<p>I just finished polishing and editing my essay (about 1400 words). I was curious as to whether or not you guys think that adcoms read our essays whole. Do they fully read every single essay, regardless? There's something to think about.....</p>
<p>I think most places do (you’re paying them fairly well to do so), but brevity is the soul of wit (and often good writing in general). I have not read your essay, but I’d suggest if you’re up to 1400 words that you should check to make sure that whatever’s in your essay is not just a restatement of what’s in your application.</p>
<p>^Not in the least.</p>
<p>I would suggest making some changes to get it shorter. That sounds way too long. Unless you have won the nobel peace prize and feel the need to explain that in detail it just sounds way to long.</p>
<p>Nobel peace prize does not need explaining, but there are many circumstances that do need explaining. My essay is longer than that. I got it reviewed by three people. Two asked me to cut it short somehow, but one agreed that it is not redundant long and just asked me to improve the flow. I have poured out my heart in my essays, so I sincerely hope they do read my full essay.</p>
<p>I dunno. It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of essays are either poorly thought out from people who put no effort in, or they’re from kids who try too hard to be “outside the box” and unique. Reading this stuff seems like the ultimate burn-out job.</p>
<p>I am afraid I do not understand you BasementCat. Do you mean to say that students write long essays trying to be unique and failing?</p>
<p>Yes… at least that’s what I got from what he said.
I honestly don’t think that they do read every single essay til the end. I believe they start to read every essay, but wouldn’t necessarily read all of it if it’s boring, lacks voice, or just a restatement of what’s in your resum</p>
<p>Yeah that is true. I am in fact curious about something. Is it true that in the US most of the assignments are all in essay format? I had wondered what would Adcoms do with a student who might be good but not have great writing skills, until someone told me that there is a lot of writing involved in college.</p>
<p>It obviously depends on what your major is, but yeah, in general there’s a lot of writing.
I wouldn’t say that most of them are in essay format; you can have short answers (paragraph-like), outlines, essays etc. Whatever the assignment may be, you still have to be able to write effectively and articulate yourself.</p>
<p>I have never heard of a school that doesn’t state your personal essay should be longer than 500-700 words at most. Some even prefer 400-500. Which school are you applying to that asks for essays to be as long as 1400? That sounds rather strange and many people here will stress that you double check to find out how long they want your essay to be because if it is that long you risk them not reading the entire thing.</p>
<p>@45days
Guess I have been living in ignorance. Thanks</p>
<p>Haha… maybe.
Don’t worry you’ll get used to it. Are you not used to writing a lot in English?</p>