<p>The requirement says 250-500 words (or 1-2 pages). Which one are you supposed to follow? Because my essay is about 1 1/2 pages (12 px font, Times New Roman), but it's about 1100 words...</p>
<p>Shorten it. It has to be 250-500 words. The 1-2 page limit is probably double-spaced. Remember college adcoms only have like, a minute with the essay. I have a feeling an essay that exceeds the limit by more than 200% would annoy adcoms immensely.</p>
<p>It says approximately 500. And mine is about 530.</p>
<p>mines 588 .</p>
<p>Yeah, this was confusing. I specifically asked the admissions officer on this one. The real limit you should follow is approximately 500 words. The reason they say 1-2 pages is because approximately 500 words can be 1 page and then barely go into the second page, so more like 1.1 pages. 1.5 pages (1000 words) is way too much. Shorten it.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve shortened it to 850. I can’t see anywhere else to shorten it, so I’m going to have to live with it…</p>
<p>And when I first wrote it, I went by the 2 pages limit. I just thought that the OR meant 500 words or 2 pages; I didn’t realize it was 2 pages DOUBLE SPACED. My first draft of my essay was about 1500 words. I cut it down almost by half, and if I reduced it any further, it would greatly take away from the message. I couldn’t contain it within 500 words even if I tried my best.</p>
<p>did all of you submit your essays double spaced?</p>
<p>shat, mine’s single spaced. i hope this doesn’t matter?</p>
<p>i sent mine single spaced. adcom isnt going to edit my essay, so i didnt double space it.</p>
<p>my essay was 797 words.</p>
<p>I did 1.5 space, which is the regular line spacing for Word.</p>
<p>I don’t think they even have a word count - the essay is sent in as a PDF file. But I’m sure that after reviewing thousands of essays, they’ll know when one is too long…</p>
<p>double or 1.5 space is easier on the eyes =P</p>
<p>haha yeah, I was trying so hard to cut out a sentence so I could make it fit on 2 pages, 1.5 space!</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve got the same problem. My essay is 790 word exactly. It’s going to be tough to reduce it and keep the substance.</p>
<p>Has anyone on here been accepted with a longer essay like this?</p>
<p>mine is 663 words… but it only comes to about 1.75 pages after i double space it</p>
<p>is that fine?</p>
<p>I’m applying also, and I have my two cents to say to people asking about the essay length:</p>
<p>It seems to me that the short limit is another way to see how capable of a writer you are. Shrinking down a message and a theme into 500 words is challenging no doubt, but the point might be to see how good you are at doing this. A good writer can chunk down a powerful message and craft it around into 500 words. This goes along with the rest of the application, where they give you minimal room to explain ECs. They want you to be crafty.</p>
<p>But I’m no adcom, just my conjecture.</p>
<p>^cu2014, I believe you nailed it. The Columbia admissions department has spent years customizing its unique application, and reasonably can expect that folks will follow the very clear directions. If they wanted 500-750 words, or 600-800 words, they would say so.</p>
<p>1-2 pages is a vague requirement. if they REALLY cared, they would specify whether they want 1-2 pages of single or double spaced. although, the wise guess would be double…</p>
<p>In a way, I guess you’re right. But I feel that some experiences simply can’t be contained in 500 words.</p>
<p>I really want to go with 1-2 pages double spaced that way I won’t have to shorten it as much.</p>