Common App word/character limit: deception!

Applying to College
1

The common application area for the personal essay suggests 250-500 words. When I go to print preview, it says the space holds about 1800 characters, which seems to be under 300 words. The essay I’ve written is about 688 words, over 4000 characters.

However, it also says “What you see in your Print Preview is exactly what your college(s) will see,” and when I print preview, it puts the whole thing on a page where it seems to fit. So what’s correct, what I’m seeing or the limits? Is it going to give me some false assurance with the preview then cut off my essays and destroy my life? Am I just missing something obvious here?

2

<p>i hope its the latter, the preview is what it counts.</p>

3

<p>well answer this question: is all that you have worked so hard for worth risking because you're essay cuts off in the middle of a sentence?</p>

<p>If the answer is yes, then you're fine.
If the answer is no, then you should cut it down.</p>

4

<p>Hmmm, check again.</p>

<p>I submitted the Commonapp to Yale in October, and I was about 580 words.</p>

5

<p>Well, don't forget - it says "approximately" 1800 characters. Which means they really don't have any idea so they just made up a round-about number. They really need to get someone to edit their forms, because they only let you type so much in the "describe in detail your work experience" before it cuts you off. I went through and shrunk mine a bit so I could fit everything I needed in that space. Then I get to the Preview and hey, look at that, half of my stuff is cut off. </p>

<p>(Mine, by the way, was around 420 words and over 2500 characters counting spaces.)</p>

6

<p>I just checked mine and i realize that both my essays are in tact but then they were both shifted to different pages. "See additional info"</p>

<p>Is this going to be a problem?</p>

7

<p>No, I believe that many of the extra info automatically shifts to new pages.</p>

8

<p>yeah, that's what happens. and i had the same question as gretel when i was doing my commonapp, i think it's print preview that counts. that's what i went by, anyway.</p>

9

<p>omfg, <strong><em>, most of my *</em></strong>, ESPECIALLY ADDITIONAL INFO was THE WHOLE PAGE. my common app essay was 650 words, but concise and only fit in half the print preview. i ***ing thought it said print preview was what they saw. are you guys saying it gets cut off?</p>

10

<p>yeahh it's the print preview that counts, according to them. i emailed them Technical Support about it and that's what they keep saying. They didn't even answer my question! I don't think they even understand, either! Anyways, my personal statement AND EC essay were well over the word and character limit...but instead of any funky truncating happening...they are on separate pages...nothing was cut off. I even added some stuff in the additional information box to see if that would affect anything (I assumed my essays got shifted to new pages b/c since I didn't use those pages for additional information)...but lo and behold......EVERYTHING showed up fine. i don't know wth the 1800 character limit is referring to. as far as i've seen...you shouldn't worry about anything being too long unless it's like 300 words over the limit!</p>