PS Help Forum

[dreamer_13]

Hello everyone!
I'm currently working on my PS and I had a few questions:

1) What's the general consensus on tailoring a PS to each school? Is it better to write a Why X instead?
2) Is 3 pages double-spaced too long for a PS -- I've been seeing 2/2.5 pages as the maximum

Also would anyone be willing to give me some feedback on my current PS? I will PM those who can.

Thanks!

[34iplaw]

replying b/c I'm pretty interested in this too.

[sorry to OP, I don't want to respond w/o proper knowledge!]

[Gifted Hands]

Hello everyone!
I'm currently working on my PS and I had a few questions:

1) What's the general consensus on tailoring a PS to each school? Is it better to write a Why X instead?
2) Is 3 pages double-spaced too long for a PS -- I've been seeing 2/2.5 pages as the maximum

Also would anyone be willing to give me some feedback on my current PS? I will PM those who can.

Thanks!

1)I mean, if you have the time to tailor, then yea, that would obviously be better. I had generic PSs that I tweaked for each school.

2) follow the school's instructions

[jumbocolumbo]

1. I wrote a generic PS and wrote "Why X" essays for most schools. I felt like I would have come off as disingeuous to adcomms by tailoring. If you have a specific, unique, and compelling connection with a particular school that may be one reason to write a tailored PS. Otherwise, it seems like a lot of unnecessary work that could possibly hurt you to some extent (although numbers really far outweigh these considerations).

2. Schools often explicitly state a page limitation in their applications. If they don't then I would keep it at 2 pages tops.

Just my 2 cents.

[dreamer_13]

1)I mean, if you have the time to tailor, then yea, that would obviously be better. I had generic PSs that I tweaked for each school.

2) follow the school's instructions

1. I wrote a generic PS and wrote "Why X" essays for most schools. I felt like I would have come off as disingeuous to adcomms by tailoring. If you have a specific, unique, and compelling connection with a particular school that may be one reason to write a tailored PS. Otherwise, it seems like a lot of unnecessary work that could possibly hurt you to some extent (although numbers really far outweigh these considerations).

2. Schools often explicitly state a page limitation in their applications. If they don't then I would keep it at 2 pages tops.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you both for clarifying!
For 2), I was wondering for schools that didn't specify a page limit, so I'll keep to the standard 2 pages.

[galadriel3019]

Hello everyone!
I'm currently working on my PS and I had a few questions:

1) What's the general consensus on tailoring a PS to each school? Is it better to write a Why X instead?
2) Is 3 pages double-spaced too long for a PS -- I've been seeing 2/2.5 pages as the maximum

Also would anyone be willing to give me some feedback on my current PS? I will PM those who can.

Thanks!

1) I tailored my PS to each school… but only the last paragraph. So for my standard 2 page statement, 1.5 pages was the same for every school I applied to. By no means is this the only way to do it, but it worked for me. I could capture my specific interest in the school without sometimes "forcing" myself in a why X essay to fill an entire page. I began to feel like I was grasping at straws. I also liked doing it this way because some of the schools I applied to had a list of four or five optional essays (including why X). By tailoring my personal statement a bit, I could branch out and choose a different option than just the why x.

2. Unless schools absolutely specify a max, I don't think you are in trouble if you go over 2. I stuck with two except for Berkeley where we were allowed to go to four.

Happy writing

[dreamer_13]

Hello everyone!
I'm currently working on my PS and I had a few questions:

1) What's the general consensus on tailoring a PS to each school? Is it better to write a Why X instead?
2) Is 3 pages double-spaced too long for a PS -- I've been seeing 2/2.5 pages as the maximum

Also would anyone be willing to give me some feedback on my current PS? I will PM those who can.

Thanks!

1) I tailored my PS to each school… but only the last paragraph. So for my standard 2 page statement, 1.5 pages was the same for every school I applied to. By no means is this the only way to do it, but it worked for me. I could capture my specific interest in the school without sometimes "forcing" myself in a why X essay to fill an entire page. I began to feel like I was grasping at straws. I also liked doing it this way because some of the schools I applied to had a list of four or five optional essays (including why X). By tailoring my personal statement a bit, I could branch out and choose a different option than just the why x.

2. Unless schools absolutely specify a max, I don't think you are in trouble if you go over 2. I stuck with two except for Berkeley where we were allowed to go to four.

Happy writing

Thank you so much for your help! I've been doing the last paragraph tailoring because I feel like it leads in well, but wasn't sure if that was alright.
Thanks again!