<p>My s. has an outstanding essay but its been cut down and is still 850 words. What do you think, to all you veterans out there? He says he cannot cut it any more without compromising his story.....he says he is going to submit it like that? Any thoughts? Two people that have read it says it did really hold their interest, and they didn't feel it was too lengthy!
Please let me know, what you think. Thank you, I don't want the add. to in any way be turned off to his essay thats a little too long or longer than most.</p>
<p>Say you're making a speech at a convention, and you are limited to 3 minutes. If you go past 3 minutes, you run the risk of people being turned off, or your speech even being truncated by the host. You make yourself look bad, and you may not get invited back next time.</p>
<p>Similarly, keep your audience in mind with these college essays. If they tell you 500 words, STICK TO 500 WORDS. Any more shows lack of organization, and disrespect for your reader's time. They have lives too, and if you dont follow the instructions, you won't get accepted/hired. Play it safe and follow the rules. After all, you're applying to THEM.. they're not applying to YOU.</p>
<p>And if it SEEMS too long, it probably is. If your son cannot cut down an 850 word essay without losing the meaning, he severely needs to work on his editing skills. Probably 85% of college essays are under 500 words long.</p>
<p>(by the way, I'm a sophomore in college, and was accepted to 4/6 schools as a freshman: Morehouse College, UPitt, Howard U, and UMD-College Park. I know what I'm talking about)</p>
<p>I agree that it is a bad idea. Percentile-wise that is hugly over long and if it truly can't be cut down, then he chose the wrong topic. He needs to choose something that can fit into 500 words. I find it very hard to believe that it can't be tightened up. 850 words shows a total disregard for the instructions and for the admissions officers who stay up late nights reading hundreds of applications. I suppose there is 1 out of every 300,000 that is so elegant and superior that you could get away with it. Do you feel he is that good? If you are going to do a long essay, you could try it at University of Chicago or other school that does not limit you. But not on the common application.</p>
<p>PS there are many, many threads in these discussion boards on this topic. I suggest you do a search and review some of the parent and admission officer comments on similar questions.</p>
<p>I agree, I was able to cut my essay from almost 1000 to 630 words. Sure, I've lost some details in the process, but it can be done.</p>
<p>But the thing is it no longer says 500 words....it says minimum 250. That is it. They cannot expect that everyone knows the OLD rule. In fact frankly neither of us knew either that it used to be 500 words until we starting coming to this site. To techincally they are not specifying a length just a minimum....when he prints it out it prints out in its entirety. Also I don't think its fair to say he needs to work on his editing skills, this is superbly written and two people who critique essays for a living said they would send this in as is so please don't judge without evening knowing what it is about!</p>
<p>i cut my essay from 1000 words to around 700...still working!</p>
<p>My son is in the same boat and he will be submitting the long essay. His story takes 800 words to tell. I assume that the the old rule was relaxed because it is arbitrary and there are some stories that take longer to tell than others and the 500 word hurt the people who had stories like that to tell. Obviously you want to make it as short as possible, but not at the expense of the story (especially if the story explains other parts of your son's application).</p>
<p>^I agree. I'm afraid that if I cut my 650 word essay down any more, I'll be losing significant concepts and destroying the flow. </p>
<p>I've heard from admission officers that your essay should be no longer than 700 words and at best under 500. However, it's true that certain essays take more to explain than others and as long as your essay is concise and easy to read, I'm sure admission officers won't have a problem. That assumption is given that your essay is reasonably close to 500 words. 1000, for example, would probably be a bit too long.</p>
<p>I was in a similar situation - 1000 words, people told me it was superb, but it was too long. Now I'm at about 550. My suggestion is to go through every single word, phrase, clause, paragraph - ask yourself /honestly/, is this particular detail really necessary? Don't put blinders on your eyes, and /really/ consider whether it is necessary. Is there any way that I can convey this detail/idea in a more concise manner, that would suit the purpose of my essay? For example, if you're writing about chasing chickens, then all the details about the chicken's facial features might not be as important as the excitement of the chase. Look at the introduction and conclusion - in my situation, it was better to leave a semi-open conclusion rather than hammering the themes/ideas in the body of the essay to death for a second time.</p>
<p>I struggled with cutting down my essay until I asked myself those questions. They worked pretty well for me.</p>
<p>o no!! i submitted my essay with 1000 words, but it didnt say there was a maximum so how can i be penalized. i can understand if it caps it off at 500, but i didnt tell me anything, so am i screwed???</p>
<p>It doesn't have a "cap." People are just suggesting that >650 words is excessive.</p>
<p>I don't understand how anyone can not be aware of how many words colleges want on the personal statement.</p>
<p>So if it doesn't have a cap you would just assume it can be 5 pages...? A serious student would try to find out how many words colleges are expecting, and it really isn't a hard thing to do as it's been at 500 for a few years.</p>
<p>not everyone has accessed the common app the previous year. it was my understanding that 1000 was alright. i had students accepted to top colleges read my essay and they never one mentioned an issue with length. the college in no way can assume that the student knows it should only be 500 words. thats ludicrous, not everyone is on collegeconfidential 24 hours a day reseraching college admissions</p>
<p>So you would just assume it can be as long as you want? Why not try to find out how long it should be before writing it?</p>
<p>Well, some colleges actually specify how long they want their essays. For example, I've heard Yale is pretty uptight about keeping an essay 500 words. They want you to respect their requirements and keep to the rule.</p>
<p>A mom is a terrible judge of an essay. What you may think is amazing, may just be average to the admissions reader. He won't be too pleased that he read the extra 350 words, thus harming your chances. I didn't even let my parents or any family friends read my essays. Their feedback is near worthless. Having a stranger reading the essay is completely different. That had better be some essay if you are sticking with 850 words.</p>
<p>not everyone is on collegeconfidential 24 hours a day reseraching college admissions</p>
<p>"It's a blessing...and a curse". (Monk)</p>
<p>Sup I disagree with you. This is our first go at this, its like entering a foreign land. Why in the world would we backtrack to find out what they USED TO DO? That sounds rediculous. All we care about is now, and if there is not max. there IS A REASON THEY CHANGED IT. In fact my sons advisor said that they did this specifically to not have students feel that regardless of what they want to say it has to be crammed into 500 words, they wanted to give more freedom to the writer. This may or may not be true, but believe me if they really wanted a maximum they would say so, not leave it up to the applicant to "read between the lines" this is a very black and white business.</p>
<p>thank you ctmomof3, it only makes sense that colleges don't want to inhibit your writing. the reason they have changed that 500 word limit is because essay's are becoming more and more important as test scores are decreasing in importance. if they want us to show off our talent then i dont think they would mind a long essay, unless it was boring and useless.</p>
<p>It's a lost cause guys... OBVIOUSLY ctmomof3 is trying to get her son rejected from whatever school he's applying to.</p>
<p>Real talk tho, why is ctmomof3 on here and not her son? Didn't HE write the essay? Why are you so concerned? If he messes his college admissions chances up by going over 850 words, won't that mess up HIS future and not yours? Relax ctmomof3.</p>
<p>Now we all know that the essay didn't have a <em>specified</em> limit, but that doesn't mean it doesn't HAVE a limit. It just isn't written in blood on the application. Do you honestly expect that adcoms will sit around til 5am reading your son's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel? If you or your son do, then neither of you deserve to get into said college.</p>
<p>There's this little thing called R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H, and the reason why most college confidential kids get into the nation's top schools is because they EXCEL at it. Research means looking up information and in general 'doing your homework.' In terms of college admissions, that means looking up acceptance rates, visiting campus to look for a fit, and finding out EXACTLY what college admissions officers are looking for in an application. Like I said, there's a reason why CC kids go to the top schools.</p>
<p>"not everyone has accessed the common app the previous year. it was my understanding that 1000 was alright. i had students accepted to top colleges read my essay and they never one mentioned an issue with length. the college in no way can assume that the student knows it should only be 500 words. thats ludicrous, not everyone is on collegeconfidential 24 hours a day reseraching college admissions"</p>
<p>^^^ that's for chumps who don't do their research on college admissions, not CC kids. You don't do your hw on the process, then say goodbye to your dream college, and hello to Okeefinokee Community College! Sure, no one's MAKING you research college admissions, but the majority of us do it because we CARE! You should too.</p>
<p>Now back to the question, 500 words is the perfect amount for an essay. A lot of applications won't say it, but trust me. A polished, well-crafted 500 word essay speaks volumes, and is sure to get you accepted. I can't say it any other way. If you want to be ignorant and allow your son to send in a behemoth novella, be my guest, and enjoy the imminent flood of rejection letters.</p>
<p>I'm already in college, so it makes me no difference.</p>
<p>-Out</p>