<p>what is everyone's advice on the length of the essay? My essay right now is at 601 words. I know the directions ask for 400-500 but I was curious as to how strict that limit is. Let me know what you think! thanks!</p>
<p>You're fine. Anyone who tells you otherwise is being overly cautious and paranoid.</p>
<p>i heard a bout a kid who wrote 501 words and his application was automatically thrown out!</p>
<p>^that was a joke
ha ha</p>
<p>my essay is 700 after i trimmed it down greatly... should i try and trim it down more or is it not that big of a deal?</p>
<p>Think of sitting in church during a homily or sermon. Sometimes the point gets lots in the flow of way too many words. Conciseness has an impact of its own, especially when you consider these people are reading literally thousands of essays. </p>
<p>So...I don't believe there is some type of demerit system if you run over. Looking at the limit from another perspective, it could be an advantage to stick to it, in that it forces conciseness, which only serves to make your essay more potent.</p>
<p>For that reason, I'd make every effort to try to get the essay as close to 500 words as possible. To use a sports analogy, consider the essay process to be a tryout, and words have to have great impact to "make the cut". Look for redundancies and eliminate them. Look for those phrases and sentences that seemed poetic when they rolled off your keyboard, but are not central to the point. In areas of description, try to substitute fewer words to say the same thing. </p>
<p>In sum, if you do what it takes to bring it down to 500 words, you will have a far more powerful essay because of it.</p>
<p>i asked admissions and they said they are not that strict about the word number</p>