<p>Ok so I'm using my common app essay for the "write your own question" option but it is 650 words long......should I shorten it like 100 words or is it okay to have it that long?</p>
<p>the prompt says 350-500 words</p>
<p>When they have a limit on the amount of words in an essay, I would suggest you keep the word count within that limit. Just to be safe. :)</p>
<p>ok I just heard somewhere its okay to have it w/in 10% more or less than that word limit so I'm cutting it down to 550 which will be hard!!</p>
<p>My son's was about 3x longer than the recommended length. He's now a freshman in Honors Humanities. I wouldn't worry if yours is a little long, so long as it's a great essay.</p>
<p>WOW! 3X, like 1500 words?! well, I decided to cut it down a little so now it's 550 words... but it's good to know I can always return it to its original format if I want to</p>
<p>It was more like 1200 words, but the essay was excellent - I didn't read it until after he submitted it. My point is that while I wouldn't recommend purposely exceeding the limit, they clearly care more about the substance of the essay than the exact length.</p>