<p>i know the word limit is usually just recommended and i tend to not go much over...but with these short statements its very difficult. i just wanted to know how others felt and about how many words they have. im aiming for 150-200. so i have a little shrinking to do. i mean my stuff fits on the page but still id like to shrink it somewhat. theres no way its getting down below 50 words though it wont show anything i feel.</p>
<p>IMO you should really try to stick to the word limit. 60 words may be okay for the 50 word essays, but 150-200 words is waaay too much.</p>
<p>I agree with taryn.... Last year, DD was accepted, and I think one reason may have been how well she answered the short answers while still keeping to the word limit</p>
<p>wait...are you guys all doing the supplement online? Because on the pdf, there's no word limit, just space limit. answer quickly!</p>
<p>um, and what is shrinking? are you guys inserting text onto the pdf, or writing it out? I was going to write it out.</p>
<p>^I filled out the online supplement, and they had a 50 word limit for both of the short answer essays, and a 300 word limit for the "why NU" essay.</p>
<p>so should I do the same for the paper application? Or can I get away with writing small? What is shrinking? I am buggin' out afdsjklf;dsadfksjl;sd</p>
<p>learn to express your ideas in less words.</p>
<p>That answered nothing. Thank you for your contribution.</p>
<p>np.
10character</p>
<p>SpecialAgentPunk - "Shrinking" just refers to shortening your essay. Cutting out words/sentences to make it fit the word limit.</p>
<p>I think you should stick to the same word limit on the online NU supplement. It's part of the challenge, after all.</p>
<p>wow this is a total bummers. life is hard.</p>
<p>NU is hard, too, SAP. You have to cut your essay and stick to the limit. You are getting good advice from several posters, now it's up to you to take it or not. Good luck.</p>
<p>I've just finished writing the short answers, both around 59-58 words. But I'm doing it on paper, which is limited to space provided, not amount of words. So haha to all you online applicants, I am getting away with it. These were actually pretty fun to write.</p>
<p>lol i agree i am a writing nerd and actually somewhat liked writing these (contrary to all of my cousins' rumors and moaning over how "the NW app is a *****")</p>
<p>Umm one of mine was 58 words and I used the online app...it doesn't cut it off at 50 words, you can write however much you want....you'll just be looked down on by the officers for not sticking to the limit (or around it, imo 58ish or even 60 is fine...)</p>
<p>You should stick to the word limit or very close. They are seeing if you can express your thoughts without tons of verbage! They said that it is important to your application to follow the directions. I know you think you might get points for being clever & creative, but you won't. I just finished my app, it was hard to answer the q's in 50 words for sure.</p>
<p>i think this:
50-60 for the first 2 is FINE
300-350 for the "why you wanna go to northwestern?" is FINE</p>
<p>just keep it within there, and dont go overboard</p>