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Zynga
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How is essay word count determined ? 10 Jan 2013, 18:18
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This might be a stupid question so please humor me :
Your application essays are converted into a pdf document for submission. The only way to get back the text data is to run it through an OCR software...even then its not accurate.
So how does the admissions committee determine the essay word count ?
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hamm0
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How is essay word count determined ? 10 Jan 2013, 18:20
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after reading tons of essays, adcom members know what 400 words in 10-12pt font should look like on a page. (i.e. if its 2 pages, and your essay is 3.5....well then they won't be too happy with you.)
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Zynga
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Joined: 05 Jul 2011
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Location: United States (CA)
Concentration: Marketing, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Kellogg '15 (M) Duke '15 (A) Stern '15 (A) Anderson '15 (A) Marshall '15 (A)
GMAT 1: 620 Q43 V33
GMAT 2: 730 Q50 V40
Schools: Kellogg '15 (M) Duke '15 (A) Stern '15 (A) Anderson '15 (A) Marshall '15 (A)
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How is essay word count determined ? 10 Jan 2013, 18:21
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hamm0
after reading tons of essays, adcom members know what 400 words in 10-12pt font should look like on a page. (i.e. if its 2 pages, and your essay is 3.5....well then they won't be too happy with you.)
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Right, but I am talking about slightly over the word limit like from 500 to say 525 or even 550
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hamm0
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How is essay word count determined ? 10 Jan 2013, 18:29
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Zynga
hamm0
after reading tons of essays, adcom members know what 400 words in 10-12pt font should look like on a page. (i.e. if its 2 pages, and your essay is 3.5....well then they won't be too happy with you.)

Right, but I am talking about slightly over the word limit like from 500 to say 525 or even 550
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My gut says they don't. 525 is only 5% over..thats usually what range people/admissions consultants will tell you to stay within.