how strict is "150 words" when it says "150 words"?

College Essays
1

<p>I've got 168 words. 168 words that I'm convinced all connect to each other in a beautiful way [at least by my standards] such that to remove any word at this point either makes a sentence awkward or corrupts the literary effect of the sentence. Nobody in a college adcom will really notice or fuss over this, will they?</p>

<p>Anyone want to look over it, while on the topic, to see if any part of it just doesn't interest you to the extent where you feel the essay could work without it? Or if you decide to tell me the essay just doesn't work :), that's fine too.</p>

2

<p>Send it over is you so choose.</p>

3

<p>To get 168 words to 150 think about chopping adjectives or adverbs, looking hard for passive voice, and replacing longer sentence connectors with a period.</p>

<p>Otherwise, find a sentence you can live without and chop it entirely.</p>

4

<p>The limit in the actual box for the short essay turned out to be 165 words, ~825 characters without spaces, ~985 with.</p>

5

<p>Not strict.</p>

6

<p>It’s fine. It’s only 18 words more than what they want, not like 100.
I can read it if you need a new opinion.</p>