Essay word limits - Duke

[lajohnson2200]

I have a question regarding word limits, but not the typical question.

I started with my Duke essays, and wrote what I thought to be decent first drafts, just hitting the two page limit. I then went on to some other esssays from other programs which had much shorter limits. Now that I come back to edit my Duke essays they seem long and kind of rambling. I cut #1 (the goals essay) down to what I believe is a more consise, interesting read... but now its only one page instead of two.

Would turning in an essay way below the word limit look bad? Should I try to weave in some sort of accomplishment that relates to my goals in order to fill up space? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
lajohnson2200

[sv02]

Last year my Duke Essays ended up being my basis for others (Ross was really strict - 500 words!) because I had much more room with Duke to say everything I wanted to say given the limit was pages/spacing with a minimum font size and not actual words...and then the challenge was cutting it down if the questions/content were similar for other schools.

I'm honestly not sure if turning it in way below looks bad, but I'd think it's more about if you feel it communicates everything you want in the shorter version. The admissions folks are reading a ton of applications, so if you can give them something short but complete, then why not? ....Is your font size already at the minimum 10 point? If so, you could beef it up to 11 or 12 to make it more than 1 page if you're really worried that it looks like you're not taking the question seriously.

Maybe you could ask a friend to read the 1 page version, and then the 2 page.... and see if they feel there's anything that you had in the 2 page they felt were missing that's unique to you that you should bring back. Don't fill up the space just to fill up the space; it'll read as such and not make sense!

...but disclaimer: I'm a FY at Fuqua BUT I don't have any more insight to admissions than last year (only SY's get to do interviews, but that's not even reading the application!).... You know how admissions always answer the age old "push for R1 vs wait for R2 question" - that is, if you feel it's ready, then do it, otherwise wait... maybe this is similar: if you feel 1 page is YOU, then that's you. Otherwise, you have room to elaborate!

--sv

[Jessica@VeritasPrep]

I think it is better to be under the limit than to be over (and be forced to use small font and small margins to fit on two pages!), but, if you are able to rework your essay to add another accomplishment then you should. No point to leave out a page's worth of positive information about yourself!

Keep it concise but add more relevant information if you can!