Essays for Common App and other schools

<p>Is it OK if my essay is 550 words (50 over the 500 limit)? It's pretty hard to squeeze all this info under the limit. Also is there anyone here that will read my essay for me and give me some feedback? My English teachers are not agreeing with each other and are not giving me much help.</p>

<p>Also for short responses in school supplements, if it says "200 word response" should I stay under or is it ok to go over the limit a little bit?</p>

<p>I said this somewhere else too. I generally follow the 10% rule, don't go over the word limit by more than 10%. 50 extra words won't be a problem- its when it becomes obvious to the reader that its way over the limit then it could be problematic. Its okay to go over a little bit, but not too much. I highly doubt the admissions officers will count the words, but they can guess about how many it is, so don't go too far over.</p>

<p>For my applications the supplements to the schools all said a 1 to 2 page paper. I have 559 words but it doesnt seem noticeably longer, prob because I use small words a lot.</p>