<p>So I finished writing my Personal Statement this morning and it turned out to be 770 words. However, I just recently found out that Yale wants it to be 500 words just like their other essay. Why they would put this information in such an obscure corner of their website, I don't know, but I really like my essay and I've cut it down all I can (it used to be over 800). How much will this extra length hurt me? It's 1.25 pages single spaced in Times New Roman 12 point font if that helps at all. Also, should I double space the Personal Statement or leave it single spaced? Thanks.</p>
<p>I had the same problem, and this is what I found on Yale’s website:</p>
<p>“We ask that you respect the word limit we have set. Will we read the words beyond 500? Yes. But if your essay is much longer than 500 words, you will not have helped yourself by ignoring our request. Remember, concise and simple writing is often the best writing.”</p>
<p>hope that helps</p>
<p>See, I saw that too and that doesn’t tell me that much. What does “much longer than 500 words” mean? Is Yale more lenient with the Personal Statement than they are with their own supplement? What if another college says “we want your Personal Statement to be around 650 words” yet you apply to both?</p>
<p>Well I think your 770 word essay is definitely “much longer than 500”.
I don’t much about your second question, but my personal statement was way more than 500, it was actually more than 1000. But I suggest that if your personal statement was more than 500, you should definitely keep the supplement under 500. Don’t make them upset twice.</p>
<p>Well obviously I’d do that because it directly says in the common app supplement “please limit your response to under 500 words”, but only on their website does it mention the personal statement. I’ve been trying to shorten my essay, but I’ve been able to cut less than 10 words.</p>
<p>I think Yale is less picky with the Common App essay, but they do want the Yale supplement essay to be around or less than 500 words. My Common App essay was 740 words and I was accepted.</p>
<p>Thanks surume, that’s lifted some weight off of my chest. Yeah, I’m writing my supplement right now and I’m definitely going to keep it under 500 words. How serious of a topic does it have to be?</p>
<p>The CommonApp essay doesn’t really have a limit … I mean I had 800+ and some of my friends had over 1000. Try to keep it under 500 for the supplement though.</p>
<p>Your supplement essay can be as serious or as humorous as you like. Mine had a funny introduction and then was pretty serious for the rest of the essay.</p>
<p>I just wrote mine and it’s got a lighthearted tone and a semi-serious topic. It’s not spectacularly moving or anything, but I’m pleased with it and it was fun to write.</p>
<p>My commonapp essay was about 850 (I wasn’t aware Yale had a limit on this one, too); my supplement was under 500. I applied SCEA and got deferred, and while of course I don’t really know, I’m pretty sure going over the word limit was not the reason I didn’t get in. I guess I’d try to cut it down but if you think your essay is really good and those extra words are integral, then I guess I’d risk it. I mean, they have such a low acceptance rate already–you might as well go for it, right?</p>
<p>I don’t think the Common App really has a limit. My personal statement was just over 1000 words and I got acceptance to Stanford SCEA with that. I know it’s Stanford, but still - it’s pretty much the same essay I sent in to Yale.</p>