Short Answers

Umich’s short answer, according to the application itself, should be about 250 words long. Mine is 287. Is that bad?

<p>i dunno about u mich, but usually if ur doing it online they have a count and you can't submit or it gets cut off
in any other case, it's fine. they're not going to count. try to cut something out though... just to not go 37 over</p>

<p>Thats fine. Make sure that it doesn't cut off, though. Taking off 37 words might improve your essay if you haven't cut it yet. I know going form 750 to 550 for a longer essay helped me.</p>

<p>287 is well within the bounds of appropriate size. The adcoms will not count every word. As long as it is in the ballpark, you have nothing to worry about. Mine for U of Mich were 251 and 238. For the first one, it was just a stroke of luck, and for the second one, I'm not at all worried.</p>

<p>I'd have to disagree with Nickleby here. when you're writing something like a paragraph, taking out 37 words can seriously alter the meaning. I wouldn't touch it.</p>