<p>I've had my excellent English teacher shorten it from 1700 to 1200 but I feel that statistically, it is still a bit lengthy. Is 1200 words fine or should I shorten it even further? I feel that it may take away from what I was trying to portray to the reader. </p>
<p>I invite those who have already submitted their Common App essay. Would you take a look at my essay and critique/shorten it for me? Any assistance will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>In my opinon, shorten it as much as possible without losing any of your personal voice. Make sure its not too wordy and make sure that everything you write helps the reader know a little more about you. I'm also working on shortening my essay. I took it from 1100 to around 900-some words. Good luck! If you want to PM it to me, I'll take a look at it and offer my opinion.</p>
<p>That's pretty long. Try to chop it to 1000 words.</p>
<p>Since no one is actually offering to cut it down, I will. I'm not applying this year (I'm a junior). I used to be a copy editor for my yearbook, so that was my job.</p>
<p>I've submitted mine :) Yay!!</p>
<p>I'll take a look at yours, if you'd like. Shaving down essays is my specialty.</p>
<p>Wow.. I thought the recommended length was more than 250, less than 500 words?</p>
<p>i doubt any adcom will read the whole thing.</p>
<p>kowloon, where did you hear that? I believe the minimum word count is 250. Recommended is usually about 500 (not too long, not too short), 1000 is pushing it, 1500 is too long.</p>
<p>Agreed with crunkk @ 4:02pm. These folks read 6 apps an hour in some cases.... Unless your essay is like a Stephen King novel in terms of riveting content, then you need to trim. So, if you feel it is absolutely perfect, then keep length as is. Otherwise, pick a paragraph and nuke it.</p>
<p>this calls for an axe; 800 words calls for a scalpel</p>
<p>I think 1200 is much too long. Of course, it depends on your essay. If you want, get it read by some people here, and they can judge the quality of your essay.</p>
<p>K, thanks for your input guys!</p>
<p>try to get it as close to the 500-700 range as possible...</p>
<p>would 320 words be pushing it? (too short?)</p>
<p>^ Mine was 400 or so. 320 is a bit short, but if you get your point across, I don't see the need to fluff it up.</p>
<p>Can i read it? Sounds like a challenge. I love a challenge.</p>
<p>nonsense, if its a good essay then it can be 1000+. dont limit ur ideas. but dont be boring or use a bunch of verbiage..thats just literary trash. be concise and to the point, but if it passes 1000, keep on going til ur satisfied. </p>
<p>i got into UChicago EA (where essays are SUPER important) with a 1400 word essay.</p>
<p>Are you literally asking for rejection?? dum dum?</p>
<p>would someone here mind reading my essay? mine is around 1200 words as well and i have no idea what to cut down</p>