as a scholarship committee most of time we accept slightly more than limit but when I reviewed more than 100 essays in a short time it's really obvious that your essay is longer than others even one more line we can tell the difference The word limit is to test the applicant how efficient you can express yourself it's just like the budget of a project no matter you only overuse 1 penny it's still over the budget you're not as competent as others who make the budget the fastest way is to put the longer one in the bottom of basket but if the essay exceeds more than half a page most of time you'll get a deducted score or will be thrown away |