<p>well, no, it's not the vocab, I think this was more like an experiment of descriptive writing.</p>
<p>It's 919 words. The Harvard essay is 500.</p>
<p>It can go over 500, but not too much. It would be good to fit it safely on a page with size 12 and single spacing.</p>
<p>My Havard essay was about 800 words and it didn't keep me out. Focus on writing a GOOD, tight essay - word count be damned :)</p>
<p>yeah, sure, congrats on getting in Harvard though. You guys are my idols. :)</p>
<p>. . . wow</p>
<p>hahaha I feel bad for you
just kidding</p>
<p>i didn't mean it THAT literally. :)</p>
<p>...it works the other way round as well. I wrote around 400 words for each of my essays.</p>
<p>Yeah, but I think it might have said "up to 500 words" or "about 500 words." 400 words works for both of those; 919 words is "about twice what we asked."</p>
<p>It doesn't matter. All that matters is that the adcom reading it is entertained/interested for the entire read. One of my Yale essays was like 1300 words, and the other was about 800 (they asked for 500/500), and it didn't hurt me.</p>
<p>I tend to write long papers and it hasn't hurt me so far. I think colleges give a limit or suggested/encouraged amount of words simply to tell the length they are expecting. I think it is fine to go over or under as long as it isn't too drastic.</p>
<p>I thought that your essay lacked meaning and purpose... though it was interesting...kinda</p>
<p>Colleges are looking for an experience or attribute that changed you or set you apart in some way... Whats the point of the story? I also wouldn't write about an event that happened when you were 4 because no one is going to believe that it was really that important to you or really affected you...</p>
<p>But I liked your writing style except for the overuse of big, awkward sounding words</p>
<p>yeah, I totally did that didn't I. In my defense though(hopefully) I was experimenting with descriptive writing. But I must agree, this one was a total failure. </p>
<p>And, does anyone know how to make those green smiley faces appear?</p>
<p>: ) pr ; ) or : p? those ones? :);):p heheh</p>
<p>Your essay is too wordy. way too wordy. The meaning of it gets lost between "this 6 syllable word" and "that word with 8 suffixes" figuratively speaking. good writing is not necessarily ornate. The occasional "big/wow" word carries much more punch than every other word.</p>
<p>Granted, you can construct a sentence pretty well, and create a good structure. It does sound pretentious, and at one part you allude to throwing many tantrums (yeah, you were 4, but it leaves the bad taste of a spoiled rotten rich kid; I don't care if you were or not, i'm just saying thats the connotation of that phrase).</p>
<p>The hardest part of writing your essay is accentuating the positive 100% of the time without sounding arrogant. Leave the praising for your recommenders. Even when you don't explicitly praise yourself, it can still come out as boa****l. Little additions like "managed to" Can turn a pretentious sentance like "I won every single award at the competition" into a much more modest "I managed to win every single award..." That's not the best example but you get the idea. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>this one: :D but as you can see, I've already figured it out. Thanks for the advice. So basically everyone here has told me that the entire essay carries a connotation of arrogance and omnipotence, I really need to rewrite it don't i? although I'm really surprised that people think I've created allusions of myself as a spoiled brat. I thought it made me seem more childish. :D</p>
<p>800+ words didn't hurt me for Y, P, or S. </p>
<p>You definitely need to be making more points in this essay.</p>
<p>Speaking of essays (and sorry to jump in like this), I'm applying to HYP this fall and I've started writing essay drafts. What's bothering me is the fact that we're supposed to "sell" ourselves while not sounding overly pretentious, verbose and intelligent. It's driving me insane!
Please can someone tell me how to write an essay about diversity without sounding like I'm bragging! </p>
<p>P.S. intoxicated night, I was just like u when I was ur age, dont worry. just dont let it become an obsession</p>
<p>hehe, i began my essays i think a week or two they were due. You're being the obsessive relative to me, crimson ;). Kidding -- never ever procrastinate with something as important as this...the essay is crucial.</p>
<p>It's a hard balance to strike. Don't make your primary aim to "sell" yourself. Instead, go for sincerity. Your resume/activity list/recommendations can pack your accomplishments into bits of your app for you. In your essay you need to have a voice that is genuine, convincing, inspiring, and passionate [<-- good luck with that, huh...] more than an essay that is overworked, packed with information, or descriptive. The essays I like to read most tend to be deeply personal; whatever you write about bring your own twist to it.</p>
<p>But mea, u know how they say that u should try to compensate for your lack of ECs and stunning SAT scores in your essay. thats what i was trying to do but apparently it wont work. Tho, it's not like i was listing all my high school achievements in my essay... far from that. I dont know what to do... how to strike that balance.
as for essay topics, I heard that most ppl that got into harvard wrote about silly topics - sanitation, hay heaps, etc. Compared to that, mine sounds way too serious.
I'm stuck. And stressing my head off. Please help!</p>
<p>Just to let you know I'm not really a super essay writer or anything -- I kind of just....wrote them....so I'm probably not the best source of advice. </p>
<p>So with that in mind -- what I think:</p>
<p>
[quote]
they say that u should try to compensate for your lack of ECs and stunning SAT scores in your essay
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think 'compensate' isn't what you're looking for. It's better to say you should enhance your app; if you have a lack of ECs, don't aim to cover it by astounding writing alone. Your essay is, ideally, a fascinating and passionate piece of work, but it's also supposed to support/corroborate the rest of your app. For example, if you have a lack of ECs, but they're all in music, then write about music. If you're Chinese (which in some ways is a disadvantage), you could want to try writing about how you're not just any other american born chinese. You see what I mean?</p>
<p>The only time you would try to compensate for grades/scores, is if say, your grades have been low because of a family tragedy, or if you had to work and take care of your siblings full time. Then you could 'explain yourself' in your essay, but even then, the focus would be much more positive: what you learned, how you grew, etc etc.</p>
<p>Why are you panicking, you silly? You have plenty of time. Don't stress. I'm going to be in exams for the next three weeks, but if you want to PM me your essay I'll get back to you within a - uh - month.</p>