Supplement essay length

<p>So I'm applying to Princeton RD and I have an essay for the "Princeton in the service of our nation" topic that I really like, and it's been edited several times by multiple people. The thing is, Princeton asks for an essay of about 500 words and this essay is ~620 words. On the other hand, the box for putting your essay in has space for 5000 characters and my essay's more like 3500 characters.
Should I go with the word recommendation or the character limit? Because if I leave it as is, it will be way under the character limit. Thanks :)</p>

<p>bumppp! any advice much appreciated!</p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about it. Mine was 650 words, and I was still accepted EA. If you need 100-200 extra words to fully get your point across, I really don’t think the admissions committee will notice or mind.</p>