<p>Hello potential future classmates!
How long are your supplements?</p>
<p>I know it says on CommonApp that there’s a max of 1,000 characters but I’m finding it very difficult to stay within that. For instance, my supplement on Why Barnard is around 1,500 characters (without spaces), or 1,800 with spaces. Should I trim it down significantly or is the 1,000 character max moreso a guideline?</p>
<p>I’m having the same problem! My essays are all hovering between 1500 and 2000 characters (with spaces). I also had trouble sticking to the “limit your response to a well-developed paragraph” guideline. Maybe it’s just my journalistic impulse, but I wrote more along the lines of a couple short paragraphs per question, not big, rambling, 250-word ones. Does anyone who applied ED (and got in, hopefully) have advice? How long were your essays?</p>
<p>Also, Laughingly, you can just upload a document instead of putting your writing directly into the commonapp. If you decide to copy and paste it, the character limit will cut off your writing (source of a major nightmare with my Brown ED application!)</p>
<p>That’s how I wrote mine, too! Not one massive paragraph but more so well constructed smaller ones. It’s just my writing style and I can’t bring myself to just write one paragraph!</p>
<p>And yes, I know I could just upload it but I’m moreso concerned with it from an admissions standpoint… like if it would annoy admissions if I went beyond the limit and hint at my inability to follow directions or keep my writing concise (maybe I’m just paranoid though?)</p>
<p>How funny! I was just going to write about this. I am having the same problem. My responses to each question are about 2 paragraphs! I don’t know what to do!</p>
<p>I totally know what you mean about keeping admissions on your side–I thought about that too. I just don’t know why they would even have the upload option otherwise (but maybe I’m too out of touch with tech stuff and there’s a real reason). I sort of interpreted the options to be a guideline for someone who was going to write three sentences per response, but also give more long-winded applicants a chance to ramble a little more. I think if the responses are under 2000 characters, there shouldn’t be an issue… I can’t imagine an admissions member refusing to read a response a little longer than half a page. I want to ask my friend how long hers were for ED, but she was deferred, so I’m a little hesitant to do that…accepted EDers, help!</p>
<p>My daughter just went ahead and uploaded three that went over the limit.</p>
<p>@notakid, how many characters did your daughter go over (without spaces)?</p>
<p>Two were around 10 over. Other 140. About 200-400 with spaces.</p>
<p>This same question came up last year ( <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/barnard-college/1060833-barnard-supplement-uploading-docs-abiding-1000-chars.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/barnard-college/1060833-barnard-supplement-uploading-docs-abiding-1000-chars.html</a> ), and the consensus was that it’s fine to go over the limit and upload. One person had even gotten the OK in a call to the Admissions Office.</p>