Found a Tiny Standard Font and Feel Like I'm Cheating

[Artifex_Archer]

The title summarizes it fairly well. I'm a theorist, which means I'm wordy; and I'm finalizing my SOP for a school that specifies a page limit rather than a word cutoff. Several months ago, I discovered the wonders of the 12-point Aparajita and will never go back. It sounds like a fine wine, but it's so much better than that: it looks a bit like a cross between Garamond and Times, although it's visibly smaller than Garamond (which is the second smallest standard font that I know of). There's nothing wonky about the script; it's legible and tidy. I dig it.

I know better than to mess with the point size, margins, or the character spacing, but am even now slightly over the page limit even with Aparajita (still making cuts). Again, it's legible in terms of script and size, but yes, there is a visible size difference between it and most other 12 pt. fonts.

I'm not trying to trick anyone, and I also don't think that my ideas 'deserve' the extra space. That said, I'd like to be able to make as efficient use as possible of the space I AM allotted and this is, technically, 'legal'.

So, what are people's thoughts? Could this possibly hurt me if I don't try to pull any of the typical page-constraint shenanigans?

[Sigaba]

55 minutes ago, Artifex_Archer said:

So, what are people's thoughts? 

IMO, there are quite a few aspiring graduate students this season who are trying to overcome page/word limits. My concern is that while some are looking for sizing and spacing tactics that will get those last words/paragraphs in, others are crafting, refining, and rewriting their SOPs and WSs so that they're both in compliance with recommended limits and better works because of the effort.

In your case, members of admissions committees could just say to themselves, "I couldn't make out this font, so I stopped reading, and moved on to the next application."

[ElenaParent]

On 11/30/2019 at 5:44 PM, Artifex_Archer said:

The title summarizes it fairly well. I'm a theorist, which means I'm wordy; and I'm finalizing my SOP for a school that specifies a page limit rather than a word cutoff. Several months ago, I discovered the wonders of the 12-point Aparajita and will never go back. It sounds like a fine wine, but it's so much better than that: it looks a bit like a cross between Garamond and Times, although it's visibly smaller than Garamond (which is the second smallest standard font that I know of). There's nothing wonky about the script; it's legible and tidy. I dig it.

I know better than to mess with the point size, margins, or the character spacing, but am even now slightly over the page limit even with Aparajita (still making cuts). Again, it's legible in terms of script and size, but yes, there is a visible size difference between it and most other 12 pt. fonts.

I'm not trying to trick anyone, and I also don't think that my ideas 'deserve' the extra space. That said, I'd like to be able to make as efficient use as possible of the space I AM allotted and this is, technically, 'legal'.

So, what are people's thoughts? Could this possibly hurt me if I don't try to pull any of the typical page-constraint shenanigans?

Dude, you gotta be kidding me. The whole idea of saying "use 12-point font" is to make sure that the font is easy to read FOR THE OLD PEOPLE who will be reading your stuff. And, to reduce the number of words they should read. And, to check whether you can express yourself in a few sentences, without writing "War and Peace".

No one interested in your tricks. They just want BIG letters. 

As for theoreticians being wordy... I don't know man. MY son is a theoretical mathematician. All his texts are one liners. All his sentences are short and to the point.

Look. I created this account just for the purpose of answering you. If you know what's best for you - stop playing games and find a way to say what you need in 500 words, in a normal font, fitting it onto one page that your grandma can read without glasses.

Edited December 3, 2019 by ElenaParent

[Artifex_Archer]

21 hours ago, ElenaParent said:

Dude, you gotta be kidding me. The whole idea of saying "use 12-point font" is to make sure that the font is easy to read FOR THE OLD PEOPLE who will be reading your stuff. And, to reduce the number of words they should read. And, to check whether you can express yourself in a few sentences, without writing "War and Peace".

No one interested in your tricks. They just want BIG letters. 

As for theoreticians being wordy... I don't know man. MY son is a theoretical mathematician. All his texts are one liners. All his sentences are short and to the point.

Look. I created this account just for the purpose of answering you. If you know what's best for you - stop playing games and find a way to say what you need in 500 words, in a normal font, fitting it onto one page that your grandma can read without glasses.

Okay, take it easy. I appreciate both of your thoughts, and would refer you [non-snarkily] to the entirety of my post, in which I tried to clarify that, first, the font was still legible [no weird serif-y ish, and about the size of a Garamond 11/11.5]; second, that I was NOT trying to ‘trick’ anyone—that was precisely my reason for asking the question—and was still making cuts to fit the specified page requirement; and finally, I am aware that length limits exist for many reasons, most of them very good ones. 

Now that the mostly playful collegial indignation is out of the way...

To your point, I also should have clarified that I’m a theorist in the humanities. Many, though not all, of us can be a bit more loquacious than those in STEM disciplines. [Side note: that’s so cool that your son is a mathematical theorist! Do you mind my asking what he specializes in?]
 

NB: Not that I meant to hurt anyone with my initial remark about being a theorist. It was self-deprecating, and I understand that that doesn’t always translate well over the ether. 
 

I also should have clarified that I found Aparajita while playing around with different fonts for aesthetic reasons on an unrelated project. It was never part of some devious campaign to ‘own teh adcommz,’ or whatever. My general philosophy is that people should spend less time on that and more time on expressing themselves coherently and succinctly, as you point out.

 

Finally, as an update, I did manage to make the necessary length cuts, and it’s a good thing, too, since while the Aparajita font is normal-looking, it translates to Arial [which is gnar-bar] on certain web portals. I checked just for giggles last night. So for anyone who’s reading this and IS interested in ‘tricks,’ [which I was not, and which I repeat since I consider this important and since I know people tend to scroll to the end of responses]: you don’t need them; and this ain’t one of them. 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Artifex_Archer