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PS Formatting
Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 2:30 pm
by hearsay77
is there any consensus on formatting personal statements when the school doesn't provide any guidelines? i'm struggling to get it down to 2 pages for some schools, is it okay if I reduce margins/font/spacing/etc? how much is okay? how much is too much?
any advice would be appreciated! thanks!
Re: PS Formatting
Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2014 2:55 pm
by rinkrat19
Academic standard: Times New Roman or Garamond, 12 or 11 pt., double-space, 1" margins. Page limits are absolute; thou shalt not exceed. Using fiddled margins or spacing will stand out like a giant zit in a pile of identically-formated essays.
Deviating from the standards in any way tells the adcomms:
1. I don't respect your instructions, and by extension your school, enough to follow your page limit, or
2. I didn't read your instructions, or
3. I am not a good enough writer to cut my shit down.
No matter how awesome you think your PS is, it can be cut in length and will probably be better for it.