Essay

<p>Just to double check, Dartmouth only requires the common app essay is that right? No supplementary essays needed other than the peer evaluation?</p>

<p>Yep.</p>

<p>-Raspberrysmoothie</p>

<p>smoothie, how many total essays you have included in the comm apps?
I see only personal stmt, one short answer on hobby etc. and one last one (if anything else you want to include)
Please advise</p>

<p>Right. For Dartmouth, the only essays I wrote were the short-answer essay and the personal statement. The peer rec. was the supplement and I didn't have to write it. Other colleges have different supplements- some which include extra essays.</p>

<p>Is it imperative to stick to the 500 word limit? I'm finding it way too short. They won't really mind will they?</p>

<p>One of the hardest concepts in writing is that what ever you write can always be shorter (except maybe "Jesus wept"). Another hard concept is the fact that SHORTER is often STRONGER. Go sentence by sentence through your essay, paying especial attention to the verbs and forms of "to be" - "would" is your enemy. By rearranging sentences and substituting strong connotation filled action verbs for the forms of "to be", you will cut out whole phrases, just be sure to check your tenses/ Simple example "I would rather have gone skydiving than snowshoeing" - "I prefer skydiving to snowshoeing" - 3 words eliminated, better sentence</p>

<p>My essay was 646 words. I don't think it's a problem because I got in.</p>

<p>cangel
Another hard concept: However long you hoped to live, it could always be shorter.</p>

<p>"to be"</p>

<p>or,</p>

<p>not "to be"
hum?</p>

<p>that being said, that was good advise cangel, although my essay was 1114 words :)</p>

<p>Oh, I forgot</p>

<p>I also got in.</p>

<p>but onlty because my dad works there and i play soccer
and i got mad skillz yoooo</p>