<p>my short essay for the common app is 180. how strict is the word limit? do the 30 extra words really matter?</p>
<p>are you also step924?</p>
<p>I would say going over the word limit a little is okay. It's not like they will sit down and count every word, but when it becomes obvious it might be a problem. I doubt 30 words will hurt you. I generally use the 10% rule, don't go over the word limit by more than 10%. That rule would give you 15 extra words.</p>
<p>scarlet, someone told me that the computer cuts it off and they said that i should put extra words into the additional info box</p>
<p>The common app has a character limit, but it is very high. They generally don't cut you off unless you go way over. So I wouldn't worry about it.</p>