<p>Has there been a definitive answer on this? I know there was the one where he asked a student, but that was unclear at best and not necessarily correct. Are we supposed to keep our Common App essays under 500 words, or does it not matter?</p>
<p>Im not and Yale has no right to ask their applicants to do so. It violates common application rules. Their supplemental essay though, heck yes.</p>
<p>Yes, Yale does prefer very strongly (Applying</a> to Yale College | Frequently Asked Questions | Office of Undergraduate Admissions) that you keep your essays limited. I asked my local rep, and he said to keep it to 2 pages double spaced max.</p>
<p>Gah, this would mean seriously cutting my essay in a short period of time. And yeah, I didn't think they could limit you on the Common App essay, since it's not within their power.</p>
<p>Oh, and if I submitted a hacked up version of my current essay, would I have to submit that to all my other colleges too?</p>
<p>^ They can't limit common app, true, but if you have a hellaciously long essay, they'll look down on that, especially if it isn't a work of art</p>
<p>rule of thumb:
Common App -- 2 pages double-spaced max (mine is 597 words and is about 1.75 pages long)
Yale -- under 500, no matter what.. they ask for less than 500.. they mean less than 500 (mine is 497 words long)</p>
<p>Colleges want to see how you can explain something meaningfully in a small amount space.. the shorter you can make it and still have the same impact, the better</p>
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I didn't think they could limit you on the Common App essay, since it's not within their power.
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<p>Of course it's not "within their power" to limit the length of the essay you submit. But why would you disregard Yale's stated request that applicants limit the length of their essays. It's certainly not going to help you reach your goal of admission. If the restriction offends you that much, I suggest that you not apply.</p>
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<p>notice the rep didn't say 500 words. they like under 500, esp for supplement essay, but seriously, if you're at 510 don't kill yourself. most likely its still under 2 pages dbl spaced. if you've cut as much as you deem possible, thats it. i highly doubt theyre running our pdfs through ocr and counting words.</p>
<p>I think I have a really powerful Common App essay, but it's 800 words, which is a decent amount over two pages double spaced. However, people who have read it asked how long it was afterward and were shocked to hear that it was 800 (said it felt much shorter because it was really engaging). I would prefer to turn it in as is and don't think it would be nearly as good if I had to cut it significantly or virtually at all.</p>
<p>Any suggestions? Oh and does anyone have an answer about whether that's the exact essay I'd have to submit to any other colleges I applied to via Common App, were I to shorten it for Yale?</p>
<p>after submitting one you can create an alternate form on the common app website so you can change your essay etc. Also does it matter if we double space or not? I just sent mine in single spaced.</p>
<p>^ it doesn't matter.. some colleges actually do not want double spaced essays (princeton for example)</p>
<p>how do you know what type of spacing colleges prefer?</p>
<p>they'll tell you on their supplement</p>
<p>I actually asked a Yale admissions officer about the word limit. She said Yale prefers 1 page of writing. I told her mine essay is much longer, and she said 750 words is fine</p>
<p>^ one page single-spaced, i assume.. because 1 page double-spaced is barely 300 words, if that</p>
<p>if your going to write a good or average essay, 500 words is better than 700, but if your going to write an extraordinary essay, then just dont make it longer than the two page, or 700ish cut off.</p>
<p>For Yale supplement, I think if you want to be unique, you should consider the possibility of writing in in 300 words.</p>
<p>to be quite honest, as long as you're not egregiously over 500 words, i don't it will matter. a yale admissions officer isn't going to go "OMG*** this essay is 528 words...AUTOREJECTION."</p>
<p>I have a family friend who was a former admissions officer at Columbia, and she assured me that they won't mind. my yale supplement is around 550 words, but i think it's damn good, and the extra 50 words is basically one more sentence. i doubt they'll mind</p>
<p>I think the point of the 500-word limit is not to see how well applicants pay attention to nitpicky details, but to give them a benchmark for how long an essay should <em>feel</em>. If your essay is only 400 words but makes the adcom shake its head and say "WHY GOD WHY ISN'T THIS ESSAY OVER YET", that's probably a problem. If you have a 600 word essay that makes them say, "wow, I can't believe Applicant X said so much in so few words," that's a good.
Or maybe that's just what I'd like to believe because I can't get mine down from 550.</p>
<p>^^ Good post. I don't think the 500-word limit is absolute, and Yale is not going to do a word count. 550 words are fine, with 600 the absolute max. Beyond that, I think you're violating the spirit of the rule, no matter how perfect your prose.</p>
<p>Here's the message I received from the Assistant Director of Admissions who is in charge of my area:</p>
<p>"The Yale word limit for both personal statements is 500 words. The Common Application recently changed its wording in regards to student essays (it now suggests a minimum of at least 250 words) but Yale has retained our 500 word limit for both essays. You can find information regarding this online on both the Yale Supplement to the Common Application as well as under our Frequently Asked Questions regarding applying to Yale (Applying</a> to Yale College | Frequently Asked Questions | Office of Undergraduate Admissions) that encourages applicants to limit both essays they submit to 500 words or less. The two essays the FAQ response is referring to are the Common Application essay and the Yale Supplement essay."</p>
<p>Still, I don't see any clear, public, request to limit the general Common App essay to 500 words. So I would be surprised if they were strict about that.</p>
<p>if my common app essay is 542 words and my yale supplemental essay is 479 words, is that fine? (well, the yale one is, but they won't mind the extra 42 words, will they? that's only about an extra sentence)</p>