I have 340 words for the 150 word Short Answer........am I gonna pass muster?

College Essays
1

<p>Hey guys.
I wrote 340 words for my 150 short answer for Common App. the furthest i can cut is i think to 300 words. I felt like i needed the words to express myself fully.</p>

<p>Do you think this is gonna be a problem?</p>

2

<p>It might be a problem. However, it is more important to truly express who you are.</p>

<p>Are you sure that you need more than 150 words? Perhaps you are going into too much detail.</p>

3

<p>There is no way to cut it down to at least 200 words?
Word limits are there because admissions just doesn't have enough time to read things that are twice as long as they ask for. Being able to write concisely is a skill and showing that you can't do that isn't going to help you, at the very least.</p>

<p>If you can't cut down your current essay down, I'd suggest picking a new topic and expanding the one you have to be a personal statement or something.</p>

4

<p>it wont fit on the half page that they give you for the common app. be careful.</p>

5

<p>Yeah - they'll definitely notice if it's more than twice the limit. If you really can't cut it down further, you may be able to use that for your essay and write your statement about another EC.</p>

6

<p>There is a reason why there are limits on the length of the essays you are going to submit. Admission officers have to wade through a lot of applications and quickly make decisions. They, as a previous poster mentioned, don't have time to read essays that are twice as long as they requested.</p>

<p>You should try to edit it. If you find that you have become too attached to your work, give it to a teacher or a friend and ask them to suggest places where you can make cuts. Also, you may have picked a topic that it is too large. 150 words isn't a lot. Try to pick one small piece of your essay and expand on that.</p>

7

<p>That's way too long. I started out with ~300 words for the 150 statement too, and forced myself to cut it down to 200.</p>

8

<p>Cut out all your fluffy words. You don't need words like "very," "many," "in addition," "further," "then," or "needless to say." If it's needless to say, then don't say it. I'm sure you can get your point across in 150 words.</p>

<p>If that doesn't work out for you, then make an outline of your essay and rewrite it using the outline and no more.</p>