<p>Is that going a little too overboard? I've tried trimming it down but to no avail. I mean, the colleges don't really count it right? Are they going to discard it or look at it in a different "negative" light? I think that everything in my essay is significant.</p>
<p>780 out of how many?</p>
<p>out of 500...sadly...lol</p>
<p>Something to keep in mind:</p>
<p>Most essays will probably be at or below the limit. If they read one a that's 50% longer than most of them . . . don't you think they'll notice? Not to mention that most adcoms are probably sick of essays by the time they read any given appllicants'--going over the limit would not be wise.</p>
<p>What a lot of people forget is that TRIMMING DOWN AN ESSAY DOES NOT MEAN SACRIFICING MEANING. Why? Because you can work on word economy. For example: </p>
<p>"I think that the biggest influence in my life was my experience with automobiles."</p>
<p>Too long? Economize the wording:</p>
<p>"The biggest influence on me has been cars, by far."</p>
<p>Try this for every sentence--and you don't have to sound crude or oversimplify. You can use a nice vocabulary but keep your wording concrete and to the point. I don't know for sure, but if I were an adcom I'd be thrilled to read an essay that said a lot with a little--even if the essay itself was mediocre.</p>
<p>Most of the most important things in your life can't fit in a little essay--and it's obvious that an essay can't capture your whole personality. But that isn't your goal, your goal is to give them a representative piece. If you really have to make sacrifices, just hold your breath and cut stuff out. The best essays written for colleges meet word limits--I think you can stand to do so too. Or at least trim it to 600.</p>