How to cut words from a college essay over the limit

AAdmissions readers working through a stack in season feel every unnecessary word in an essay, and most applicants hand them far more of those words than they realize. Compare 'Socrates was killed by drinking hemlock' with 'Hemlock killed Socrates.' The second sentence is half the length and twice as strong, and a reader registers the difference without having to think about it.

Most applicants would improve their essays more by mastering the change between those two sentences than by adding any amount of new material, yet very few make it on their own. The rule behind it is older than the Common App, and it is still widely misread, even by students who think they know it.