<p>Hey guys I'm writing my supplement essay for Cornell right now.</p>
<p>I've noticed that the word limit is 500 for the supp essay. However, I don't think there is any way for me to shrink it down to that level. Would an essay being around something like 600 words be acceptable? Or would this hurt my application?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>My supplement for transfer admission had to be 750 words at the most. I somehow managed to shrink it down to 748 after initially having about 840 words. I definitely wouldn’t write a hundred words over the limit; I think you’re seriously pushing it. I’m sure there’s lots of words which are unessential that can easily be excerpted. I’m not sure which portion of the writing process you’re in, but if this is your first draft, 600 words is fine at the moment. If I were you, I’d let other people review it and get their opinions to see if any of the sentences are impertinent to your overall argument. If no one has any ideas, just begin deleting a couple of words at a time.</p>
<p>If the word limit is 500, stick to 500. I’m sure you can find parts of your essay that are too wordy, or maybe even totally unneccessary. Set it aside for a few days and come back to it, or maybe ask an English teacher to help you cut it down.</p>
<p>I agree with Countryangel926.</p>
<p>My sons common app essay was at 800 and he was able to shrink it to 475 after working on it multiple times. He kept shrinking it and then would leave it for a week and then go back and shrink it more. </p>
<p>I was concerned a lot would be left out that was important, but he amazed me and it’s so much better and more concise and to the point.</p>
<p>I have learned that anyone can write a “book”, but only a good writer can say more with less. You can do it. Have faith.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would hurt to go 15 or 20 words over the limit, but more than that is pushing it. I originally didn’t see the 500 word limit when I wrote mine, and I ended up writing about 1,000 words…luckily, I saw the limit before I submitted that, and I managed to cut it down to about 500 words. A lot of good stuff had to leave, but I was still more than able to make my point in the essay.</p>