Far below word count for secondaries. Is that bad?

[F.Underwood]

A lot of my secondary application questions (like: what have you been up to since you submitted primaries?) have word limits around 300. I feel like I can summarize my answer into 80 characters. Does it look bad if I just leave it like that? Or should I expand about what I learned and stuff like that?

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[G_Marker]

I'm curious to see what happens here. I am in a similar situation with questions like this.

 

[Uafl112]

I have always been told that "good" writing is being able to thoroughly answer the question in the least amount of words. I dont think it matters if you're not at the limit as long as you give a well written answer

 

[sashka1]

quality over quantity

 

[Promethean]

In imperial China, in the days of the Confucian exam system through which all civil offices were filled, exam takers would carefully consider their essays so that they ended with exactly the correct number of characters, with specific counts of characters per line and ending at exactly the right place on the final page. Mastery of this form was as important as the content, and it could make or break a political career.

Those days are long gone. Adcoms have to read hundreds of these things. If you can say what you need to say efficiently, they will appreciate that above someone who squeezed in a few more adjectives and adverbs to be sure to use every possible word.

 

[CpnClwVie]

I blame all the english teachers who had minimums on writing assignments for this insecurity

 

[Jepstein30]

Did you say all that you wanted to say? Then it's fine.

 

[mrh125]

If it's below the requirement and you've said everything you can that's fine. Personally, I'd be more worried about going over the word requirement if the secondaries allow you to and what ADCOMs do about that. Do they actually count your words or just skip reading it?

 

[Lamel]

If it's below the requirement and you've said everything you can that's fine. Personally, I'd be more worried about going over the word requirement if the secondaries allow you to and what ADCOMs do about that. Do they actually count your words or just skip reading it?

My general rule is that if there is no hard limit, just do +/- 10%, they likely won't even be able to tell. So if the limit if 500 words suggested, 450-550 will be fine most likely.

It is a subtle skill to pick up when schools want more/less; but for the question in the OP, I think the word count matters much less.

 

[CharlieKelly]

Brevity is the soul of wit

 

[claduva94]

I think it more depends on the prompt. While you obviously want to provide important points, there are some essays, such as diversity essays or "why this school" essays where you can really add more information that will help you. My philosophy is that essay writing is the Price is Right. Go as close to the limit without going over. But, again, ensure what you are writing is substantial and not just adjectives and adverbs.