<p>I read on the YALE FAQ (and someone can double check) that they disapprove of essays being over 500 words…They said that they can’t stop you if it’s not unreasonable, but know that you’re writing over 500 words knowing their dissatisfaction.</p>
<p>I’ve quoted this before on CC, and I stick by it:</p>
<p>“I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter.” – BlaisePascal </p>
<p>Disregarding the length guidelines tells admissions officers four things about you:</p>
<ol>
<li> You believe rules don’t apply to you.</li>
<li> You can’t write concisely or</li>
<li> You didn’t think it was worth your time to do so.</li>
<li> You don’t place much value on the time of the reader in relation to the value of your time to edit.</li>
</ol>
<p>Proceed at your own risk.</p>
<p>Common app essay is about 400 words
supps are all 280 to 300</p>
<p>riverrunner, I like your advice in general and it mirrors what I told my D but then she and I went to an info session starring our region’s Yale admissions officer who will be the one to read the essays. He declared that about 700 words would be a good length for him and he wouldn’t even mind another 100 or so. He thought more than 1000 would seem excessive. Obviously he doesn’t care about the 500 word limit. </p>
<p>Now another admissions officer might have a different attitude about it.</p>
<p>^well obviously, the admissions officer wouldn’t say “no, that’s too long. we would prefer the length to be shorter” cuz helloooo they’re trying to made a good impression on youuu so that you apply to their school</p>
<p>Another way think of the word limit is to think of it like the posted speed limit on a highway. If the sign says 55 m.p.h, you are probably safe if you stay within a general range of 50-60. Driving above 65 or below 45 may be considered unsafe, and you might get a ticket.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to say that anything over 500 spells doom. I completely agree with you that 10% over is fine. The Y admissions people I’ve heard address this say that if you are going to make them read more than 500, it had better be so compelling that they don’t even give a thought to how long the thing is. I say why take that chance? You can bet there are some outstanding candidates who are able to write something revealing, interesting and evocative in 500 or less. That’s who you’re up against.</p>
<p>I don’t think they count the words in the essays. I’m sure they have other things to do. 500-550 words is less than a page. If you’re under a page, they will not even care. If you go over to two pages, than they will notice.</p>
<p>splat11, I think you’re right. I notice when I’m looking through threads on CC, if a post is more than about 10 lines long, I sometimes just skip it, especially if it isn’t formatted into discreet paragraphs.</p>
<p>I can imagine an application reader looking at some of the tomes that come through and simply discarding them. They have to eliminate 90% of their applications anyway, and one easy screen would be to toss the ones that are going to take a disproportionate time to read.</p>
<p>There are two different essays people are talking about here. The common app one doesn’t specify a length, but we heard at various visits about a page, single spaced is a good length. Then you can format it as you like: single, double, etc… The Yale supplement is very clear: keep it under 500 words.</p>
<p>^ thanks for clarifying. i thought people were saying the commonapp was recommended to be 500 and under! mine is 900-some, i think.</p>
<p>Everyone here needs to calm down and be confident about him/herself.</p>
<p>The instructions are very clear.
Common app essay - no less than 250 words.
Yale supp essay - no more than 500 words.
You all seem to be aware of this. Then why are we going around here branding essays with “limits” and trying to judge what admissions officers will do or not do?</p>
<p>My Common app essay is 1,008 words.
My supp essay is exactly 500 words. I haven’t done anything wrong. </p>
<p>I’ve read plenty of college essays from people who got accepted into HYPS schools that are over 800 words. Don’t worry about how many words. </p>
<p>A long essay that flows well > An essay that shouts “I was shortened to fit an imaginary word limit because some CCers thought I was too long!”</p>
<p>It’s the admissions officer’s job to read the essay as well as other parts of the application.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Yale website states:
</p>
<p>They have stated that even for the supp essay, if your essay > 500 words, they will read it (granted they’ll be a little annoyed). NB Yale has not “suggested” a length for the common app essay.
So, as long you’re in the limits, why worry?
QED.</p>
<p>Now, stop worrying about this trivial matter.</p>
<p>My common app is just under 700 words and my Yale supplement essay is 499!</p>
<p>640 Commonapp, 460 Yale.</p>
<p>576 common app, around 400 Yale. Is 400 too short? I’m not done yet so the reason I ask is because I’m not sure whether adding more is necessary or not.</p>
<p>Common App 743 words; yale supp 503</p>
<p>My common app is about 540 words and my Yale supplementary essay is about 490 words. However, I think the admissions committee is more concerned with how well you portray your true self than with the length.</p>
<p>No one is going to count your words (unless the online version does it automatically, I don’t know about this). If it looks like around 500 words, it is.</p>
<p>what if your Yale supplement is 525 words instead of 500. I can’t think of any ways of shortening further, but should I make an effort to remove the extra 25?</p>
<p>yeah my yale supp is like 520. do they really do a word count? since im assuming in the faqs that when they say “much longer than 500 words” im assuming like close to 600 or so?</p>