<p>I've been working on Michigan essay, and I'm just wondering: in your opinion, does the community supplemental essay need an intro? By that, I mean something interesting to "grab the reader's attention." I'm not sure if its necessary, because the recommended length is ~250 words. What I'm saying is, should I get right into it? Here's the question: </p>
<p>Essay #1 (Required for all applicants. Approximately 250 words.)
Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.</p>
<p>Definitely get right into it. 250 words will be up way sooner than you think; you can’t afford to waste 50-100 of those words on an intro. However, this does not necessarily mean you should start with a snoozer first sentence. It can, in fact, be both interesting and concise. </p>
<p>Wishful Wolverine, since there is no technical word limit, how far above 250 words do you think I can go?</p>
<p>@Notebook90 when I was in your shoes, that is something I battled with and researched extensively (believe it or not). My original community essay was around 400-500 words (I think), so I came on here to research your same question. Every thread, comment, reply, etc. I found said that it makes no sense to go that far over the word recommendation. While there is no limit, the adcom is reading tens of thousands of essays so you should be sensitive to that. I realized that nothing I had to say was worth forcing the adcom to read an extra 200-250 words. I rewrote and revised a countless number of times and ended up submitting one around 300 words. Keep it as brief as you can without cheapening the plot. Go through each sentence – one by one – and ask yourself, does this REALLY add something imperative to my essay? You should be able to cut it down, but if you can’t, then maybe that’s not the best topic for you to write about after all. </p>
<p>Thanks for the help. Right now, my essay is slightly over 350 words, but I think I can revise it down to 300. </p>