3000 character limit each for three questions on 2ndary, how much to use?

[Alfred E Newman]

Ok, maybe this is my lazy side coming out, but I'm working on a secondary that has three essay questions with a 3000 character limit each. This really seems like overkill, considering the topics overlap with my primary application personal statement.

Anyways, when you guys are given a 3000 character limit do you feel compelled to use all the characters? What if you want to be brief and use 1500? Does that scream of laziness? Or will they think nothing of it and assume you were just concise and confident you didn't have to fill up the page with BS?

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[SarsMO]

On some of my secondary essays I didn't come close to the max number of characters allowed. I usually wrote what I wanted to say, and then checked to see if I was under. If I was (Even by a lot), I had written everything I wanted to say, so it didn't matter. It got submitted. Don't fill up space if you've already answered the question sufficiently.

 

[flip26]

They have to hate the overly verbose, wordy essays that say in 3000 words what could have been said better in 500...use only as many words as you need to get your points across...

 

[iA-MD2013]

I agree with flip here. If you have a lot to say, say it and use up the word limit. Otherwise, shorter is better.
That said, I always found something to say to fill up the character limit. I usually get close to the limit although there have been cases where I barely reached the halfway point.