<p>A quintessential College Confidential question (besides "What are my chances?")...about word count!</p>
<p>For the option question, ""Introduce yourself to Penn. Our aim is to better understand how your identity, talents, and background guide your day-to-day experiences," it says the essay should be "approximately 150 words." Right now I have 350 words and I think I can cut it down to 250, but probably no less. Would 250 be acceptable/considered to be "approximately 150 words?" </p>
<p>I would say cutting the words to around 200 words would be a better idea just as an indication that you are able to follow instructions. The admission officers have a lot of essays to read and I don’t think they’d be too happy to read an essay that’s way too over the word-limit.</p>
<p>admission officers would rather read a good essay that is a little over the word limit than a short compact essay that is dry and boring. I’d say even 300 is alright, as long as it’s interesting.
If not, I think 250 is a good count as well</p>
<p>Make it short, sweet, a breeze to read, and overall fun! If I were part of an adcom, I wouldn’t want to go through 200+ words for such a quick intro, much less 350. Can you cut down phrases you really don’t need to make it concise?</p>