<p>The "Short Takes" on the Yale supplement have a word limit of 25 words, but I can't seem to cut any of them to less than 30. Do you think this would be alright? Normally I wouldn't worry about being 5 words over the limit, but when the answer is that short, 5 words is a pretty noticeable difference.</p>
<p>It's a new element, so who knows. </p>
<p>But i know a number of the admissions officers, and i really don't think they'd be inclined to bicker over 5 words. idk really. You could email your regional admissions officer, although they might think you're nutty for asking about 5 words.</p>
<p>Writing gets so much more interesting when there is a word limit. </p>
<p>I finished my short takes for the most part and it literally took me a couple hours to get all of them down from like 29-30 words to 25 each.</p>
<p>It's fun! At least try for a little longer, then if absolutely necessary keep one or two at 30 words. Good luck!</p>
<p>Short Takes are about concision. Saying something not just well but briefly is the mark of a good writer. Going 5 words over on every one does not demonstrate concision.</p>
<p>So, this part of the supplement is entirely new? this is very interesting. </p>
<p>the one where "what do you do in your free time?" should be rephrased to "What will you do in your free time at yale?"</p>
<p>LOL this section is a problem for me because my writing style is very long-sentences-galore. :)</p>
<p>What about the opposite end, I know they say 25 words max, but what about significantly fewer words?</p>
<p>Like 5, lol.</p>
<p>Yeah, mine are much shorter than 25 words O_o.</p>
<p>The prompt says 25 words or less, but the supplement leaves space for 175 characters per question. Even though I can easily fit 30 to 33 words into that space, should I still stick with the 25-word limit?</p>
<p>I think we should just limit the answers to 175 characters, and that's all fine.</p>
<p>I would really try to stick to the 25 word limit.</p>
<p>175 characters could mean 50 words if you wanted it to.</p>
<p>I should think the 175 character limit is fine. I would consider using 25 more cumbersome words to be more verbose than 30-35 words in simpler language.</p>
<p>I'm doing the app right now and I really think that they're doing us a favor by implementing the 25 word limit. This limit makes us be concise and to the point using vocabulary that I'm sure the admission office at Yale would like to see us making use of. I agree, it is tough, but just look at each sentence you're writing (though it's not much help now, I'm sure, as the app is due today, for EA) and see if your formulations of several words could be better put in one word...without losing vital meaning. At least that's what I'm doing.
Good luck to all!!!</p>
<p>Most of mine ended up being exactly 25 words after some editing. It all works out in the end :)</p>
<p>I think what they really want are just informal sentences that sum up who you are. All of mine were 20 words or less, and I was very straightforward and simple in my answers.</p>
<p>haha wow, i didn't even count mine to see if they were under 25 words.
now i just did (i already submitted it) and most are like 26-28
hmm :P</p>