<p>I'm looking at the supplements to Syracuse right now and there are 4...there was no limit stated, so I was wondering how long should each supplement be? Thanks.</p>
<p>Wow . . . just looked at the supplement . . . that’s just cruel!!!</p>
<p>Okay, so I’d say not to go over 500 words on any of them, and it wouldn’t hurt if a couple of them were significantly shorter than that. So, for example, two at 150 (or 250) and two at 500. I’m just guessing here, but four 500-word essays seems absurd!</p>
<p>If it were me, I’d make the first one shorter, then I’d pick two of the remaining three as my longer ones, and make whatever’s left another short (or shorter) one. Make sense?</p>
<p>Some schools, like Syracuse, like to use their supplement as a way to weed out not so serious applicants. My kid spent a lot of time on Tuft’s supplement. If you are serious about Syracuse, I would spend time on it because it is a great way to show interest.</p>
<p>It’s probably a matter of personal preference, but Tufts looks like a cakewalk compared to Syracuse!</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m just planning on writing until I feel I have successfully answered the prompt. I’m not planning on applying to Syracuse but a lot of the other schools I’m applying to have around 4 prompts and I imagine they are somewhat similar. I’m going to try not to be too wordy but also not too stingy with my answer.</p>
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<p>It’s fine if you want to write that much . . . so long as you’re not planning to submit that much!</p>
<p>Write whatever you want, but then go back through it and edit it down to a reasonable length. And, yes, that would usually be under 500 words. Organize and reorganize your essay. Remove each and every extraneous word. Scour it for any use of the passive tense - and eliminate it. And then go back and do it again!</p>
<p>There is nothing worse than reading something written in 700 words that an effective writer could have said in 200.</p>
<p>I read wordy and unwieldy prose for a living and, trust me, I really appreciate it on the rare occasion that someone doesn’t waste my time.</p>
<p>It is much harder to write a short essay than a long one.</p>