<p>Mine is 524 words long. Around the suggested limit :)</p>
<p>the common app asks for 250-500 words - there is a reason for that.</p>
<p>Mine is about 530 words. I think around 500 words is a good idea, more than 550 is pushing it. There is no need for a 1000 word essay. You have to be a little discerning and a little clever to cut it down to 600 max. Have someone else read it. That generally helped.</p>
<p>All that being said, the 500 word limit is being much more strongly enforced/suggested this year than in the past.</p>
<p>My DD is exactly 500 words. We cut it down and her counselor suggested trying to get it all on one page, but we couldn’t. She is my 3rd in 4 years going to college and all the admissions people strongly suggest keeping it to the 500 words.</p>
<p>Mine is also 500 words exactly. I think you should follow the guideline. Anyway, a concise essay can be a great one. Essays that are too long can lose their impact.</p>
<p>My son’s common appl essay is 600 words. The last 50 words (4 sentences) are showing up on the “preview” in darker print. Anyone else having that experience? We’re worried it will cut us off at the 550 word mark. The essay is showing up on one page but again the last 4 sentences highlighted darker print which is weird.</p>
<p>that is very odd - that it would print like that. Son’s is 489 words, double-spaced so it goes on to a 2nd page - just went on to look at preview and it looks fine - all same color. not sure why yours would print in a darker color - that is strange. there should be a number to call. this is my 2nd son and much more stressful than last time - I think it is ridiculous</p>
<p>I wonder if it is because it is getting into a ‘footer’ area. if son’s essay is 600 words and one page it must be pretty low on the page - try double-spacing it so it goes over onto 2 pages and see what happens.</p>
<p>My essay is only about 420 words, and well, I guess that’s pretty short compared to the essays of everyone on here. It’s good though; I’m confident. It is just difficult to stay truly focused for thousands of words. I spent months correcting and editing mine to get it to where it is now, and I think it’s direct and well-written.</p>
<p>It’s better to be the concise essay than the interminable one.</p>
<p>mine is 725.</p>
<p>funny how some can’t follow simple instructions…They ask for 250-500 word essay. Why would anyone not follow the instructions?..</p>
<p>^Maybe because people aren’t robots. The 250-500 is a suggested number only, unlike the essay prompts asking for character limits. My son’s was 607. The long essay won’t be cut off. That being said, if I was on an Ad Comm, I wouldn’t want to read anything over 700 words. BTW, this is what I was told by an Admissions Counselor directly.</p>
<p>My essay’s at 544 words right now. I’m trying super hard to get it down to 500, but I’ve already cut out ~340 words, and I feel like taking out anymore will hurt its quality. Do you guys think 544 is too much? Ughhhughh</p>
<p>i’ve read that anything longer than two pages double spaced is too long. mine is just below that mark. i think mine is acceptable for the limit.</p>
<p>500 exactly.</p>
<p>524 words :)</p>
<p>Nothing to do about being a robot. They ask for an essay between 250-500 words…that’s what you should do. I would think that a prospective college student would like to show the adcoms that they can follow a simple instruction. </p>
<p>“Please write an essay (250-500 words)”</p>
<p>Mine is 500 exactly.</p>
<p>So my essay is about 650 words, and I think it is great the way it is and would be missing critical elements if I cut it down any more. However, I keep seeing the stupid (250-500 words) limit and questioning my risk to go over the limit. I am really scared to do this but at the same time I don’t want to send in a crappy essay. </p>
<p>Have other people gotten in places with this type of essay? Ahhhh I just looking for some reassurance here.</p>
<p>Mine is exactly 449 words. It was quite difficult for me to write an essay that short, but I find it important to not go over the word limit. If it’s stated that it has to be between 200-500, do so!</p>