<p>I am applying to prep school and I am currently working on my essays. The word limits for them fall around 250-500. However, I always end up typing over 800! How do I cut down my essays to make them more succinct? How do I differentiate necessary and superfluous material?</p>
<p>Thanks, and I would really appreciate some feedback!</p>
<p>If it doesn’t directly support your thesis, cut it.</p>
<p>The word limits for my prep school application essays fall around 250-500 words. I always end up with over 800! How do I make my essays more succinct?</p>
<p>Beautiful…</p>
<p>Can I be approximately 100 words under Andover’s 500 word limit?</p>
<p>Get rid of adjectives that repeat the same thing (i.e. “How do I abridge, shorten, and condense my essays?”). Think about getting the main facts across. Some of the extra information that you wanted to include will need to go. It will be extremely hard to edit. I had to turn a 600 word + essay into a 400 word essay. Though it will be challenging, it is do-able. And rearranging the format of your sentences may also help.</p>
<p>To shakespeare12345: My guidance counselor gave me this advice, “When writing admissions essays, aim to write beyond the limit. Then, edit it down to the limit. This will enforce strong editing and help to remove unnecessary sentences/words.”
Personally, I would suggest adding a bit. After all, this is your chance to tell them as much about you as possible, so you should have something to say. Hitting 450 seems fine, but as one of the many who struggled to remain under the word limit, 400 doesn’t seem like enough. Hope this helped.</p>
<p>Ads on about.com are annoying, but Richard Nordquist is excellent. Read all 10 tips. [Tips</a> to Cut the Clutter - Concise Writing - Eliminating Deadwood](<a href=“http://grammar.about.com/od/words/tp/clutter_tips.htm]Tips”>Writing: Top Tips to Cut the Clutter)</p>
<p>And GMT–bravo!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, this is helpful! Hopefully I’ll have around 400 words when I’m done editing! </p>
<p>PS: @GMTplus7 haha that’s clever! thanks for your feedback!</p>