What's up with these Princeton word counts?
Quick question here--
I'm working on the Princeton supplemental essays, and I'm confused at how these word counts are structured. In the "Your Voice" section and the "why major" section, the prompts have a 350-word limit, but the prompts also say to "respond in an essay of about 250 words". For the extracurricular essay, the prompt has a 200-word limit, but Princeton says to "respond in about 150 words".
I'm confused. How many words is too many? 20 over? 40 over? Why give all this extra space and then ask for a shorter answer?
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1 answer
I think Princeton expects record amounts of RD applications similar to last cycle. Given that they have limited time to read each application, say 7-10 minutes including the graded paper, I think they are asking for answers that meet their expectations without going over the work count. It's a backhanded way of saying be considerate of our time.
So if you are writing a short essay between 250-350 words, no one will be counting and you're golden. But if you submit 400 words, that's a red flag no mater what you wrote because you are not paying attention. Same with the shorter one. If you write 150-200, you are golden. But if you submit 225, ding ding ding.
Good luck.
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