<p>Is it really okay to put another narrative essay in here? When they say "Tell us about something that you have created", it doesn't seem like another narrative essay would fit that prompt...</p>
<p>And 550 words for this optional essay should be okay right? (the application states 500 words). And also my required essay is 640ish words and I really can't cut it down anymore without loosing the voice/meaning. It still fits comfortably on one page single spaced though. Is this okay?</p>
<p>I have heard the 25% rule floating around a lot. I would think that 640 for the main is fine, as is 550 for the optional. These word limits are more or less guidelines as far as I know, and admissions would rather see a well developed essay than a potentially good one chopped off at the end for a word limit. Consider how long 50 words really is.</p>
<p>Actually, I think 640 is a bit much. I would try and make it under 600 if possible. 550 for the optional essay is fine.</p>
<p>Also, my "something that you have created essay" essay was in a narrative format (at least the first paragraph anyway). I was accepted EA.</p>
<p>I thought that anything that could fit within the box is fine without getting autmatically chopped off is fine. If they cared, then they would probably make the box smaller.</p>
<p>I think that's pushing it. But I'm OCD when it comes to applications.</p>
<p>I agree with ttyl8 and it was the rule I followed when I applied to colleges. I think it turned out okay. =)</p>
<p>Ha I submitted my main essay via mail (I didn't want to lose formatting as it was important to the meaning of my essay) so I didn't even know MIT put on character limits in their online app.</p>
<p>I loved the MIT app for giving you lots of leway though! Especially for extracurriculars and such, they say "around 40 words" but don't cut you off at 40 or even 50 (don't even know what the actual maximum is). Thats what infuriated me about commonapp was its ridiculously strict character limits. Will adcoms really care if I go 4 words over so that I can finish a thought? Didn't think so.</p>
<p>Amen to that ^^</p>
<p>I was posting this question in the princeton forum.
If they gave a character limit of 7900 words, would they mind if my essay turned out to be a 700~1000 words ? (tho it says around 500 words)
I mean, common its the only chance we get to speak....</p>
<p>Yes, I think that if the AdCom do not have to flip pages to read your essays (i.e one page) then your fine. All of my essays are over 500 words, haha.</p>
<p>Ha thats why I loved on commonapp when they let you upload files for responses. They can't check the .doc file for word count :D</p>