<p>do u think a 650 word essay with an introduction making it 800 words is fine? for commonapp? for supplement?</p>
<p>For the common app, my english teacher made us write a 500 word essay so I think you’re fine. For the supplements, it depends on the school but it should tell you.</p>
<p>Generally, adcoms want an essay that’s concise and to the point. See if you can’t cut it down a bit - eliminate unnecessary adjectives, etc. If the essay is interesting and can hold an adcom’s attention, then it works in your advantage. If the essay drags on and the adcom finds him/her-self wondering where you’re going with it, then it works against you. Pick your poison. </p>
<p>That said, mine was around 800 words when I applied last year too.</p>
<p>IMHO, I think +25% overage on your word limit doesn’t impress anyone.</p>
<p>For the CommonApp, it should be no more than 500 words, according to the application itself. For supplements, as Xlea stated, the supplement should tell you the max limit. However, Harvard’s supplement does not say, so, as ptontiger said, the admissions committee wants an essay that is to the point. Don’t bore them, just tell them what you need to tell them.</p>
<p>FOR HARVARD ONLY: [Admissions</a> Office Says Not To Fret Over Common App Word Limit | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/11/15/common-app-new-word-limit/]Admissions”>Admissions Office Says Not To Fret Over Common App Word Limit | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>"I think in our situation if people happen to go over 500 words, that’s fine with us,” Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 told The Crimson. “And if they want to use our supplement and send almost anything they can imagine, we’re happy to read that too … It’s really not an issue for us.”</p>
<p>FOR YALE, AND PROBABLY ALL OTHER SCHOOLS: </p>
<p>Yale Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel told the New York Times that he would continue reading long essays, but that “if they go over the limit, the stakes go up.”</p>
<p>NOTE: You can make alternate versions of the common app, so that you can send a longer essay to Harvard, for example, and a shorter version to other schools. See: <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/AlternateVersionTechnologyFAQ.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/AlternateVersionTechnologyFAQ.pdf</a></p>