<p>Does your essay/personal statement have to be under the designated limit (most are 500 words)? I realize that some colleges have a count down for the number of characters in your essay and will not allow you to enter more characters than allotted; but if there is no countdown, is it alright if your essay is like 520 words?</p>
<p>Please help somebody. Applications are due soon.</p>
<p>For the main personal essay on the Common App, my son’s essay was 607 words and it uploaded fine. Just preview it first. The “detail one extracurricular” essay holds to the character limit - we had to edit it after uploading as it cut off some sentences, although the word count was under 1000 characters according to Word. The individual college essays are strict also. So it does look like unless they give you a countdown, you can go over. Just preview, preview, preview.</p>
<p>I disagree. You should stick by the word count. Colleges put it there for a reason. Admission officers read hundreds of essay so they will know if you went over 510 words. You may e able to upload the statement but this just proves to your college that you can’t follow directions</p>
<p>If you can, try to cut it down. But if it fits on a page it really shouldn’t be a big deal, so if you think cutting down your essay would hurt its quality and you’re within 550 words or so, I’d say stick with what you have. My essay is about 570 words but it fits within a page really easily and whenever I try to cut something I can tell that my paper becomes weaker, so I’m submitting it like that because it’s the strongest my paper can be.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m kind of thinking it would be alright too. I doubt they will even notice if it’s a little long.</p>
<p>Also, college isn’t about “follow directions” so I don’t think they will be that upset if you go over a bit.</p>
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<p>The application process is about following directions. I agree with baby. I would show respect to the school and play by their rules. IF they say do not exceed 500 words, then don’t exceed it. I can’t imagine an essay being compromised by removing 20 words. One of the toughest honors programs in this country asks for an essay that is under 300 words. I think it is far more impressive to write a strong 500 word essay than a strong 600 word essay, when and if 500 words is the limit. If you push it to 600 words, IMO, it is like having and extra 30 minutes on the SAT. (just an example)</p>
<p>You do not have to keep it under 500. You may go over, but you should have a good reason to. Remember, they are reading a lot of essays and they do not want their time getting burned up.</p>
<p>I wold keep it under 600, but i wold not go over 520 unless it was really necessary. Remember, part of writing skill is being able to edit.</p>
<p>Just because…from a college website:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Did You Follow Directions? According to the University of California (all campuses), following directions is critical. The personal statement questions or college essay prompts will ask for specific information. It’s important that you answer each part of the question and not leave any items out. You don’t want to send in an incomplete essay, do you?</p></li>
<li><p>Did You Exceed The Word Count? If the directions say do not exceed 1,200 words – then you should not exceed 1,200 words! Some students think that writing more than what is required will impress the admissions committee, when in fact, it will do quite the opposite. Exceeding the word count will only give the admissions committee the idea that you don’t follow directions.</p></li>
<li><p>Does Your Essay Tell A Story? Students should try to write their essays as if they were telling a story. Introduce your topic in an interesting matter. (In other words, tell us what you’re going to tell us about). Use the body of the essay to go into further detail, but be careful not to go into too much detail…one or two main themes are probably enough. Finally, include a brief conclusion, summarizing your points in a way that will leave a lasting positive impression on the admissions committee</p></li>
<li><p>Is Your Essay Original & Unique? Most admissions committee members have read tons of personal statements, so you have to make yours stand out amongst all the rest of the applicants. This is your opportunity to describe your hopes, goals, and life experiences. Your personality should shine through your personal statement.
You should avoid using boring introductions like, “my name is…” or “I plan to discuss…” or “the question asks me to answer…” Also, avoid boring conclusions like, “In conclusion…” or “There are 3 reasons why you should admit me…”</p></li>
<li><p>Did You Proofread? Last, but definitely not least…you must proofread your personal statement prior to submission. If the admissions committee is distracted by all of your spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, then this could hurt your chance at getting admitted. It’s also not a bad idea to let someone else read your essay before you submit it. Having another set of eyes may help catch those errors that you missed when you reviewed it yourself.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you upload your essay as a .pdf file, there is no way the school will be able to tell if it is 497 or 537 words. This will also preserve you paragraph formatting that is often lost on a .doc upload. Clearly you want to edit out anything unnecessary whether you are over word count or not. Sometimes you are cut off when you are under the word count and you have to live with that as well. Take the position of being reasonable and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I’m at 670 words and am having a tough time making it any less. If it’s a good essay that keeps the reader engaged the whole time, I think going over isn’t a huge deal. However, I still need to try to downsize it, it’s just that story I tell can’t be told very simply.</p>
<p>But who are we (applicants) to determine what is a “good” essay that adcoms won’t mind is 100 words longer than it should be?</p>
<p>I cut down a 400 word essay (my commonapp essay) to 249 words for an MIT essay. It can be done. Be succinct; sometimes we think some words/sentences are necessary when in fact they aren’t.</p>
<p>Hmm. Thanks for the help. I think I’m going to try to keep it as close to 500 as possible.</p>
<p>Also, I have another question: Is it necessary that you 100% answer the prompt directly? Can you submit an essay that can fit but doesn’t have the exact words that are in the prompt?</p>
<p>you should answer the prompt fully.
you don’t have to rework the question in your essay like we are told to do in school.</p>
<p>what’s the prompt you’re looking for? I mean for common app, it can be almost anything under the “make your own prompt”.</p>
<p>But if the prompt is similar, there’s no need to make it “your own”. Just tailor it.
If you took the prompt from another place, It would be nice to put the question at the top of your essay.</p>
<p>It’s the prompt from the University of Florida. I’m using the same essay as the one for the first option in the common app. </p>
<p>Common App Prompt:Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.</p>
<p>UF Prompt: In the space provided, please write a concise narrative in which you describe a meaningful event, experience or accomplishment in your life and how it will affect your college experience or your contribution to the UF campus community. You may want to reflect on your ideas about student responsibility, academic integrity, campus citizenship or a call to service.</p>
<p>I don’t really directly state how this experience will “affect my college experience”, it is just sort of implied</p>
<p>I guess you should weave it into how it would impact UF, even if that means an extra paragraph at the end.</p>
<p>Here is actually an interesting article about it. Any of you having trouble?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/education/college-application-essay-as-haiku-for-some-500-words-isnt-enough.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/education/college-application-essay-as-haiku-for-some-500-words-isnt-enough.html</a></p>
<p>you should add a bit about how it will affect your college experience. Even if it’s something like “because of this…” or “as a result…” just to make it clear so they know you are aware of all parts of the question. College essays are no time to “imply”.</p>