<p>Hi,</p>
<p>My Common Application personal statement essay is too long, I completely messed up the word limit but I wanted to describe my experience completely - everything from the background to the result so I just couldn't control the word limit.</p>
<p>What do you say? Will this screw my application?</p>
<p>But my Bates alumni interviewer says that the essay is well written and interesting.</p>
<p>I am a parent and am not affiliated with any colleges, but I am involved with communications in my workplace everyday.</p>
<p>your story is well written and an interesting story, but IMHO it is too long for someone who has to read thousands of these and is expecting 500 words. I started reading it and then skipped around. At 500 words you have just enough time to set the stage, bring the reader into your story looking for a result, and then finish. An excellent example is the essay in this thread asking for a critique of their essay.</p>
<p>rather than telling the full story, maybe you should try to create a 500 page version that goes into a little less detail, but still provides a 'Readers Digest" version.</p>
<p>You do not want to present a story that requires the reader to have special knowledge
.I found the references to the Indian school system distracting-see if you can be less specific about the actual terms and just make your point simply. It may be that you’re trying to tell a story that can’t be told in 500 words, in which case you’d have to scale back your story.</p>
<p>when producing single panel cartoons, I was once told to “say it in 12 words or less”. I think the college essay is the same thing on a larger scale.</p>
<p>this is just my opinion, I hope it helps.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>But unfortunately I’ve already submitted my App! :(</p>
<p>Hoping for the best now. That’s all what I can do.</p>
<p>are you applying Regular Decision or only ED/EA? You can change your Common App even if you’ve applied to some schools but not others.
If you’re applying RD, contact the admissions office- they may allow you to e-mail them a PDF to replace the Essay submitted with the common app.
but then again, I don’t know what rules apply to international applicants.</p>
<p>at the end of the day if the die is already cast, I think if your qualifications are strong, a long but well written essay wouldn’t hurt you.</p>
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<p>Hoping for this from the very depth of my heart, I’ve already applied to the colleges I had to, 1 ED, RD to others.</p>
<p>the essay is good but a little lengthy…overall it was a good read…BTW are you a dipsite??</p>
<p>I am sorry but what is dipsite?</p>
<p>My daughter applied to several schools RD by the end of November. I just realized that her essay wasn’t finished/edited enough, so I looked into revising and resubmitting. I called 5 or 6 Schools and they all said she could revise it and send pdf to replace the previous one. They also said this is not uncommon!</p>
<p>Maybe you could try contacting those RD schools and ask if an Essay as long as yours (tell them how many words) will hurt you and if so, can you send a revised, shorter version to replace it. If THEY say don’t worry about it- you’re all set!</p>
<p>I will try this.</p>