Statement length - does "approximately" = "no longer than" Forum

[Sangiovese]

This probably varies by school, but I would like some thoughts on the subject. I'm applying to SMU (rather late... but still waiting on last LOR) so feedback from anyone with direct experience would be awesome.

In a law school app, does approximately really mean approximately... or is there an unwritten rule that it is really a limit?

SMU's app says that the personal statement should be "approximately 2-3 double spaced pages." The diversity statement (required for scholarship consideration) should be "approximately 1-4 double spaced pages."

Mine are both over the long side of the given range by a half page. The personal statement is 3.5 pages, and the diversity statement is 4.5.

Adjusting font/spacing/margins to make them fit would be pretty obvious and I really don't want to do that. I can probably cut them down but it would really hurt the essays (even though they are long, they are lean without any fluff, so I would have to remove real content).

Thoughts?

[Zapatero]

This probably varies by school, but I would like some thoughts on the subject. I'm applying to SMU (rather late... but still waiting on last LOR) so feedback from anyone with direct experience would be awesome.

In a law school app, does approximately really mean approximately... or is there an unwritten rule that it is really a limit?

SMU's app says that the personal statement should be "approximately 2-3 double spaced pages." The diversity statement (required for scholarship consideration) should be "approximately 1-4 double spaced pages."

Mine are both over the long side of the given range by a half page. The personal statement is 3.5 pages, and the diversity statement is 4.5.

Adjusting font/spacing/margins to make them fit would be pretty obvious and I really don't want to do that. I can probably cut them down but it would really hurt the essays (even though they are long, they are lean without any fluff, so I would have to remove real content).

Thoughts?

Even though you might think this, I assure you that there is plenty of fluff that could be removed. I doubt they would get you rejected or anything, but you can almost certainly cut them down.