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TooTiredMom
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Posted: Wed Nov 29th, 2006 04:53 am |
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My S showed me his common app essay tonight and it ends up being just short of 700 words. The description says it should be 500 words.
Is S's essay too long? Will anyone hold it against him?
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binx
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Posted: Wed Nov 29th, 2006 11:14 am |
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First, the CA will cut it off after 6000 characters, so that's the first thing to check. But D's 500 word essay was less than 3000 characters, so you should be okay with that. One college (can't remember which - I think it was Emory) pointed out that "500 means 500." How rigid a school is seems to vary from place to place. My inclincation would be to get out the pencil and start deleting. I doubt they count every word, but 700 is nearly 50% too long.
But I'm just guessing. He could always call Admissions and ask!
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Chedva
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Posted: Wed Nov 29th, 2006 11:30 am |
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| I spoke to a friend who's an admissions VP at a local school. Her comments were the same as binx's: Some schools won't care and some will. And the problem is that often you don't know which is which. So we edited and got my d's 750 word essay down to within a few words of 500 (one version was 500 exactly!). Only time will tell if we were successful.
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Wed Nov 29th, 2006 05:19 pm |
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Don't get too hung up on length over content. Have you read it? Did he answer the question well and does it give a good indication of who he is? A school may look to see how well a student writes a complete, concise answer to a question, but if a school is that picky is it a match for him anyway? If you subscribe to US News you can check and see the level of importance that school places on essays. If it's very important, I'd try to do exactly what they ask for. If not, then should be fine. Another way to check is to go to their online application on the school's website and see if they have the same length requirement, or if that is just the general CA rule.
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WADad
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Posted: Wed Nov 29th, 2006 05:28 pm |
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| Pascal said "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." Mark Twain has been quoted as saying something similar. Most good writers know that the secret to good writing is good editing. Your S will almost certainly end up with a better essay if he takes the time and effort to see what is really key and eliminate what is unnecessary (thank you to my high school english teacher who made us read Strunk & White's Elements of Style).
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Chedva
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Posted: Wed Nov 29th, 2006 05:32 pm |
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| I don't think it's always just a school being "that picky." It's also a courtesy to the reader. If every kid writes an essay that's 1 1/2 to 2 times longer than requested, that's a lot of extra reading for an admissions counselor. I know that when I have a lot of mail, articles, whatever to read, I'm always grateful to those who say what they have to say succinctly and respect my time. And I'd think a little "warm, fuzzy" feeling from the person reading your son's essay could go a long way! Last edited on Wed Nov 29th, 2006 05:32 pm by Chedva
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leftcoast
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Posted: Thu Nov 30th, 2006 06:49 am |
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I'm willing to offer my opinion on essays that are PM'd to me... but I will only look at your son's if he is o.k. with it. I just helped a kid eliminate about 75 words from an overlong essay -- unfortunately I did not see too much to trim without losing the flavor, but there were a few subordinate clauses here and there. Sometime introductions and/or conclusions tend to be unnecessarily long and the essay is stronger if you just keep the middle.
Other tips:
* many prepositional phrases can be eliminated in favor of adjectives or adverbs (Example: "The house where my grandfather lived" vs. "My grandfather's house")
*Often clauses incorporating forms of the verb "to be" are unnecessarily long or redundant. (example: "The thing that I wanted to say was...." vs. "I wanted to say")
*Use of passive vs. active voice: (example: "Action was being taken by Congress to change the law" vs. "Congress changed the law")
* Long sentences linked by conjunctive words and phrases can be cut into short declarative sentences -- the word "and" or "but" or "however" can often be replaced by a period or semicolon.
*Eliminate unnecessary qualifiers and empty adjectives, especially all instances of the words "very", "actually", "really".
*Some words and phrases are trite for college essays and can be eliminated; watch out for "ephiphany" and "myriad". If the student says, "I had an epiphany"..... that sentence can go away entirely. The next sentence would begin simply, "I learned..." or "I discovered". (If the discovery is that people the world over are all the same.... maybe the next sentence should go away, too)
Last edited on Mon Dec 4th, 2006 10:04 am by leftcoast
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limner
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Posted: Fri Dec 1st, 2006 03:13 pm |
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lc, I'm so impressed (and thankful); you not only know how to edit these things down but you can actually tell us how and give examples. Egads.
This thread reminded me to remind S that his ED essay is more than 300 words longer than what the CA wants (which will mean a more in-depth re-working to get it down to size). He said he'd already been thinking about that, which made me happy. Of course, I'll be even happier when he re-tools that essay.
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Daaaad
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Posted: Sun Dec 3rd, 2006 10:01 am |
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Excellent advice, left coast. I consider myself a good editor but after reading your post, I helped my daughter slash several more unnecessary words from her essay. It was still longer than requested but now within 50 words.
Most importantly, the Common Applications are done! Yeah!!!!
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DesperateDad
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Posted: Sun Dec 3rd, 2006 03:34 pm |
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| I remember a Yale adcom saying something to the effect: we will read everything in the file, and if you send us a 1,000 word essay, we will read every word. But, while reading, in the back of our minds is always the nagging question: why can't this applicant follow directions?"
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binx
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Posted: Sun Dec 3rd, 2006 04:58 pm |
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I helped my D edit her essay which was supposed to be under 500 words. The final was 502. Her topic was the "Biggest Challenge." She wrote about how moving to Germany was the second biggest challenge, and spent the essay discussing her integration into that society. She ended by saying that it was only the second biggest challenge, because it was very hard, but she was successful. Her biggest challenge though, was adequately describing it in less than 500 words, which has proven to be impossible. (So if anybody counts, she has at least attempted to justify it!) 
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TooTiredMom
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Posted: Mon Dec 4th, 2006 12:21 am |
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Thank you leftcoast for your suggestions and offer.
S was able to trim his essay to 600 words. I think he is done (in more ways than one). I figure it should all balance out- one of his supplemental essays was under by 50 words.
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Mon Dec 4th, 2006 02:16 am |
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| Now you can both relax! Mine had the opposite problem. The essays were all on the short side, and I think most went in shorter than required, although I'm not sure about the CA. I think he just wrote it, edited a few times, had others read and make suggestions, then sent it in.
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leftcoast
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Posted: Mon Dec 4th, 2006 10:11 am |
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I don't think its a problem if an essay is too short, if it is informative. A lot of the stuff in longer essays is empty of real content; even when the essay is very well written, there may be descriptive phrases that enhance the tone or mood, but don't set forth needed information. Some people tend to simply be succinct and get right to the point -- there's nothing wrong with that (unless the student plans to major in creative writing )
I am sure the ad coms appreciate applications that they can read through quickly.
My daughter's main essay was on the long side, but my favorite parts of her apps were some of the short answers. She pretty much took the instructions to provide a short answer to heart -- but most of them were also answered with a humorous note, so they made for quick & fun reading.
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Consolation
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Posted: Sun Oct 28th, 2007 09:26 pm |
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binx wrote: First, the CA will cut it off after 6000 characters, so that's the first thing to check. But D's 500 word essay was less than 3000 characters, so you should be okay with that. One college (can't remember which - I think it was Emory) pointed out that "500 means 500." How rigid a school is seems to vary from place to place. My inclincation would be to get out the pencil and start deleting. I doubt they count every word, but 700 is nearly 50% too long.
But I'm just guessing. He could always call Admissions and ask!
My son's essay is currently 641 words, but less than 4,000 characters (with spaces). Do you think that's okay? I've been taking a crack at editing it for him, and I'm reluctant to cut more: it reads very well and very quickly now, and cutting more would harm it in my estimation. I'm hoping that's okay! Tell me that's okay! 
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Sun Oct 28th, 2007 11:13 pm |
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Consolation, The new Common Application system this year no longer limits the characters or words for the LONG essay, so a bit longer is going to go through just fine. He will upload the long essay to the system and before he can send it, he will be prompted to save it and print it -- the printed version will be exactly what the colleges will receive.
The short activity essay WILL still count characters, but it will take up to 3,500 characters (double check on that - I might have the exact number wrong, but it is clearly noted on the online application) and suggests a length of 150 words or less.
Of course, just because you can send a longer essay doesn't mean you should. As was pointed out last year, most essays can be edited down to a managable length, and it is a good idea to try to keep it as close to 500 words for the long essay and 150 words for the short essay as possible. With that said, I have seen plenty of kids go over by a bit, some by quite a bit, and still get into college.  But do check the actual instructions from each college to see if they have restrictions on length before assuming that sending a 1,200 word essay is OK. 640 words should be OK for most schools, but do have your son check.
Last edited on Sun Oct 28th, 2007 11:17 pm by CarolynLawrence
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Consolation
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Posted: Sun Oct 28th, 2007 11:23 pm |
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The essay in question is actually the one that goes on the Yale supplement. They ask for 500 words. I tried uploading it and there was no problem.
I suppose if push comes to shove he can switch the two...
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Mon Oct 29th, 2007 12:10 am |
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OK, thanks for clarifying. I would try to keep the Yale-specific essay as close to the 500 word length specified as possible. A bit longer (say 10 or 12 words) won't be a dealbreaker but 100 or more over might not be viewed positively. That goes for the short "Why Yale?" essay as well.
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Consolation
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Posted: Wed Oct 31st, 2007 06:15 pm |
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CarolynLawrence wrote: OK, thanks for clarifying. I would try to keep the Yale-specific essay as close to the 500 word length specified as possible. A bit longer (say 10 or 12 words) won't be a dealbreaker but 100 or more over might not be viewed positively. That goes for the short "Why Yale?" essay as well.
He ended up at about 540 words, and that will just have to do.
The "Why Yale" thing is actually limited to 300 characters in the online application, not words! It can't be more than a few sentences. No room for rhapsodizing--there's barely enough space to string together a couple of thoughts. I wonder if those who send in the paper version get to go on for longer, and thus look more thoughtful and interesting!
Now if he would only finish his personal statement essay, which needs a conclusion, and write the 150 word description of an activity (which is going to be CTY), we could send the damned thing. Tomorrow is the deadline, and I would love to get it out TODAY!!!
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Wed Oct 31st, 2007 07:38 pm |
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540 words should be fine.
The "Why Yale" essay always is tricky. The key, I think, is not to waste words telling Yale what it already knows about itself (world-class university, prestigious, northeastern location, residential colleges, smart students, smart faculty) but focus every one of those limited characters on telling the admissions committee why Yale is right for YOU. Some of the Yale essays I've read manage to pull in quite a bit in that tiny space.
Last edited on Wed Oct 31st, 2007 07:39 pm by CarolynLawrence
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