Essay Length

<p>My essay for the Cornell supplement is 538 words long (instead of 500), and my common app short answer is at 158 (instead of 150). I saw my guidance counselor today and she said that if you go over the word limit that the excess words are cut off when you submit the application. Is that true? Is going over by 38 words acceptable on the essay for the supplement? Can any applicants from last year help me out with this? I would rather not shorten the essays if I don't have to! Thanks!</p>

<p>send it in the the college/school's admissions office/department. but don't forget things like your full name, social security number, major, reason for sending it in directly to the college, etc.
(still send it in to the undergraduate admission office of course).</p>

<p>at least this is the advice an arts and sciences dean had for us at an info session last october.</p>

<p>So it really does get cut off?!</p>

<p>...and on a separate note, my counselor said she will send my resume w/cover letter along with recs./transcripts, etc. (to the Admissions Processing Center). Sheould the resume be sent directly to the school that I am applying to, or will that get forwarded from the processing center as well?
Thanks again!</p>

<p>can't you just attach all this stuff to the common application</p>

<p>I honestly don't know...I never thought about that! Has anyone ever sent a resume as part of an attachment to the common app? On the downside, the resume looks so much better on nice paper! :)</p>

<p>Also, I won't have access to letters of rec. or transcript, so that info. will have to be sent to the processing center anyway.</p>

<p>Here is the advice our kids received from a senior admission's officer at NYU several weeks ago, which echoes the reply of the first reply. If you think you will exceed the word limit and those words are critical to your essay- submit your application by mail- not online. Your counselor is correct- the common application and usually others will cut your reply ( essay) off at the directed word count.</p>

<p>Our college counselor recommends sending EVERYTHING together in one packet to each college ( probably schools- Cornell) as well. If you send different information at different times, the possibility exists that two or more different files may be created for you under separate names. Then when admissions proceeds to read applications, "one" of the files may be selected and appear incomplete- at some schools your application is then discarded- because all requirements are not together.</p>

<p>It doesn't make sense the common app would be so fastidious to cut off the words in an attached document..</p>

<p>what happens when you print the final common app, the essays are shown, right?</p>

<p>according to the help section of the common application THERE IS NO WORD LIMIT FOR THE COMMON APPLICATION PERSONAL ESSAY!</p>

<p>I was referring to the Cornell supplement essay, which has a 500 word limit. I'm at 538...I'll try to see if I can cut out unnecessary words, but I really like the way it is now.</p>

<p>As far as mailing supplemental materials...the address for Cornell is to a centralized processing center...I guess (and hope!) that they just forward all of the material you send to the specific school?! I would have felt a lot better if I could have mailed it straight to the school myself, but that's just the way I am. So I guess I'll let the guidance counselor mail everything to that address, including my resume, and hope for the best. (also, one of my teacher recs will be mailed directly by him, so I worry that it will ever make it to the rest of my "stuff".</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the advice! If anyone can offer anymore insight, that would be great!</p>

<p>College admissions offices expect that a student's application will often be sent in parts. Don't stress it. Just send the stuff to the address given by Cornell. They will put it all together and forward it to the proper place. </p>

<p>But you do need to be vigilant in checking the online account to make sure everything has been received, especially the things that you do not send (e.g. teacher recommendations). If it appears that things are missing (remember it takes admissions offices a long time to process stuff) just e-mail the admissions office or call them.</p>

<p>Thanks odyssey...I've just been a little freaky lately! I just saw that there is a place to upload an additional document on the common app. Do You think it would be ridiculous to attach my resume w/cover letter there as well as have my counselor send it in with transcript/recs.? I will difinitely be sending in the had copy through guidance, but it would make me feel so much better if I knew it was attached to the application as well!</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

<p>can't we just upload the essay to the common application? what is wrong with that?</p>

<p>I don't think it is necessary to send in the cover letter and resume twice. Just submit it one way (uploaded to commom app or by the guidance counselor but not both). One other idea is to just send in the cover letter with the resume yourself. I'm not sure why the counselor must send it in.</p>

<p>I think the thing to remember about this whole process is that the college wants all of the required info, and unless it states otherwise, it is ok to send in additional things that add to the basic application, such as a letter, resume or extra recommendation. Just don't send it information that duplicates what they already have.</p>

<p>Thanks again odyssey! I like the idea of sending the resume and cover letter myself, but would I then send it to the processing center, or can I send those directly to the school? </p>

<p>Or I was thinking that I'll just let the guidance counselor send the resume with the other stuff and attach the letter to my common app. I'm most concerned with the letter getting there, because in the letter I make some points about why the school is so right for me (which I couldn't work into my supplemental essay). Also, when I went for my interview I gave my interviewer a resume. I'm not sure what he does with it, but I am not sure that it goes into my file or he keeps it.</p>

<p>Thanks again!! :)</p>

<p>I don't know if interviewers forward resumes so definitely send a copy of it. If you plan to send in the application (as opposed to filing online) then it would be appropriate to use a cover letter to send it in. If you decide to send in the cover letter with your resume, then you probably should send it to the processing center as that is where all of the application stuff goes.</p>

<p>And if you still aren't sure about where to send something, then e-mail or call the admissions office. They are used to answering these types of questions.</p>

<p>Thanks again odyssey! I will be applying online, so I will send my resume, with cover letter, separately. At this point, I probably will give the admissions office a call to see if the resume should go directly to the school or to the processing center. If it goes to the processing center, then I think it's best to let my guidance counselor send it with everything else she is sending there, so at least it will be all together.</p>

<p>Do most people apply online?? or is it better to send in the application by mail?</p>

<p>i really dont' udnerstand why we can't just send it in online...some schools even urge their applicants to send in online (some in efforts to save paper some in efforts for sheer convenience)</p>