<p>Hi! I was just wondering how strict the word limit is? I'm assuming the 50 word limit on the first one is pretty strict, but for the other essays which have a recommended length of 200, is it alright if they're 250 words instead?</p>
<p>Well the Common App has a limit of 2000 characters for both 200 word essays. I think you can go over 200 words but you can’t go over the character limit.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t even get close to the 2000 character limit (within 400 characters). Looking at my essays, my short essay was 51 words, my other two were 202 and 232 respectively. The 232 one is ~1,400 characters with spaces. I would keep it <55 for the short essay and <250 for the medium ones. My optional essay is 415 words, so it’s also pretty close. They know that it’d be nearly impossible to write an essay that is exactly 50/250/400 words, so as long as you’re close, don’t worry about it. And they won’t be counting the words, either. For example, this post is 114 words and you just read it in a jiffy.</p>
<p>Oh yeah I just did the Tufts essays and wasn’t even close to any of the character limits and I was only a few words over the word limits. Definitely don’t stray too far over the word limits, but I guess they’ll give you some flexibility.</p>
<p>Length:
200 words is the goal. A little bit more is ok. A lot more is not. My guideline is, “Can you eyeball it and tell?” As in, could someone take a cursory, 2 second glance at your writing and immediately know that its longer than 200 words? </p>
<p>If you’re at 220, the answer is no. 300, maybe. 500, absolutely. </p>
<p>We’re not big on hard and fast rules at Tufts - the essays we give you, and the answer we hope you’ll give us, reflect that.</p>
<p>Similar to this question, when you apply electronically, does Tufts automatically cut off any words after the word “limit” guideline?</p>
<p>NDhopefull, you can preview the application and see exactly at what point your essay gets cut off. It’s usually based on a character limit and will generally allow you to go somewhat over the word limit. Keep in mind that it’s pretty rare that longer is better. My son actually kind of enjoyed getting his “Why Tufts” essay down to 50 words, though I believe it is considerably longer now.</p>