<p>On the Common Application the Short Answer part before the essays ask you to elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities in 150 words or fewer.
However, I keep writing and editing and rewriting this part and seem to be getting in the 150-200 word range. It's still a medium-sized paragraph which is what they are looking for, but please tell me that they don't count these things word for word!
I mean, is it ok to go over the 150 word limit as long as it's not too excessive, or is there something when you submit it online that tells the colleges how many words are in the paragraph?
This may seem like a silly question to you all, but I am kind of stressing out over this minor detail...</p>
<p>It’s probably fine to go just a little bit over…I really don’t think they’re gonna care if you’re over by 25 words. I would definitely try to cut out as much as you can and then not worry about it. The only way it could be a problem is if CommonApp cuts off the rest of your text after 150 words. I don’t know if they do that or if it’s by character count, but you might want to investigate.</p>
<p>I think your question really is unanswerable. Schools wouldn’t say that it’s okay to go over the word limit, because that would give applicants the idea that they don’t need to follow instructions elsewhere in the application. I, personally, don’t think it’s okay to go over the word limit at all, but why would you care about my opinion or anybody else’s who doesn’t work in an admissions office?</p>
<p>I don’t see why colleges would let you ignore an instruction that’s as easy to follow as this, and the only way you’ll know that they do is to hear other people’s stories of going over the word limit and getting accepted anyways.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that +/- ten percent is a good benchmark.</p>