<p>When I wrote my first draft of the 300 and 500 word essays, they both ended up being about 1,000 words. I cut them down quite a bit since then but they are still about 750 and 630. WHAT DO I DO? At this point, i'm concerned that if I make more cuts...the quality will be compromised. What to do?</p>
<p>Are your essays extremely riveting right now?</p>
<p>If not, you probably should rewrite both essays.</p>
<p>I would say 600 words max for 500 word essay, 350 for 300 word essay.</p>
<p>I would be more lenient with the 300 worder. Mine is 361, and I'd say up to 400. Anything beyond that is too much.</p>
<p>Yes thats the problem, I love them and I don't want to change them! Also, if you read the application closely it says the the 2nd essay MAY be shorter which could imply that you could choose to make it longer, or equal to the 500 word essay! Do you think that is a valid way to interpret it?</p>
<p>perhaps.... but yours is > 500 words...</p>
<p>yeah haha...ahhh I don't know what i'm going to do!</p>
<p>Like I said, start from scratch. That way, you don't have to agonize over what to delete. If you can write with the goal of a word number in mind, you will meet your target. It worked for me; mine are 548 and 318 respectively.</p>
<p>
[quote]
it says the the 2nd essay MAY be shorter which could imply that you could choose to make it longer, or equal to the 500 word essay! Do you think that is a valid way to interpret it?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No, the logic is invalid. Saying that it can be shorter does not imply that it can also be longer. If something says "up to 300 words" it defines the upper bound but leaves the lower one flexible.</p>
<p>Remember how many applications the admissions folks must read. If everyone expanded their essays that much over the limit, they would never get through the process. Be considerate of your readers' time.</p>
<p>Besides, everyone is always looking for ways to "stand out" - perhaps you should try to stand out by following directions and writing concisely!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Like I said, start from scratch. That way, you don't have to agonize over what to delete. If you can write with the goal of a word number in mind, you will meet your target. It worked for me; mine are 548 and 318 respectively.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I disagree. I personally do not think that you should write an essay consciously thinking about the word limit. Rather, you should plan it beforehand and from that decide what ideas to put in so that when you hypothetically write it up the word count comes to around 500. But actually writing with a goal of meeting a word limit isn't the best way to go in my opinion.</p>
<p>But it works. Hell, if you check your word count after every few sentences, you get a feeling for how much you may bring in. I dont know how you are writing your essays - but mine is nearly 50 % different to my first draft.</p>
<p>If you have a structure, a logic in it, you may begin changing words and phrases, employing imagenary etc. It won't change your word count much anymore. Got 503 and 308.</p>
<p>i dont think it is a problem if it is too long, but remember, if there is a candidate whose essay is just as good but has stuck to the word limit, it will go in their favor</p>
<p>OK, so I just called the Admission Office, and they said that interpreting the MAY is completely valid and you can indeed have two 500 word essays(instead of 500 and 300). Also, they said that if your essay runs over (even by 200 words) it makes no difference. They said that while they are looking at your ability to express yourself concisely, they are not word counting and are mostly focused on content. They said that the only problems occur when a person tries to do too much with one essay.</p>
<p>when people ring up the admissions office, do they actually speak to the adcoms themselves, or just a random clerical assistant?</p>
<p>"No, the logic is invalid. Saying that it can be shorter does not imply that it can also be longer. If something says "up to 300 words" it defines the upper bound but leaves the lower one flexible."</p>
<p>no, sorry but you are wrong. The application says , "Your first essay should be a full page in length (about 500 words.) The other may be shorter (about 300 words.)</p>
<p>get it? It means that the lower bound for the first essay is set at 500. While the second essay has the ability to go lower than that minimum limit.</p>
<p>Yes, based on the wording of the app, you are correct. I looked at it only on the basis of the way the question was worded.</p>
<p>fred: When I called this morning, they connected me to an admission officer.</p>