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bsmith75
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Word limit 01 Jan 2006, 10:47
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Hjort

What is an acceptable overflow on a 400 word essay? I am about 100 words over on Harvards #1 essay and I am having a tough time shrinking it any further (it was over 600) without having the quality of the essay itself suffer.

The other six essays are all right on target with the word limits. What would you advise doing? Should I condense it even further or leave as is?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Brendan.
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Hjort
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Word limit 06 Jan 2006, 09:53
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I would try to bring it closer to the limit.

Hjort
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spiderman_xx
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Word limit 06 Jan 2006, 20:51
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Hjort,
Can you pls. provide an insight as to why it is not acceptable or preferable to write an essay that may overflow by 80-100 words? Is it because it reflects that the candidate perhaps cannot express views succinctly or does it mean a failure to follow directions? or something else?

spiderman_xx


Hjort
I would try to bring it closer to the limit.

Hjort
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Canis lupus
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Word limit 06 Jan 2006, 21:06
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my 2 cents on it...

1>. The Ad com takes it as a failure to follow directions.
2>. It's unfair on the other applicants as most other applicants keep within the word count and it's fairly obvious that you can get more "juice" in your essays with a slightly larger word count.

You can however exceed to within 10% of maximum word count but dont exceed it preferably..Although you wont be rejected for exceeding the word count, it is looked down upon.
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Hjort
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Word limit 07 Jan 2006, 13:35
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I agree with Canis. It is a good idea to avoid annoying the reader with essays of excessive length.