<p>On the Common Application the box says that you have a limit of up to 1800 characters for each prompt. Right above that however it says reply to each with upto 250 words, what am I supposed to do?!?!?!?!</p>
<p>maybe it’s a test to see if you can use lots of really big words? :P</p>
<p>Follow the character limit. Don’t worry about the number of words.</p>
<p>You can always mail the application and have the essays handwritten, that way you can go above the limit a bit. Not like theyll count every single character/word</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone!</p>
<p>??? Can’t you type it on Word, then use word count/char count to see where you stand? Make needed changes. Then move back to the app? The limits are not just to make an adcom’s job easier- it’s also to test your ability to be concise and write effectively.</p>
<p>I agree with lookingforward, and let’s just say that if this kind of thing strikes you as an insurmountable problem, you might find Stanford quite overwhelming. ; )</p>
<p>Also, @JTCheng: if I recall correctly, you need to get advance permission from Admissions to mail in a paper application, so you should check into that before submitting one.</p>
<p>Just fit it into the space. Thirty thousand other applicants can manage it, and you can, too.</p>