<p>I noticed that Dan the admissions officer said in another thread that the 50 word essay can be more than 50 words--even 150. Does this carry to the 200 word essays? I know in another post he advised against, say, a 500 word essay. So how much can you go over? (If at all.) 250? 300? 350? I'm at a point where I (and those who have read my essays) think that shortening them would make them worse, not more concise.</p>
<p>And what about the 250-400 word optional essays?</p>
<p>And overall, will it look bad if all my essays are over the word limit? It's not like a haven't cut them, I have, but I just tend to write a lot/have a lot to say. </p>
<p>How have other people interpreted the word limits?</p>
<p>I know some of this has been addressed in other topics, but I wanted to make a general topic for all the essays.</p>
<p>(BTW--I know I once said it is possible to get from 500 to 200. I take that back. Maybe from 500 to 300. Just don't want to be a hypocrite)</p>
<p>My 50 word essay was 48 words, my first short answer was about 198, my 2nd was 231, and my optional essay was 443. I think it's ok to go over by a little, but don't go over by too much. I'd think 150 is probably a little long for the "why tufts"; it's three times the recommended length.</p>
<p>There really aren't any hard rules. The more concise you are, the better. </p>
<p>And remember that 'concise' isn't just limited to what you write, but the idea you are trying to convey as well. There are some ideas that you just cannot communicate in 200 words, or 500 words, or 1000 words - where if you try to close to the 'word suggestions,' you'll be incoherent, not concise. If you have too much to say, try narrowing your topic/idea. </p>
<p>A good rule of thumb for figuring out if your essays are pushing the boundaries of the advised length is: Can someone standing across the room take one quick look at your essay and be certain that it's more than the suggestion?</p>
<p>If someone can do that will *all[/] of your essays, then yes, that's bad.</p>
<p>one of my supplemental essays was 250 ish over i think?! Thats the fun of it. and you know if you dont get in to the school i'm sure its not because you went over a word limit.</p>
<p>I've totally felt the problem of writing a lot and having a lot to say that I think is essential. I cut my common app essay to 575, which is over the 500 word limit, and I'm at Tufts now.</p>