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If they require double spacing and I use 26 pt. spacing (very close to double spacing)
or if they ask for two pages and I give them 2.2 pages

is this going to hurt my application?

Nightrunner wrote:

flyingpanda wrote:

s0ph1e2007 wrote:If they require double spacing and I use 26 pt. spacing (very close to double spacing)
or if they ask for two pages and I give them 2.2 pages

is this going to hurt my application?

Use their spacing and their font size, don't screw around with that.

You ever read 20 essays in a row? If someone games the margins or spacing, you can tell.

Now imagine it is 1000 essays in a row.

Also, you can always cut down your PS. Will it hurt you? Maybe, maybe not. On LSN there are often red dots within the sea of greens, don't be that red dot due to something this dumb.

What convinced me of this was when someone highlighted that not following guidelines shows law schools exactly that, your inability to heed instructions. Highly unfavorable.

However, one school I'm applying to gives the option of a diversity statement that's 1-2 paragraphs. Have no idea how I'm going to achieve that, and do it justice. I understand not wanting to cut.

Good luck!

thesybarite wrote:However, one school I'm applying to gives the option of a diversity statement that's 1-2 paragraphs. Have no idea how I'm going to achieve that, and do it justice. I understand not wanting to cut.

Good luck!

Was this NU? My DS was 4 paragraphs, 1 page. I just turned the first two paragraphs into one paragraph and the last two paragraphs into another one.

bk187 wrote:
Was this NU? My DS was 4 paragraphs, 1 page. I just turned the first two paragraphs into one paragraph and the last two paragraphs into another one.

lol, I am in the same boat but I feel that just lumping obviously separate paragraphs into one would be detrimental.

Tiva wrote:lol, I am in the same boat but I feel that just lumping obviously separate paragraphs into one would be detrimental.

Eh, I molded them so it flowed properly. I had just lopped off over 1/4 of my DS to fit into GW's 300 word maximum and I did not really feel like cutting more at that point.

1-2 paragraphs is a struggle to say anything more than "I am a diverse ethnic/religious/sexuality/etc student" in paragraph one and "Accept me so I can increase your diversity, kthxbai" in paragraph two.

That's really clever. I'll figure out a way to do that.

NU is tricky, I feel like I've read conflicting information from different sources. I looked at the app today, and it stated nothing about required length for additional essays (for which it gives three options).

One option is to write about project management. Applying to law school feels like project management in itself...

thesybarite wrote: I looked at the app today, and it stated nothing about required length for additional essays (for which it gives three options).

You browsed over it then. It states in the instructions for the Optional Essays:

"Whether you select one essay or all, please limit each response to one or two paragraphs."

Ha - you're right, I did browse over it in an effort to check for a hidden waiver.

Thanks for the correction. I'll check again, but I thought I saw something about 500 words...is that wrong too??

thesybarite wrote:Ha - you're right, I did browse over it in an effort to check for a hidden waiver.

Thanks for the correction. I'll check again, but I thought I saw something about 500 words...is that wrong too??

Thesybarite, I like your avatar! Can't wait for the new season.

And to be on topic, I'd say definitely follow the directions. There are always ways to be more succinct. It just takes a lot of rereading and editing, but you can get there.

starrydecisius...have you seen the "core" avatar - our nemesis!

back to topic...yes, it's important to follow instructions. 1-2 paragraphs is succinct indeed. I will get hacking. All that beautiful prose laid to waste.

Trudat15, my ds buddy, are you lurking? How do we do this???