The Amherst essay - The rigorous reasoning and insight essay (300 words)

I'm struck on the Amherst essay - I'm planning to go with the first topic of rigorous reasoning over insight in mathematics and the reverse in physics, but im unsure where to begin developing my point - from the physics or the maths side (I'm applying for both physics and mathematics. I want to try to cover both points but the 300 word limit is a problem. Is it sufficient if i develop only one side?

Smith, it is never a good idea to just develop one side of the discussion. Always develop both in order to bring a semblance of balance and better understanding of the essay to the reader. As I always tell my students who are trying to draft their essays, forget about the word count. Just write about everything that you want to talk about in relation to the topic. You need to get those thoughts out of your head in order to even begin to draft your essay.

It doesn't matter if you write 2000 words the first time you write the essay. It is always easier to cut out parts of the essay in order to meet the word count. Think of the essay like a box. You won't be able to say everything you need to within 300 words, but you can edit a 2000 word essay to properly address the prompt by editing it down to 300 words. Editing the essay to meet the word count is the easy part. The hard part, is getting everything you want to say down on paper.

So my advice is this, write the long version of your essay first. Then post it here for review. Our reviews after that should be able to assist you in cutting the essay down to the required word count. Don't worry about how it can be done because we will help you do that :-)