<p>The instruction says that the person al statement should be 250-500 words.</p>
<p>Mine is a little bit over 600 words. It is hard for me to leave out more.</p>
<p>So is it OK? How long are your essay?</p>
<p>I cut my commonapp essay from 580 words to 495, and cut one of my supplements from 600ish to perfectly 500! There are rules so I guess you should at least trim your essay at least a little bit (as close to 500 as possible). Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks. I will try to make it shorter.</p>
<p>just follow directions. if it says write an essay between 350-500 words, then STAY WITHIN THOSE NUMBERS. It is really not that hard. Not to be mean, but if you go over, that just reflects poorly on your ability to edit, refine, and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.</p>
<p>I’ve heard different things - that it is a guideline not a limit. So I do think that if it is just a little bit over (within 50 words or so) I think it is fine. However, my son did trim his down to 489 words. It can be done - takes time but it can be done.</p>
<p>I have trimmed my essay to 576 words. Do you think it is fine?</p>
<p>[What</a> happens if Common App essays exceed 500-word limit? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-happens-if-common-app-essays-exceed-500-word-limit/2011/10/20/gIQAGIwq1L_blog.html]What”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-happens-if-common-app-essays-exceed-500-word-limit/2011/10/20/gIQAGIwq1L_blog.html)</p>
<p>500 words or less. No more. Why take the chance?</p>
<p>From the article:
</p>
<p>576 is definitely not 500. Read the directions, kids!</p>
<p>Edit, edit, edit. Check grammar and punctuation. Edit, again. </p>
<p>I promise you that you can edit your essay to below 500 words.</p>
<p>250-500 is for everyone except cc students, haven’t you noticed? They are an exception because their essays are so spectacular that they couldn’t possibly be written with a 500 word max.</p>
<p>I doubt if the person reading your application will actually care enough to count your words, so a few words over won’t be a big deal, but if you’re not careful and you go far enough over that they notice it, they probably will care and it won’t look good for you.</p>
<p>Last year there was a HUGE problem with the essay on the Common Application TRUNCATING words. Look up the word truncate in the dictionary if you aren’t sure what it means. </p>
<p>If you don’t want to look it up, it means to “cut off”. You really want to take a chance that the college you are applying to won’t see part of your essay? Good luck with that. It might just mean that the essay you have slaved over for the school you would love to attend will be half-written. </p>
<p>It was a common problem on the Common App for words over 500 to be cut off last year, and if you want confirmation of that, feel free to do some Googling. Try Rob Killion, Common Application and word limit. </p>
<p>I am not clear why when it says a limit, people do not believe it applies to them. </p>
<p>It’s like speed limits, I guess. That posted 65 miles per hour means everyone else, right? So when you get a speeding ticket for going 80…don’t be surprised.</p>
<p>Or when your essay isn’t considered because you didn’t follow the rules of the limits on maximum number of words, don’t come crying on here in spring if you didn’t get into your school. </p>
<p>If you are down to 576 words, or whatever, I bet you can still edit that essay to 496.</p>
<p>I trim it to 549…… still working to make it shorter……</p>
<p>I also think it is better to obey the rules……</p>
<p>It absolutely MUST be 500 or less. Obey the guidelines for your best chance of being accepted. If it is over the limit, it shows you can’t follow directions. Also, the review committee is reviewing thousands of apps. Respect all of the work they have to do and trim it down to 500.</p>
<p>Is 503 words okay?</p>
<p>^If you’re really at 503, contract “I am” into “I’m” three times and you’re set. Really. 3 words isn’t that hard to cut if you’ve already cut 50 or so (I’d know…I cut a 580ish word essay down to 500 a couple weeks ago).</p>
<p>And the Common App will let you submit an essay of any length as long as the file’s within the specified size limit. The thing is, even if all 900 words go through, the admissions officer probably wouldn’t be very happy with an essay of that length.</p>
<p>True, true.</p>
<p>Deleted a stupid sentence and got it down to 480! :)</p>
<p>540 words and I have to say I am quite pleased :)</p>
<p>Here’s a few relatively easy tips for cutting:
- Look for unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. Look especially for words like “clearly,” “very,” “extremely,” and any intensifiers, You don’t need them.
- Look for things you said twice.
- Look for explanations of things that don’t need to be explained.
- Change passive voice to active voice.
- Look for things you said twice.</p>
<p>Well said, Hunt.</p>