<p>I also agree. It is one thing for Yale to dictate the length of their supplement essay (which my son abided by) but I also find it a bit “much” for them to try to dictate the length of the common app essay which is going to a dozen other schools. In any case we will see what we will see, I personally doubt that ever in history was a person turned down by Yale because their common app essay was too long.</p>
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<p>I could not disagree more. I’m sure there have been plenty of “on the fence” applicants whose 1000+ word essays have been the tipping factor into the rejection pile.</p>
<p>When there are so many minor aspects of the application that add up to get a decision, an excessively long essay just might do the trick in some cases. It’d be impossible to ever attribute a decision to just one thing, but each part can make a difference.</p>
<p>Everyone should believe what they wish to believe because unless WikiLeaks gets involved nobody will be able to prove anyone else wrong as to how Yale looks at essays that exceed their stated/suggested word limit.</p>
<p>LOL D’yer Maker!!! I can only imagine what would happen, if WikiLeaks got hold of some interesting college data…</p>
<p>I don’t think an essay that’s 550 words, or even 600, is going to be an issue, and certainly people are accepted with longer essays (probably in spite of them, though).</p>
<p>But here’s my take: if the college asks you for 500 words, what will the reader think of you if you write a much longer essay? That you can’t understand simple instructions? That you think your essay (out of the hundreds he or she has to read) is so much more important than others that you should ignore the word limits? That you don’t know how to edit your work?</p>
<p>I would agree with the person who said quality>>>quantity even if Yale puts up guidelines for the essay. A Yale SCEAer I know wrote her CA essay in 2 pages and she still got accepted. Her essay spoke about a very meaningful topic in a commendable way and I think every word was important.
I really don’t like that Yale tries dictating the CA essay length bdw.</p>
<p>You guys are scaring me with your “one sided, single spaced” essay.
My Yale supplement is exactly 500 words (pretty amazing, I know :D), but I chose a 1.5 line spacing to make it look nicer and so it’s about a page and 2 paragraphs long. Hopefully, the AdmOff will realise that I chose 1.5 spacing :p</p>
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But will the reader at Yale think so, after he’s spend all day reading hundreds of essays, many of which adhered to the word limit?</p>
<p>Yale says, “consider the essay’s brevity to be a challenge: it’s often more difficult to say what you mean with economy.”</p>
<p>Of course Yale is looking for compelling people with interesting stories, but they are also looking for 500 word essays. If you go way over it, it may not be an auto-rejection or anything close, but you nonetheless failed the “challenge.”</p>
<p>Why would someone ignore the rules when Yale clearly says they won’t look favorably upon it?</p>
<p>College admissions officers, not just at Yale, but everywhere, are tired at this time of year. They’re reading hundreds of essays, sometimes thousands, most of them pretty pedestrian. Even when there’s no express word limit, it just makes sense to be concise. And when there is an explicit word limit, it’s dumb and somewhat arrogant to ignore it. Go 10% or so over the limit, if you must, but no more.</p>
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Obviously he did, otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten in.
Look, I’m not saying every Tom Dick and Harry should write a 2 pages essay. I just meant to say that if you’ve got a story worth telling, then do so without restraint. Her story was to say the least very different from the usual and her essay was a main part of her app. I personally think that’s what got her in.
My point is simply that stories worth telling shouldn’t be chopped as a requirement because sometimes one does need more space that available. That said, I do not advocate doing long, shoddy unedited essays of course.</p>
<p>It’s all about flow. A good essay should draw you in and lead you on and never let go – a bad one will have your interest wandering in seconds. After all: actual length and perceived length are two very separate things. Word counts (to a point) don’t matter if you can immerse your audience in your writing.</p>
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It’s nice that you think so, but it’s probably more likely that she got in in spite of having an overlong essay. I also think it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to immerse somebody in your writing who’s already read forty essays the same day as yours.</p>
<p>Personally, I think if the common app essay is 500-750 words they are not going to hold it against you if your supplement essay is about 500 words. If the 500 word limit was critical to them on the common application, they would have probably emailed every applicant with this instruction (or at the very least highlighted it in red or bold face on the Yale website). Further, they surely realize that this is the common app and that it would be presumptuous to set a word limit for all your applications (yes, I know you can create multiple versions – but I don’t think they expect you to do so)</p>
<p>Sure, if you write a really long essay, the admissions officer is going to get annoyed after page 2 unless it is really compelling, but I don’t think an extra paragraph or 2 is going to be looked upon unfavorably.</p>
<p><a href=“yes,%20I%20know%20you%20can%20create%20multiple%20versions%20–%20but%20I%20don’t%20think%20they%20expect%20you%20to%20do%20so”>quote</a>
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<p>They expect that the same essay you wrote in 500 words is better than the one you wrote in 750 words. If you can do that, you’d send the shorter one to all schools.</p>
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<p>I don’t think so:
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<p>I think a key word there is “much.” Over 10%, I think they’d kinda not appreciate it, especially for the supplement, which explicitly said the limit (they’d treat breaking the limit similarly to other colleges, with their essay limits). On the common app itself, a moderate extra is probably ok. Like many things, it won’t make or break you most cases, but keep in mind those little things can add up throughout a long application, so risk what you want to risk.</p>
<p>Oh, crap.</p>
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Because someone didn’t really see the rules…</p>
<p>^Yes that happens. Some people do see the rules, though, and still choose to ignore them. That’s what I was referring to.</p>
<p>Forget the “Page 2” excuse and learn to widen margins and use smaller fonts :)</p>
<p>^^haha yeah I’m not really sure how I missed it. I think I thought they just meant the supplements…</p>
<p>Oh well. What will happen, will happen.</p>
<p>(I’m trying to be zen…)</p>