<p>I worked on my essay diligently until I finally ended with an essay that I love.However, it's 750 words long! Will I be penalized if I submit it? They ask us to limit it to 500 words but when I do so my essay is just missing the substance that makes it so impacting. Should I just submit it as it stands or force myself to shorten it to match their word limit? >.></p>
<p>No matter what you can always cut down your essay. There will always be stuff in the essay that you can cut out.</p>
<p>That I understand. However, 500 words is very short to begin with and when you put your heart into writing something, and after countless hours you’re happy with the end result, cutting from it is quite the endeavor. Every time I try shortening it I feel like the essay is missing a vital part and so I figured maybe I could stretch the word limit a bit. (But if there are consequences in doing so, then I would rather not…)</p>
<p>I think the important thing to remember is that the essay says “500 words or fewer.” Therefore, this is also an exercise in following directions. If you submit a longer essay (and yours would be 1 1/2 times the maximum), that may not be a good thing. Just a suggestion.</p>
<p>Thanks, I’ve inferred the same. It can be and probably is an exercise in following directions. It took some time, but I finally made it exactly 500 words long! </p>
<p>Now to submit the application and let the wait begin!(along with the anxiety.)</p>
<p>Not to be negative here or anything. I talked to a guy at Purdue Admissions he said they don’t like it when essays are 500 words but more like 200-300. Because they don’t have time to read 500 words when theres like 15,000 people applying.</p>