Should personal essay on Common App be less than 150 words??

my essay is over 177. Is that a problem. Please help me revise if yes.

My internship at PSEG this summer was an important experience because it helped me to get an understanding for life outside of high school. Each day, I woke up at 6:30 a.m., dressed up in a shirt and tie, and boarded the express train to Newark, NJ. On the train were men and women whose indifference towards me starkly contrasted the parental figures that surrounded me for the past seventeen years. They drank coffee while furiously typing into their laptops, never looking up to acknowledge me the strange sight of a teenager taking the train to work. Oddly, their indifference made me feel like I was one of them, an adult going to work, not a child needing to be watched over or cared for. Being ignored meant that I was mature enough to figure things out on my own. Moreover, their faith in me developed my own sense of self-reliance. Proudly, I had no major slip-ups. Each day I came home exhausted yet satisfied knowing that I was mature and capable of taking care of myself.

Yes, the short answer should be around 150 words, give or take 10 words. Granted, they are not going to count the amount of words, but the short answer is something that should take less than a minute to read.

As for your essay, it's very good and I like the topic but it could be quite easy to streamline a bit.

First sentence, "My internship at PSEG..."; They know it's important because you're writing about it. Perhaps if you said, "My internship at PSEG this summer enlightened me of life outside of high school" or something more direct.

Also I feel you could somehow combine, "Being ignored meant that I was mature enough to figure things out on my own. Moreover, their faith in me developed my own sense of self-reliance"

Like, "Being ignored gave me my own sense of self reliance and I realized that I was mature enough for the responsibilities given to me."

Good Luck!!

My internship at PSEG this summer was an important experience because it helped me to get an understanding for life outside of high school.---A little too simple and obvious. I think you could use this intro sentence to say something more significant.

And you need "had" here:
...that had surrounded me for the past seventeen years.

Take out the word "me"
They drank coffee while furiously typing into their laptops, never looking up to acknowledge me the strange sight of a teenager taking the train to work.

I think this gets very good near the end! The last few sentences are my favorite parts of the essay.

:-)