<p>The college says "500 words or less." Will I get penalized for having like 515 words? 550 words? Do colleges, when reading your essay, have an automatic word-count?</p>
<p>Note - On the application, the essay can be submitted with more than 500 words, but not more than 3500 characters. Don't know what to make of that.</p>
<p>If it says 500 words or less, you should submit an essay of 500 words or less. Your essay will probably improve by being shortened, in any case. Try shortening that long introductory paragraph or tightening up the wording of your conclusion. There are probably some asides in there that can be deleted to great benefit.</p>
<p>mine is 921 rite now…sigh…</p>