<p>Mine is currently at 350, and I'm finding it almost impossible to cut it down further...Will the admissions stop reading at 300 exact or will the file be cut off?</p>
<p>Wouldn’t risk it keep it under 300</p>
<p>Agree with the above, get it to 300 or under. I went slightly over some essays that said “approximately ___ words”, or even “please try to keep your response under ___ words” but Northwestern simply says a maximum of 300 words, meaning it would be best to heed their advice.</p>
<p>Mine is 460 words. I emailed NU and they said 300 was only suggested.</p>
<p>I think it is okay to go slightly over, but any more than slightly (meaning 10 to even 20 words) is really pushing it. The risk probably outweighs the reward here. These adcoms have to read thousands and thousands of essays. You wouldn’t want to give them a reason to criticize your essay just because you couldn’t follow directions. Good writers follow directions and can cut out superfluous language to meet the requirements. As someone once said to me… if the directions said to use blue or black ink, green would not be acceptable.</p>
<p>Sorry to rant on, but I strongly suggest staying within–or as close as possible–to the 300 word limit!</p>
<p>I went over to about 350 and they said it was fine. I also know people who went over last year were accepted. </p>
<p>It’s a suggestion. Don’t sweat it.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone; I think I’ll try to cut it down as close to 300 as possible. </p>