<p>Given the undergraduate school to which you are applying, please discuss how you will engage academically at Penn. (Please answer in 300 words or less.)</p>
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<p>I am at 388 words and it says 300 words or less.. has anyone gone over the word limit and still gotten accepted? I had so much to say and its getting really hard to take more out!</p>
<p>Follow the word limit strictly, especially for Penn. I know somebody went over word limit and got accepted by Harvard but that’s an extremely RARE case. If you can’t cut it down, ask ppl from CC to help you.</p>
<p>how about like 15-20 words above?</p>
<p>You’d better not take the risk.</p>
<p>Wow, I did not know they were so strict. I know some schools that have 500 word limit and students write 700 & still get accepted.</p>
<p>As mentioned, do not attempt to go over the word limit. I do not guarantee that all people who go over that will be rejected but there is still a possibility. </p>
<p>"We know that there isn’t much space to answer this question and suggest that you begin by writing down everything that you are interested in then distilling this to a small window of what will be a much larger academic experience.”-Penn’s Dean of Admission</p>
<p>Shontaya, were you accepted to Penn?</p>
<p>To anyone accepted this year ED: how long was your short essay?</p>
<p>I’m not. I’m applying for RD haha. Good luck and I hope to see you at Penn too!
If you want to share with me your ideas or whatsoever, feel free to pm me :)</p>
<p>Alright thanks 
Hope we both make it.</p>
<p>I was accepted and my essay was in the 290s range.</p>
<p>Ugh… I’m at 350 and it’s getting really hard to take anymore out without the essay sounding good…</p>
<p>I was accepted and I wrote about 330ish give or take.</p>
<p>I got in and wrote around 276 or some where in the 270s. I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes the best way to edit and proofread is by starting over with the corrections you have in mind. I speak from experience because I had to re-write my long Penn essay and CommonApp essay each about two times after spotting errors. At times that may be the longer, but better route because trying to correct certain errors or taking out superfluous words can deterr you from expressing yourself the way you orginally intended.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posts. There are lots of ways to cut the essay length and get the same meaning. Why even take the chance of upsetting someone by not following the directions?</p>
<p>I got in and wrote 249</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the word count as long as your essay is less than a page, single-spaced. I got accepted to Vagelos LSM ED this year with Penn essays that were about 500-600 words.</p>
<p>Sheesh, it’s not that big of a deal. Do pay attention to word limits, but don’t be afraid to go over by a couple words. I recognise that I am wholly unqualified to give this advice, but I really think they’re just looking for writing with meaning. I’d go for concise and non-repetitive, but if you really have a lot to say, then so be it.</p>
<p>Both of my essays for Penn were a bit over the limit (320 and 515 words, respectively) and I was accepted. You don’t have to be exact with the word count, just keep it close. Good luck!</p>