Increasing PS Length for Certain Schools
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:58 pm
Most of the schools I'll be applying to require the typical 2 pages, double spaced personal statement, so the statement I've written conforms to those guidelines. However, a couple of schools I'm interested in (Berkeley, Davis) allow up to 4 pages, which leads me to believe they want more than the typical 2 pages.
Should I go through the effort of modifying my PS to make it 3 or 4 pages just for these schools? Or should I just submit my 2 page statement (seeing as there is no minimum length requirement, and with the realization that they'll be reading thousands of these things and might appreciate the brevity)? My PS would not be easy to expand from the current two pages (because of its flow and how it's set up to fit in such a short space), and I think I might weaken it if I try to incorporate additional info without completely rewriting it - something I would like to avoid if possible.
Is it worth rewriting? Should I just try to slip in a school-specific "this is why I want to go here" paragraph somewhere in my current PS? Just submit as is?
Should I go through the effort of modifying my PS to make it 3 or 4 pages just for these schools? Or should I just submit my 2 page statement (seeing as there is no minimum length requirement, and with the realization that they'll be reading thousands of these things and might appreciate the brevity)? My PS would not be easy to expand from the current two pages (because of its flow and how it's set up to fit in such a short space), and I think I might weaken it if I try to incorporate additional info without completely rewriting it - something I would like to avoid if possible.
Is it worth rewriting? Should I just try to slip in a school-specific "this is why I want to go here" paragraph somewhere in my current PS? Just submit as is?