1. The 10% rule of thumb: We believe that in many cases, the benefit from exceeding the limit by 10% will be more substantial than the harm.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no "official" 10% rule at any school. Official variations of the limit policy are listed below.
In most cases, the 10% rule will not apply to schools which their word limit policy is that you should limit your answer to the number of words they ask.
The 10% rule is based on the assumption that most schools do not count words and/or do not care much about the limits. The closer you get to the 110%, the justified the deviation should be. The 10% is not a fixed number, it's a rule of thumb, you can also take more if you believe it's justified.
2. Some schools provide an "approximate" or "recommended" limit. In such cases we believe that it's safe to stretch the limit by about 10-15%.
3. Some schools say "suggested length". That means that if it's really effective and engaging, you can succeed with a much longer essay.
4. Some schools give the length in pages. As a rule, we do not recommend exceeding the page limit. It's wise to check the minimal font&margins requirements.
5. Some schools provide a character limit. In most such cases, the essay (if typed or pasted into the textbox, rather than uploaded) will be cut off after the mentioned limit. We do not recommend trying to exceed the character limit.