Harvard Supplement's Optional Essay

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
21

<p>Don’t recall which essay was which. One of D’s was about 500 and one was about 600. She did also submit a resume - for her is made sense. I am guessing it went under that additional info section but it has been almost 2 years so IDK.</p>

22

<p>Look at how many words your first draft is, and then cut it down by 33%. That’s your word limit.</p>

23

<p>So my supplement essay is a little less than 1000 words, and this is as short as I can get it to be. First draft was 1,200 words. Should I be worried about this?</p>

24

<p>Same thing as me, Purepecha. I went from 1100 to just under 900. I’m going to try to be brutal with it, with under 800 as my goal, but it should be fine if its a good essay and conveys what you want :)</p>

25

<p>Woah, good luck cutting ti down! It certainly took me hours to cut it down to 788. I’m happy with it though, and I definitely think the long essay was worth it.</p>

26

<p>Hey</p>

<p>I sent in my completed application with a little less than 2,300 word essay. I’m not sure if this includes foot notes in MS word. I was able to keep it to four pages though, with 17 short paragraphs (some of them sentences).</p>

<p>In the interest of privacy, I won’t be posting it, however with the consent of mentors I believe it is an excellent essay, and will likely grab even the most pessimistic admission officer’s attention, inviting them to read to the last paragraph.</p>

<p>Did anyone here do an interview? Comments? :smiley: :cool:</p>

27

<p>My essays is about 1800 words. I talked about six books, but they are all relevant to my character… so I don’t know what to cut out without cutting out a part of the picture.</p>

<p>Any advice?</p>

28

<p>Cut out 2-3 books. I hope your essay deals with more than how self-motivated and intellectual and disciplined and amazing you are, because a lot of the ‘describe your character’ essays tend to sound the same, especially when you’re telling, and not showing through action.</p>

29

<p>Yeah, I tried to put in some action. Thanks!</p>

30

<p>NO it was 723 pages, a massive book!!!
It took them a week to read!!!
LOL
:)</p>