<p>I know the YALE supplement has to be less than 500 words, but can the common app be more, ex. 700+? Thanks</p>
<p>Yup :) I believe for the CommonApp essay, the limit is 250 words MINIMUM. But when I went on the campus tour this summer, the admission guy said you should try to keep it low, since a shorter essay is much easier to read and he hinted they prefer it.</p>
<p>Mine's around 1000 words. :S Gotta cut it down</p>
<p>Yeah, I think they're both supposed to be moderatley short. Not sure though. My Yale essay's like 520 and my common app one is about 500</p>
<p><500 for supp, <600 for common app is safe. Anything more than that is risky business.</p>
<p>should i try to shorten my supplement - it's only 520 (cut down from 600) and im not sure i can cut it down anymore. Is it a bad idea to be over, even if it is only 20 words?</p>
<p>grc, Yale's instructions are, "Please keep your essay under 500 words," as opposed to Princeton's, which says "about 500 words." So, I would try to observe the 500 word limit.</p>
<p>From Y's own admissions website</p>
<p>"Question: My essays are more than 500 words each. Is that OK?</p>
<p>We ask that you respect the word limits we suggest. Will we read the words beyond 500? Yes. But if your essays are much longer than 500 words, understand that you will not help yourself by seeming to have ignored our request. "</p>
<p>Seven hundred words seems risky in light of this, IMHO. Remember, part of the essay is to evaluate if you're able to communicate one idea in the allotted space -- not just to see how much you can linger over a topic. Remain near 500. Best of luck to all of you.</p>