<p>Ok I feel really stupid asking this, but: what counts as a word on college essays that have a word limit? Do the words "the", "I", "and", "but" count? Can I use the word count tool on MS word to check myself, or do I have to count everything by hand?
I was just writing something that has a 100 word limit, and I realized how short that is once you factor a word like "the" into your counting.</p>
<p>On a side note: how strict are the word limit guidelines? By how much can you go over/under (though its the "over" that is more of a problem) and still be fine?</p>
<p>On the common app, some of the boxes have character limits, so there’s not much wiggle room there.</p>
<p>Yes, “the”, “I”, “and”, and “but” count, but word limits aren’t super-specific. On the UC application, it specifically states that it’s no big deal if you go a little bit over the limit. You could use 108 words if you want, but the point of that short answer isn’t to be long-- it’s to say what you need to say concisely and effectively.</p>
<p>You can use the word count function on your computer, you can hand-count, you can even count how many in a line and multiply it by lines. I suggest the first.</p>