OSCAR Writing Samples Forum

[fisch]

I need help with OSCAR re writing samples

Oscar insists on a pdf of less than 300kb. But, judges want 10-15 page samples, and a pdf like that is more than 1 KB? So, how does this work?

[station4]

http://compress.smallpdf.com/

This will compress your PDF into a usable size and it's free. I guess alternatively you can find someone with a real version of Adobe (not just the Reader), however, I used this for all my OSCAR apps and it worked great.

[futurehorse]

I assume you mean "more than one 1 MB"? How are you creating the PDF? Scanning it using a home printer with minimal functions might make it that big -- it also probably doesn't look that great.

I highly recommend setting your printer to "Save as PDF" in Word, or simply using the "Save as PDF" function outlined here if you have Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word- ... 64992.aspx. My 10-page writing sample clocks in at 51 kb.

[fisch]

You're exactly right. For reasons no one who is not old would understand, I only have a printed copy of the writing sample. I did scan it on a printer as a pdf. I will try to follow your directions

Thanks for the help!

[fisch]

Wait,

I don't think I can it as a pdf from my scanner. I don't have a document in word. I only have a hard copy. I also still have windows xp circa 2004 so I don't have the microsoft office icon it is talking about.

Any ideas? If I retype the hard copy as a new word document and then convert to pdf, will that do it? (ugh, to retype and proofread an appellate brief is a drag)

[fisch]

Station 4

I downloaded wise convert from your link. But when I ran the program it only seems to convert files into pdf. I need it to take an existing pdf into a smaller one.

Am I missing something?

[legalese_retard]

If you are still in law school, go to your career services office and tell them you need to upload the document on OSCAR. If they can't, have them upload it on your school's symplicity website then save that copy on your computer. You can also try using one of the library's computer. I am sure they have the advanced version of adobe that will allow you to compress the file.

If all else fails, go to Kinkos and have them scan and upload the file for you. They will probably charge you a couple of bucks, but I think it will be worth it to avoid the headaches.

[Pokemon]

Acrobat will compress your files. Your school's library should have it.

[Pokemon]

Wait,

I don't think I can it as a pdf from my scanner. I don't have a document in word. I only have a hard copy. I also still have windows xp circa 2004 so I don't have the microsoft office icon it is talking about.

Any ideas? If I retype the hard copy as a new word document and then convert to pdf, will that do it? (ugh, to retype and proofread an appellate brief is a drag)

Huge mistake. What if you discover a typo????

[Anonymous User]

Just a warning/heads up - be careful using online compressors. At one point I used one to compress a writing sample file (I had saved the Word file as a PDF, which created a huge file) and it eliminated all the italics in the document. I almost submitted it, then realized at the last minute that it was messed up. I ended up printing to PDF from Word which worked fine.

[fisch]

Thank you and bless you to the people who replied. I ended up taking it to kinkos and got it done.

[dannynoonan87]

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