<p>How detrimental is it if I go over the word count? Specifically, for question 2 about "community", the suggestion is 200-250 words with a max of 1800 characters. I currently have 299 words and 1620 characters. Should I try desperately to cut it down? Dan...?</p>
<p>It’s amazing how much you can trim when you try! My son wrestled with this, taking out many of the nice superlatives that I thought made the essay sound nice. I don’t think anyone is going to freak about 40 words. Watch the video on the Tufts website. One of them talks about that and says it’s mean to be a guidelines. For other schools that are a bit less nice, be careful.</p>
<p>Steve</p>