<p>It is suggested for Columbia's short answer essay that you should stick to 250 words or a page. That means a page double spaced. This is an extremely short essay.</p>
<p>The issue is that my essay is 550 words.....when I called earlier and asked whether it would negatively affect my application, I wasn't given a clear answer but rather 250 words was a 'preference' because of the large number of apps to grade.</p>
<p>what should i do?</p>
<p>bump…opinion/facts on this please?</p>
<p>If those 500+ words are absolutely necessary to convey your situation, then I would say stick with them. However, I think in most cases you could possibly cut the words down a bit and make your essay more concise.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it is bad but it shows that you can’t follow direction.</p>
<p>Cornell asks for 500-750. Would 775 push it?</p>
<p>just make it 750. you are already outside the range.</p>
<p>if those extra words are really, really going to give you the edge and you think they’re super essential, leave them in. in my opinion, i don’t think they will penalize you for 775 vs 750. </p>
<p>i started writing essays that were around 1500 words and i managed to narrow them down into the 700s. if you continuously revise and cut out small words & phrases here and there, you will start to recognize your own redundancies and be able to reduce the words.</p>
<p>Almost always, and I do mean always, essays benefit from a stringent editing process. There is usually wordiness, which leaves the reader distracted and bored. Edit your essays ruthlessly. Ask another person to look at it.</p>