how much words can we exceed/go under the word limit for UC personal statements? thank you
<p>good question, i also am curious on the number of words u can go under.</p>
<p>Well in the packet they said +205 or 199 was okay for the 200 word questions, so that much i can tell you, but i'm pretty sure up to 10 can be ok</p>
<p>oh ok on that online application it says that the total words of the 3 essays have to be under 1000 words... and the extended response has to be less than 630 words and should be at least 600 words.</p>
<p>We were at a Berkeley information session last weekend and the admissions gal said that there was not much leeway with regards to going over the 1000 word limit. She highly recommended that you hit pretty darn close to what they are asking. She went on to say that the essays will be "truncated" or cut off after a certain number of words (on the online app) over requested amount. When someone in the audience asked for the cutoff number, she wouldn't give it. Only that the acceptable overage amount was SMALL.</p>
<p>but i don't understand. if they'll accept up to 630 words for the extended essay, and approximately 200 each for the other two, then naturally the total would be nearly 1030 words, and you'd be going over. are they saying that this is acceptable? My extended is 620, so my total is like 1020, is this ok?</p>
<p>yes, it's better than what I have. I have ~500 for my extended and 250 for both of my shorter ones. Total: ~1020 words.</p>
<p>I would think 1020 would be all right--though can't say for sure. Where did you see the "630 words" for the extended essay??</p>
<p>For those of you over the limit, re-read/proofread your essay and reword/cut out stuff and add better stuff that works (if now under the limit). Many essays have a lot of unnecessary repetition. Perhaps you can cut stuff and add something else that you haven't thought of.</p>
<p>Well i meant more or less 10 words over/under 1000, but that' s just me</p>
<p>caseyatbat--
on the personal statement section of the online application, it says atleast 600 for the extended one, but no more than 630 will be passed on.</p>