<p>I am submitting a supplemental essay for the common application and the essay length requirement is 500 words. Is it ok to go over the limit or does it look really bad. I have a hard time cutting it down because I would lose some important information.</p>
<p>One of my essays was over the limit by about 25 words, and it worked out fine. By the time you're at 550, I would think that it's time to stop and consider how vital the vital information really is. Don't worry too much about it unless you're really over the limit and in danger of "not following the instructions." Good luck.</p>
<p>I feel the extra length contains vital information and my essay could be 750 words. Is that ok?</p>
<p>the adcoms don't sit down and count them, so ~50 over is fine. however, when you're 50% over... that's quite noticeable and it shows failure to follow basic instructions</p>
<p>So yeah, 750 words is going to be noticeable. Really really try to cut down. Be precise!</p>
<p>Plus it'll annoy the hell out of the guys who are looking over your essay.</p>
<p>Never go past the limit. In this case, the limit is around 550.</p>
<p>i have the same question actually
if you google application essay sample, however, a lot of those (professionally written, presumably) essays are like 1000+, like the ones on essay writing service websites. I am perplexed. Can anybody explain this?</p>
<p>honestly...like, you NEED to understand yourself and not worry about these limits. If you're a good writer and you read it and don't get bored/FEEL like it's long and other people have the same reaction, then don't worry about limits. I wrote essays this year that were over 1500 words long.</p>
<p>Just think about what the reaction of the admissions officer is going to be.</p>
<p>They have 10,000 applications to read, short is good.</p>