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LAW813FL · Post by **LAW813FL** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:52 am

It's really about girth, so widen those margins!

pittsburghpirates · Post by **pittsburghpirates** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:00 am

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unnamable · Post by **unnamable** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:32 am

Related question: In this thread, a lot of people have posted about keeping your resume to 1-2 pages. I was planning to just use my academic CV because this is for academic programs & my CV includes teaching, publications, presentations etc. as well as education & work information. Is that not appropriate? Have others gone with the longer-form CV in previous cycles? Would it be better to send a short 1 page resume and then include the full CV as an addendum?

A. Nony Mouse · Post by **A. Nony Mouse** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:51 am

unnamable wrote:Related question: In this thread, a lot of people have posted about keeping your resume to 1-2 pages. I was planning to just use my academic CV because this is for academic programs & my CV includes teaching, publications, presentations etc. as well as education & work information. Is that not appropriate? Have others gone with the longer-form CV in previous cycles? Would it be better to send a short 1 page resume and then include the full CV as an addendum?

I used a 5 pp. academic CV when I applied, and it was absolutely fine (I went on the theory that it was comprehensive and for school applications, they'd want to see what I'd done in the long time since I graduated college. I knew it was not a resume and I didn't use it for job applications). I think you could do CV or resume, but I wouldn't send both.

debdeb2 · Post by **debdeb2** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 9:51 pm

Those with academic CVs typically already have a grad degree or two, and are treated separately in the applicant pool. If the CV contains a world of things that the adcomms wouldn't bother with, I'd recommend trimming a bit, but 5 pg for an academic CV isn't terribly long at all. For mortals with 1-3 jobs out in the world, a 1 page resume should suffice.

Essay length - if it's possible to re-frame your process around the writing, instead of on the page length, you'll probably be better off. I typically recommend that writers complete a long first draft of their essay - much too long - because a lot of the good stuff doesn't always show up until all of the throat clearing and grand dramas have been dispensed with. Brains on personal statements tend to get all soapy, and you need to do the writing version of washing your hands. If you let yourself write a 5-7 page first draft, walk away from it for a week or two, and then come back with fresh eyes, you'll typically see what the 2 page, 3 page and 4 page versions of the essay might look like. (I'd hypothesize that you'll also find that the first page or so of the essay is schlocky and unnatural, but there are always exceptions.)

I've seen applicants try and hit a sub-750-word count right off the bat, and then they struggle to develop their ideas and narratives because they're artificially confining themselves in a squashed version of the essay. Think big to begin with, and then cut like a crazy person.

That said, if you have a really solid 2-page essay, I'd recommend just sending that everywhere. If writing isn't super your thing and it's going to cause severe inner turmoil to try and create specialty essays for T14 schools that allow more pages, you're probably not going to generate a great, longer version. In fact, you may just make yourself crazy wondering if all you did was add unnecessary padding. And then you'll add unnecessary padding.

For schools with firm stated page limits, I'd recommend doing what you can to stay within those limits. It's pretty unlikely they're handing out brownie points for breaking the rules, and it seems like a goofy thing to get dinged for, all considered.

MichiganMan87 · Post by **MichiganMan87** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:01 pm

LAW813FL wrote:It's really about girth, so widen those margins!

That's what I did. 1 page resume with 7 years of work experience and a 2 page PS.

terrier27 · Post by **terrier27** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 3:39 am

dolastas wrote:
And does the fact that you upload all of your documents through LSAC mess with the layout and margins so that it could push it over (or keep it significantly under) the relevant limit?

I think some of them look a little weird when they get uploaded as word docs, especially resumes since they have crazy spacings sometimes anyway. If you upload them as PDFs I think they will show up correctly

numb3r4 · Post by **numb3r4** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 12:44 pm

Just to be sure, 1 inch margins all the way around are fine right? Word 2013 defaulted to 1.25 left and right for me so I wasn't completely sure...

landshoes · Post by **landshoes** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 1:12 pm

yeah, even smaller than that is probably fine IMO

numb3r4 · Post by **numb3r4** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:15 pm

landshoes wrote:yeah, even smaller than that is probably fine IMO

Any other input? .75 margins!? Thoughts?

landshoes · Post by **landshoes** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:17 pm

I did .5 inches, but I really don't want to say that it's "okay". You should ask in the Spivey etc. thread.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:54 pm

basedvulpes wrote:I don't know why, but I'm still agonizing about whether to do multiple drafts for length. I think it's purely out of being lazy and not wanting to do extra work if it's ultimately unnecessary. I made a table of the requirements I could find from schools to which I'm applying. Maybe it's helpful to others applying to these schools:

I think I'm just going to try my hardest to keep it to two. Forcing myself to be concise will only improve my writing. If I think I can add value in another half a page then I'll do a longer draft.

So is this the length each school suggests or the length each school has as the cutoff?

slippin_jimmy · Post by **slippin_jimmy** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:18 pm

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