<p>is 560 words ok for the essay? it says keep to a 500 word limit</p>
<p>It's fine. I don't think they will throw away your app because you added a few extra sentences.</p>
<p>try to keep to the limit</p>
<p>Ben has said before that it's ok to go over the limit so long as the reader doesn't notice that you're over the limit.</p>
<p>Check out this</a> thread, which includes a helpful "is my essay too long?" graph by mit2007mit. :D</p>
<p>Ha, so the best short answer is the one that isn't written, but failing that, keep it within a quick sentence or two?</p>
<p>I know Ben Jones said 50 words over is OK, but how about 100 words over? My essay right now is 598 words, should I cut it down?</p>
<p>See what you can do with cutting it down, just out of respect for the readers and word limits and whatnot.</p>
<p>I agree that you should be nice to the admissions committee and try to keep your essay within the stated word limits. However, I found a quote in "How to Get Into the Top Colleges" by Richard Montauk and Krista Klein (which was a very helpful book, by the way) that may shed light on this topic:</p>
<p>"Our stated 500-word limit doesn't really matter. We would never, ever count words, and we don't care if a student writes more than we ask for. They can write as much as they want!" -- Marilee Jones, Dean of Admissions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology</p>