Writing Sample Length Restriction

[Bopie5]

Hi everyone! 

I've reached a little conundrum in my application process. UCSB states that their "suggested length" for a writing sample is 10 pages, whereas almost every other school I'm applying to has been either 15-20 or 12-25. Unfortunately, I don't have a paper that neatly fits into UCSB's 10 page suggested length while also falling into my category of desired research (feminism and gender theory; embodiment, 20th-century). 

Here are my options. Any advice would be very helpful!

1) Submitting the 20 page paper that I'm using for all of my other schools and showcases my best writing while demonstrating the kind of theoretical work I want to do, despite the fact that it's way over the suggested length (a Kristevan reading of bodies, motherhood, and suffering in My Name is Asher Lev)

2) Submitting a 14 page paper that also shows my writing well, but not as well as Paper 1, and fits into my desired theory but not my desired period (a feminist reading of Frankenstein emphasizing gender roles and the feminine as monstrous)

3) Submitting a 12 page paper that's closest to the suggested length and shows my writing better than Paper 2, but isn't in my research area and doesn't really show the kind of theoretical work I plan to do (a literary-historical analysis placing a short story by Kate Chopin in its 1893 context to discuss how multiraciality and ambiguously raced bodies function in the literature and culture of the 1890s)

4) Picking a 10 page excerpt from Paper 1 and submitting it with an abstract of the paper as a whole.

Help! 

[Bumblebea]

Submit your very very best paper. Write a very clear abstract for it for those who do not want to read the whole thing. (And, hidden truth time, no one on an adcom reads your entire paper anyway--especially not in the first round. They look at the intro and the first pages closely and then skim the rest.) 

"Suggested length" is just suggested. 

[WildeThing]

If you can reduce your paper to 10 pages (perhaps placing it in context with a preface), I would do that. There is something to be said for respecting limits. Perhaps submitting 20 pages won’t lead to a straight rejection, but I don’t think committees would appreciate it either (could be interpreted as giving them extra work, as laziness, or worse, inability to write concisely or even an inability to judge the quality of your own work). 

That said, I would send your best work always.

[bernardthepug]

Not really sure which option you should go with, I think it's ultimately up to your gut feel, but I emailed UCSB specifically about the WS page length...an option they suggested to me was to submit a 10 page excerpt and include a bracketed part at the beginning that talks about the context of the paper and also explains what is not included in the excerpt. so basically a more informal, though still well written, abstract is what i'm planning to submit.

[Warelin]

I think writing an abstract and reducing your strongest paper to 10 pages is the best way to go. In the best case scenario, ignoring their suggestion will result in nothing happening. It might also result in the committee choosing to stop reading after the 10th page. In the worst case scenario, ignoring their suggestion could lead them to question your ability to follow directions and might have them question if you'd be able to work with or if they'd even like to work with you. I think this is also good practice for academia or other jobs. For publications, every journal has a different set of instructions to follow. Some will want MLA; some will want APA; some will want chicago style. Some will want 5000 words; Some will want 6000 words and it'll be likely that your word count will be higher than what they want and editing will be an important part of those submissions. And then there's the academic job market where each school will have different ways of how they want your philosophy of teaching statement, your CV (which will change depending on whether it's a teaching-oriented or research-focused college/university) and various other parts of the application. 

[Bopie5]

@Bumblebea @WildeThing @bernardthepug @Warelin 

Thank you all so much for the help and advice!!! I think I'll excerpt 10 pages from the strongest paper and add a short abstract detailing the overall arguments of the paper to the beginning. I agree @Warelin that disregarding the length is neutral at best and detrimental to my application at worst, and I don't want to do anything that knowingly jeopardizes my chances at getting accepted.

Wish applications were just more consistent across the board about their requirements, but what can you do! Gotta make the best of it and send my best work in. Thanks again for the input

[Bumblebea]

It's been my (admittedly limited) experience that adcoms don't really pay that much attention to the length limits they set. Moreover, most graduate-level seminars assign 20-page papers due at the end of the semester, so "20 pages" is kind of a standard length for academic work in grad school, representing about the number of pages a grad student needs to do a well-researched paper with an intro, a historical context/lit review, close reading, and conclusion.

Having said that, it's always good if you can cut your writing sample wherever you can for the sake of clarity and cohesion and readability. If you can say what you need to say in 15 pages rather than 20, then you should give them 15. 

ETA: All that is to say, though, that I highly doubt a member of the committee would toss out a very compelling writing sample because it exceeds the limits. These programs are looking for the most talented applicants--not the ones who follow the rules. 

Edited December 10, 2018 by Bumblebea

[Bopie5]

@Bumblebea Unfortunately the 20 page sample as it is has already been cut down from around 27! So it's gotten pretty lean for the theoretical moves I'm making. I think there's about an 8-12 page section that demonstrates my best writing and thinking, so I'm planning to excerpt that and put an abstract of the whole paper at the beginning. Since 10 is only a suggested length, I think I could get away with 11 or 12, but maybe not with 20! ?

[kef5]

Hi all,

I'm a bit (2 pages) over the writing sample limit for an application, but one of my professors suggested that I change the font size to TNR 11 instead of going with the usual 12-point font. I'm inclined to trust this professor's opinion (they recently graduated from where I'm applying to), but I don't want to raise any eyebrows with a smaller font size. 

Any thoughts?

Edited December 12, 2018 by kef5

[elx]

7 minutes ago, kef5 said:

Hi all,

I'm a bit (2 pages) over the writing sample limit for an application, but one of my professors suggested that I change the font size to TNR 11 instead of going with the usual 12-point font. I'm inclined to trust this professor's opinion (they recently graduated from where I'm applying to), but I don't want to raise any eyebrows with a smaller font size. 

Any thoughts?

I've been told by about three people to NOT MESS with the font size (always very dramatically - in caps!) I think changing line spacing (from 2.0 to 1.5/1) is a much safer bet. Or filling up any white space you might have. Basically, I was told to not do anything outside standard formatting because it's going to look like you're hiding something.

edit: changing line spacing only, of course, if they haven't specified that it needs to be single/double spaced.

Edited December 12, 2018 by elx

[WildeThing]

I think that for a committee reading hundreds of papers one that is in the wrong font will stand out. If it specified 12 I wouldn’t mess with it. 

[Glasperlenspieler]

57 minutes ago, kef5 said:

Hi all,

I'm a bit (2 pages) over the writing sample limit for an application, but one of my professors suggested that I change the font size to TNR 11 instead of going with the usual 12-point font. I'm inclined to trust this professor's opinion (they recently graduated from where I'm applying to), but I don't want to raise any eyebrows with a smaller font size. 

 Any thoughts?

Alternative idea: give Garamond a try. It's an academically and professionally acceptable font, that in my opinion is more attractive than times new roman. And 12 point Garamond is slightly smaller than 12 point times new roman.

[Bumblebea]

Two pages over the limit is not a big deal. Don't mess with the font size, spacing, or margins (which will only hurt the readability).