<p>Hey, could you tell me if it's alright if my personal statement is around 960 words? If not, could you tell me how many words your big essay was, and how many your small essay was? Thanks</p>
<p>Probably, but it's always best to stay as close to their word limit as possible. I think one of my essays was around 930 words and the other was like 700-something. As long as they can fit on one type-written page (single spaced) I think it's fine.</p>
<p>My essays were just like ctrain's essays. I'd be happy to critique your essay if you'd like too :)</p>
<p>If my memory serves me right, you are supposed to write two 500-word essays for Yale: one from the common app, and one from the Yale Supplementary form. </p>
<p>My main essay was 520 words, and my Yale essay was 476 words.</p>
<p>I just looked up my essays. The main, common app one is 819 words and the yale supplement essay is 585 words. Basically, it's ok to go over the limit if the extra material is really good and if you cannot cut out the extra words without ruining the meaning behind the essay. Be careful though: if the extra words are superfluous, you could incur more wrath for making the officer read more than necessary.</p>
<p>The shorter is better. Its harder to write more in less space-if you do it well, it can be very impressive.</p>
<p>True. Ever done that creative writing exercise where you have to write a short story in six sentences, or six words? It's hard, but students' writing gets much better when they have to cram everything into a small space.</p>
<p>I was a bit over on everything but not too much.</p>
<p>i was just a few words over... worked really hard to cut it down and in the end, i felt like doing that made my essay stronger.</p>
<p>Mine were 527 and 636 words each. The shorter the better, but as a general rule of thumb, keep it restricted to one page, single spaced, and no smaller than size 11 Times font. Unless you're writing some gripping thriller full of suspense, long essays tend to get tedious no matter what the author thinks about the necessity of every single word.</p>
<p>My essays did not go over the limit. If you find that your essays are too long, then you should cut them down. Don't worry about losing meaning because in reality, you can cut out quite a few words without changing the meaning. By cutting out words, you're making your essay stronger because each word carries more meaning. It shows that you can write concisely and that you've spent the time going over your essays.</p>
<p>My first essay was 518 words; my second was 612. Just try to be as concise as possible.</p>
<p>The most important piece of advice I can give you is this: start as early as possible. Let the ideas sit in your mind for a while - don't write things down right away - and just think about what you really want to communicate about yourself. Then, when you have a good handle on what that is, sit down and write. Then revise, revise, revise. Sift out the unnecessary items; clarify it. If you start early and just keep working at it, your essay will come out oh-so-much better. :)</p>
<p>645 - common app essay
675 - yale supplement essay
245 - short common app essay</p>
<p>I used a size 10 font on my long essays and size 8.5 on my short one. I figure if they can use tiny fonts on their apps then so can I in my essays.</p>
<p>My long essays were around 700 words. If you send your application online (I forgot if Yale even has that option, but maybe it does if you use the common app), I would be wary of going over the limit - I heard they might cut out all words after the 500th (that is, unless you download your essay v. copy&paste). Anyway, I sent it in through the mail and it was fine.</p>
<ol>
<li>Yale Supplement Essay: 508 words</li>
<li>Common App Essay: 509 words</li>
<li>Common App Short Essay: 149 words</li>
</ol>
<p>Fun fact: I used the same topic for essay #1 and essay #3. I also made a 250 word version of the essay (it was needed for Princeton).</p>