In need of a little help (UPenn DS) Forum

[Atmosphere]

Welllllll, I must have missed the 1-page rule, so my DS was two pages double-spaced. I will be the guinea pig.

[WordPass]

I worked pretty closely with the admissions dept when I was in law school. I can say from experience that they really didn't like it when folks thought they were too special to stick within the rules that apply to everyone else.

Thank you for telling me this. I would go further and ask you details, but I'm kinda tired of typing about this lol but thanks for sharing your insight, truly!

Welllllll, I must have missed the 1-page rule, so my DS was two pages double-spaced. I will be the guinea pig.

I don't know if there's a joke embedded in here or you are serious but if you are, that's hilarious haha. Maybe I won't look half bad then. In actuality, I'm sure you'll be fine. lol.

[Atmosphere]

I worked pretty closely with the admissions dept when I was in law school. I can say from experience that they really didn't like it when folks thought they were too special to stick within the rules that apply to everyone else.

Thank you for telling me this. I would go further and ask you details, but I'm kinda tired of typing about this lol but thanks for sharing your insight, truly!

Welllllll, I must have missed the 1-page rule, so my DS was two pages double-spaced. I will be the guinea pig.

I don't know if there's a joke embedded in here or you are serious but if you are, that's hilarious haha. Maybe I won't look half bad then. In actuality, I'm sure you'll be fine. lol.

Dead serious haha, we'll see!

[mike0331]

There's nothing that can't be summarized. Your story isn't that amazing. For example, this is one sentence: I am a mutant alien who survived a genocide in my home planet and later went on to cure cancer and aids using only chewing gum and a microwave oven.

I'm really curious what you cant fit on one page. I could condense my entire PS into a paragraph if neccesary. It wouldnt be as detailed as I'd like but it would convey the same overall message.

While nobody here works in admissions, the fact that they are telling you it would reflect poorly should be reason enough to not ask. There is probably a reason Penn has a shorter ps requirement than most schools, and its most assuredly not so applicants can ask for extra space on the supplement they are already allowed to convey their awesomeness.

[WordPass]

There's nothing that can't be summarized. Your story isn't that amazing. For example, this is one sentence: I am a mutant alien who survived a genocide in my home planet and later went on to cure cancer and aids using only chewing gum and a microwave oven.

I'm really curious what you cant fit on one page. I could condense my entire PS into a paragraph if neccesary. It wouldnt be as detailed as I'd like but it would convey the same overall message.

Okay, since you feel the need to add in your $0.02 despite how repetitive it is, I'll humor you.

Firstly, and as I've said before, I don't care about what you can do with your PS. I've attempted to cut my statement (which is a diversity statement, not personal) down and did so unsuccessfully, and I decided to seek an alternative means for remedying the situation before I took any measures. If it doesn't work, then fine.

My soliciting of advice here was in part (mainly) to see if anyone has any real experience with such a situation. Again, I appreciated the personal insight. It was helpful, but I was really curious if anyone had anything to back up their claim that this was a no fly zone.

While nobody here works in admissions, the fact that they are telling you it would reflect poorly should be reason enough to not ask. There is probably a reason Penn has a shorter ps requirement than most schools, and its

Also, no. The fact that "they are telling you it would ...should be reason enough" is NOT reason enough. Maybe if you asked a question and I responded "hey, don't write on this or don't ever do ________" then you'd take it and run with it. That's cool and great, for you. But for me, with something that I'm relatively sure won't have a negative impact on my cycle, I don't think I'm willing to just dismiss my fair judgement with that much ease.

most assuredly not so applicants can ask for extra space on the supplement they are already allowed to convey their awesomeness.

Also, let's stop with the whole asking for extra space "....to tell them how special you are." ..."to let them know you're sooo amazing." ..."to convey [your] awesomeness." We're all trying to tell them how amazing we are. If you think I'm a douche, you can come right out and say that instead. Yes, I think I'm the fuckin' shit. That is barely even the point, though.

If I do take the "risk" of inquiring and it does work out for me, then great for me. If they see it in a negative light and say "FUCK THIS KID. REJECT" then, that's okay too. I was mainly looking too see if anyone had any real experiences with this. I apologize in part because I didn't even ask for that to begin with, and could've framed my question better, but still, I doubt that would've changed the trajectory of this thread or anyone's response.

[mike0331]

I honestly just can't imagine why you can't boil it down. If your statement is so awesome (maybe it is), than 1 page of awesomeness should trump everyone elses 1 page of awesomeness.

Again, my .02 is along the lines of what others here who have worked in admissions have said, but do as you please. I suppose if you call anonymously it can't hurt. That said, if they say no I certainly wouldn't press the issue.

ETA: I wouldn't say you're a douche, I'm just feeling this forum out. That said, there seem to be more douches on here than an import car forum.

Mike

[ChemEng1642]

Sorry for the late reply

Not sure if this has been resolved yet but to clarify I don't think asking itself would hurt your chances - particularly because you can ask anonymously (provided you don't give out too many details). This way you can gauge their response without any penalty per say - but I still think all you're going to get is either a "no" or a "do what feels right" neither of which are really positive responses.

I do believe that actually submitting an essay that is longer than the page limit may hurt your chances. I have no hard proof for this - honestly how can you even go about proving that an application was rejected because of a longer essay and not some other factor - but that's my gut feeling.

[Emma.]

If you call and (against all odds) they say "sure, given your special circumstances we'll make an exception from our rules for you," that DS better be absolutely amazing. At that point you've basically now set super high expectations for your essay. There's a high risk that the admissions staff are going to look at your submission and say "wtf, why couldn't this kid have said the same thing in half the words." Whether or not you actually do think you are a special snowflake, if the admissions staff get a good essay but not an absolutely bring-you-to-tears amazing one, the fact that you felt you couldn't convey your message by sticking to the same rules as everyone else is going to send up a big "special snowflake syndrome" red flag.

[WordPass]

ChemEng,

Yeah, it has been kinda resolved but I agree with what you've said. I absolutely wouldn't purposely disregard the rule.

Emma,

Yeah, that's one of the major things that actually crossed my minds. I look at my statement and think it's good and have gotten feedback from it and people have told me it's a very good/excellent one. Regardless of how good it might be, though, I'd be setting myself up for extremely high expectations. This "new expectation" is a major thing you've pointed out and definitely something I've thought about.