<p>I’ve been doing all of my applications by paper to send in, mainly because my essay is around 700 words and my short answer is about 190. </p>
<p>I know BU “strongly reccomends” we do theirs online, so I’m just gonna do it… but will I have to completely reconstruct my essays to be EXACTLY 500 words or less? Anyone know? Thanks :)</p>
<p>Since it's 700 words, I would definitely try to cut it down to around 500-520 atMOST (Mine is around 350). It doesn't have to be exactly 500, but less is always better, esp. for college essays (given you'll have nice content). Hope that helps!</p>
<p>and also, i think the short essay has a specific limit, after which the site tells u it won't accept anymore.. i think it's 1250 characters, judging from other threads..</p>
<p>It is, so your 190 words may not even fit in if you used long words. I'd double check that ;-)</p>
<p>thanks so much for replying, carpe_diem and chemaddict!! </p>
<p>Okay, I've got another question. I wrote another essay for a Colby supplement which is about overcoming a fear. It's four hundred something words. I don't think it says as much about me as the 732 word essay does, but I guess it would probably make the most sense to submit that, right? Does that topic sound good for a common app essay? or should I cut down the 732 one (I've tried that and you can tell it's been shortened and doesn't say as much about me) thanks :)</p>
<p>p.s. how much does the essay count for BU? I'm in their range for SATs and my grades and extracurriculars are above the average, but I don't want an essay that's not top-notch to keep me out of the running... what do you think?</p>
<p>If the Colby supplement has a specific word limit, it'd be better to use the essay that shows more of who you are (in this case, the longer one.. but I still opt for cutting it down a bit more.. even if it's 600..). If there is no word limit, then keep the 700 words! However, I'm not too sure about the weight of the essays for BU. But I guess I'm wondering the same thing too b/c I made a pretty stupid mistake on it (by putting another college's name for the last word of the commonapp essay).. I was actually considering BU a safety/target, but I'm not so sure anymore. But nevertheless if you meet their ranges, and even above for EC's, I wouldn't let down on the essays. They'll still end up helping you, and who knows, the bad/poorly written/not enough time spent/lastminute essays might negatively affect you, depending on their weight!</p>
<p>u dont have to cut ur essay, just paste as much of it in the essay area and the rest in the additional info section and preview it. The essay and additional info pages follow one another so it looks fine.</p>
<p>omg really mj? thanks sooo much! but IMPORTANT QUESTION-- i don't get what they mean about previewing it... I went to file --> print preview but it didn't show me the essays, so that's probably not what they meant lol. how do you preview it exactly? </p>
<p>oh and by the way you guys are all life savers... especially for the procrastinators like myself who do everything last minute when the college office at my school is closed, haha... :)</p>
<p>On the 'Application' tab there should be four buttons next to "personal data" (save, print/print preview/logoff/submit). Click on print/print preview, but I believe you have to have everything filled out in order to view it.. but then again I may be wrong.</p>
<p>ahh thanks carpe_diem, once again, you saved meee.... </p>
<p>okay and there is hope for all of us: I inserted my 732-word essay and 190-word supplement and BOTH went through! I didn't even have to use the "Additional Information" box. I read both and the whole thing is there! The formatting isn't perfect, but it's just for one school, and it's clear where there should be paragraph breaks, so I think it's okay... now I've just gotta do the supplement and BU is done! :)</p>