Question for UNC essay (word count)

hey guys this 1 of my essays for UNC. my main question is that the requirement is "about 500 words" and i believe i went over with about 80 words. Do you think i'll be okay?

Greetings!

I wish I could give you a definitive answer to your question, but that kind of insider info is generally not available to the public. The safest course would be to find a bit of your essay that you think could be trimmed. Going over the limit by a word or two--or five--might be alright, but 80 is quite a few.

You might ask your guidance counselor what he or she thinks. You could even call the university's admissions office and ask there; they would very likely say to just follow the guidelines, but you never know. You might get hold of someone super-helpful who knows the ropes.

I would be cautious about getting advice from peers--unless you run into someone who has actually gone all the way through the process. Even then, I'm not sure I'd follow advice from an unofficial source. Circumstances change, and so may requirements.

I hope this helps. My first inclination is always to go to the source for information--in your case, the university admissions office. Or else steel yourself to push that delete button 80 times! (Ouch!)

Best wishes,

Sarah, EssayForum.com

THANKS!

Strictness on number of words

The short answers of 150 words are really hard to write, do you think that they would penalize for having an extra 50 words?

I don't think they would penalize, but if 150 words or less is recommended, then you should probably be close to that many words. Then you will have a higher chance of getting admitted because colleges like students that can follow the exact directions.

That's juts my opinion!

Jenn

I am exactly 27 words over the suggested maximum :]

It really depends on the college. Why don't you post the short response and see what the essay forum community can do with it?

Ring...Ring... The alarm clock strikes, its five a.m, a time I know too well and the time I wish would not come. I have purposely placed the alarm clock across the room so I can't hit the snooze button. It is Saturday, market day for the Farmer's Market. I work for my family's business, selling Vietnamese food at an outdoor market every summer since fifth grade. I work in the kitchen slicing, wrapping, and distributing the foods into containers. Then I place them inside coolers to be brought to the market. The market ends at noon, but I don't leave the kitchen until two p.m. We sell three days a week, but preparations for those days are the other four. I also cashier at the stand. The hectic scene of three people trying to make the orders were sympathized by all the customers. They would help us out by having a clear idea of their orders. The quick and efficient sale was due to excellent collaboration between the customers and the sellers.

It has 172 words

I honest;y do not think they will have a problem with that. I believe going over by 100 words or more would be too much.

Ring...Ring... The alarm clock strikes, its five a.m, a time I know too well and the time Ioften wish would not come. I have purposely placed the alarm clock across the room so I can't hit the snooze button.(everyone does that! It's not necessary in the essay.) It is Saturday, market day for the Farmer's Market. I have worked for my family's business, selling Vietnamese food at an outdoor market, every summer since fifth grade. I work in the kitchen, slicing, wrapping, and distributing the foods into containers, and I also work as a cashier. Then I place them inside coolers to be brought to the market.

The market ends at noon, but I don't leave the kitchen until two p.m. We sell three days each week, but preparations for those days require the other four. The hectic scene of three people trying to take the orders brought sympathy from all the customers. They would help us out by having a clear idea of their orders. The quick and efficient sale was due to excellent collaboration between the customers and the sellers.

Yeah a few words over wouldn't be much of a problem.

What exactly was the prompt for this essay? The fact that I can't immediately tell might be an problem -- the essay doesn't seem to have much of a point to it. You have told about an experience you had, but you don't mention the significance, or what you learned from it, or why it's important to you, or anything along those lines.

I've got similar thoughts as well. It sounds like a short summary of the start of a movie. Care to share the prompt so that we can break down and analyze the essay for you?

What is the maximum number of words for common app?

Hi,

What is the max # of words for common app?

Gracias! :)

Look at your application materials. If no maximum is listed, there is no max.

Bingo.

From my understanding, the Long essays do not have a word limit, but should be 250 words at the least.

The 'Short Essay' part of the CommonApp restricts the word limit to 150.

Bear in mind, though, that you should aim your essay at people who have to read thousands of essays on the exact same topic, many of them dull and unoriginal. If you are going to go substantially over two pages, you had best be sure that you have a writing style that matches Hemingway's for conciseness, and that everything you say is absolutely necessary to convey your point.

Don't settle for a long, convoluted sentence when a shorter one will do. Be disciplined and make every word count. Unless you have a very good style that can keep the reader hooked, I suggest keeping within 600-700 words.

Right, every word should be essential. Readers hate long essays that are filled with trite phrases and empty modifiers.

Too many words a bad thing?

I know it's a general question, but how do colleges look at kids that write over the suggested word limit. They give you 200 words max and you write 250, will this hurt your chances?

It won't kill your chances, but I believe they will sort of look at it unfavorably. They want students who can follow directions, and part of the challenge of these prompts is getting them inside the word limits, as difficult as it is sometimes.

I think it is good to jump through whatever hoops they provide. Meet the challenge to express yourself in the number of words they specify, and do it brilliantly. If they say you can use only one word, use only one.

:-)

Harvard Supplement question - no word limit?

So, this supplement does not have a word limit.
This freedom intimidates me, sort of.
Does anybody have a suggestion on how to decide how many words to use?

Consider that Harvard has a lot of applicants, so sending them a book is a bad idea. I think a 500 word essay is pushing it in length. Try to be as concise as humanly possible. Please read my NYU one. Thanks! :D

Definitely don't write too much. Just say what is important to you, and don't be extremely flowery. I'm not sure what the topic is about, but 250-500 words would be good. Maybe less than 500 if possible.

Write how much you want.The sky's the limit!
Have fun! I'm submitting mine!