, it wouldn’t be a big deal.</p>
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<p>Is it really that bad? Dang.</p>
<p>Um this is a really stupid question but are we supposed to state the quote for option 2 exactly in our essay?</p>
<p>^yes. 10char. unless it is super long?</p>
<p>600-700 is fine as long as it can hold someone’s attention</p>
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<p>Yah, but he said it jokingly so I’m not sure… I am going with 474 and I’m happy with it lol…</p>
<p>mine was 502 words; I tried to stick as closely as possible to the reccomendation, but I would assume anywhere between 450-550 (and maybe even 400-600) would be reasonable</p>
<p>Mine is now up to 650 words. Hope that’s not too long.</p>
<p>lol, I still have to write mine.</p>