Personal Statment- Too Long?

<p>URGENT. </p>

<p>Okay, so there are FOUR personal statements, and I did all three within the limit. BUT, for the fourth one (Question: Please tell us what led you to select your anticipated academic program and/or NYU school/college, and what interests you most about your intended discipline), I was supposed to talk about why I want to go to Gallatin as well. Well, I had a lot to say about how I really want to be in Gallatin at NYU. And, it turned out to be 300 WORDS. Yes, WORDS, not Characters. I cannot possibly talk about why I want to major in something (special since its for gallatin) and why I want to be gallatin in merely 500 CHARACTERS? It's kind of impossible for me. But, do you think it's 300 WORDS for the fourth question is TOOOOO LONG? (I'm assuming it would be). --I wish I could call the admissions office right now (FYI: I haven't submitted it)</p>

<p>Also, my main essay is 550 words. Is it too long as well?</p>

<p>i think that if it's over 500 characters it won't send... will it? anyways i managed to do all three questions within the limit. just so you know, 300 characters is less than 100 words usually. so your essay, if the common app does allow you to send it, would be over three times the maximum length. try to remove unneccessary adjectives and adverbs and be direct.</p>

<p>as for the main common app essay, you are fine.</p>

<p>EDIT:
if you want help editing it down, pm me, and i will make a few suggestions.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply Newjack :) Well, I'm not doing mine on Common App; instead, I'm doing mine on the NYU online app. And, right below or above the fourth personal statement question, it says that if I need additional space, I can upload my file on Page 7 (Additional information section). So, yeahh. I think that I will be able to upload it on the application, but the problem is that I feel like the admission officers would hate me for having 300 words. But then again, I have stuff to say about going there, and I want to send my file. I think I can shorten it if necessary. But, I just wanna know if it's okay..if anyone knows. ANYONE?? x(</p>

<p>your 550 words. As for the short answer, I would call on monday to see what they have to say. As you are applying to Gallatin, I guess it would be somewhat of an exception, but I would make sure that EVERY SINGLE word counts, and that what you say really shows them why you chose Gallatin. I would try to shorten it a bit though. It wouldn't hurt.</p>

<p>Yeah, I will call them on monday. My main essay is 550 words, but my personal statement (#4) about Gallatin is now 200ish words (I shortened it), this will convert to like 1,000 characters..... But, yeah, it's Gallatin and I kind of have to explain about my intended major. But, I will continue to shorten it, although I don't want to..lol </p>

<p>By the way, what does everyone write in the additional information section? Did you mention that you visited and love the university and all that? Can you say that? 'Cause I would love to, if they don't mind.</p>

<p>1 - In my application packet, it says to write specifically about why you want to attend Gallatin in the fourth P.S. question -- what you did -- but it also says you can attach a separate sheet if you'd like to expand your reasoning (they make it sound like they actually kind of WANT one). That's what I'm doing.</p>

<p>As for additional information -- they've heard all that crap about loving the university (and obviously you love it or you wouldn't be applying). Sound passionate through your entire application and you won't need that. The additional information section, IMO, is for necessary information like if you were ill for a long period of time, there were scheduling conflicts and you couldn't take AP French, or (in my case) if your school simply doesn't offer AP/IB/Honors. </p>

<p>Good luck and let me know how everything turns out! Maybe we'll be going to Gallatin together next year!</p>

<p>300 characters w/o spaces right?!</p>

<p>I have the same problem:two personal statements are close to 500 characters. One is 512 - will Common App let me paste it? I like it this way! But the choice of major is loooong. Almost 250 words and 1500 characters. It's a good essay which I have been polishing for a while. I can shorten it say to 200 words, but not 3-fold. Is it OK to just attach it? After all, they offer such an option. It is one medium-size paragraph. </p>

<p>One more question: Is it OK to attach couple more essays? Good ones. One about 600 words, the other is closer to a 1000? Can it hurt me?</p>

<p>I doubt that they will read the additional essays, unless they specifically ask for them, as they get a ton of applications and don't have the time.</p>

<p>For ED, one of my personal statements went over about 100 characters so I put it in my add info page and they obviously didn't have a prob with it. I did the NYU app, not the common app.</p>

<p>Thank you!
One more question for those who are already "in": how important are those short personal statements? I have excellent essays. But those 500 character passages ... How much do tey determine your chance of acceptance. Can they ruin it even if everything else is fine? Was it something you just wrote in a couple of hours? Or they expect literary jems perfect both in style and content? I guess I have spent more than 2 hours on them already. I just do not understand what is expected.</p>

<p>Um... well mine were really really good. I think that they were actually better than my long essay. I'm not sure how much they weight them.... The only thing I can tell you is make your answers unique. My talent show song had proally been done before, but my trait was really bold and I could easily have offended someone... My club I think was the best part, really unique. My intended major/career path mentioned a specific graduate school at NYU so I think that was a plus too.</p>