<p>For one of my applications I have the write only one essay. The instructions are as follows:</p>
<p>"In an essay of approximately 300 words in length, respond to one of the following topics."</p>
<p>I have written the essay, and it is especially heartfelt and passionate. Could I get away with 430 words or so?</p>
<p>I think that’s too long. 375 words would be pushing the limits of “approximately.” Get someone to read it and tell you what he/she thinks could be cut–and be prepared to let some of the stuff you feel most passionate about go. Hemingway once wrote that when he was first finished with a piece of writing, he got all the kick and the reader got none of the kick. He knew he was done revising when the reader got all the kick, and he got none of it.</p>
<p>I think 430 words is over the limit. Shoot for 275 to 325 words.</p>
<p>@AlexMac,
Trust me, if you put enough effort in, you can cut down the size of almost any essay. Just tighten it up literally everywhere possible.</p>
<p>Try to be concise. Avoid run on sentences, don’t be wordy and you’ll be able to curt out a lot.</p>
<p>^ yeah, what they said</p>
<p>honestly, 430 is too long for 300. max… 350-375?</p>
<p>I got it down to 330 with taking a lot out of it, while retaining the main idea of the essay.</p>
<p>330’s good for an approximate 300?</p>
<p>yep, i think you’re fine now, it’s within the realms of ‘approximate’. just make sure it fits on a print preview. best of luck!</p>
<p>Good luck with your application! BTW, should a person’s essay consist of more than one paragraph because most of my essays are just one paragraph that are about 300-400 words long.</p>
<p>That’s a fairly long paragraph. It’s easier on your reader if you break even a short essay up into a few paragraphs–and in a longer paragraph, the good stuff in the middle sometimes loses its power. Look for a shift in time or topic and paragraph there.</p>
<p>I had the opposite problem. The essay space allowed 3000 characters and I wrote a very good response in just 1500. The application did not ask for a specific number, am I ok not using all the provided space?</p>
<p>I’d be more concerned with word limits than characters–characters vary depending on the fatness of letters, number of spaces, etc. If your response is somewhere around the suggested word limit, leave it as is. If it’s considerably shorter, though, that’s probably a sign that the school was looking for a more in-depth response. Often, a specific example can be easily added to an otherwise strong essay–and those examples give an AO a way to know you better.</p>