Word limit for the Why Columbia essay?

<p>I'd like to know the word/character limit for the Why Columbia essay (heard that it'd have to be ridiculously short). Many thanks in advance!</p>

<p>600 characters.. but why cannot you check it out yourself?</p>

<p>It is short and that makes it so much harder. DX</p>

<p>I'm having issues with the character limit-- I seriously can not seem to get it down, with out ruining the integrity of the writing. I'll start sounding like a 1st grader! Does anyone have suggestions on how to approach this succinctly?</p>

<p>Use contractions
Use a thesaurus to find synonyms with less characters</p>

<p>For instance, I wanted to talk about a major at Columbia, so I initially wrote "comparative ethnic studies" but then, in the interest of space/word limit, I changed it to "Yiddish studies"</p>

<p>Little things like that can help</p>

<p>
[quote]
Does anyone have suggestions on how to approach this succinctly?

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</p>

<p>The</a> Elements of Style - Google Book Search</p>

<p>Just hit key points and don't ramble.</p>