Which schools let you write more in your SOP?

[InquilineKea]

I'm particularly interested in physics/astronomy programs. But there might be schools that might have longer word/page limits on the SOP, or they might let you attach a supplement to your SOP. Those schools are what I'm looking for. I'm really relying on getting into grad school through the strength of my PS (Sean Carroll of Cosmic Variance actually said that a strong PS could actually get you in - he ALSO said that most SOPs he saw were *very* cliche).

Edited January 17, 2011 by InquilineKea

[mandarin.orange]

I'm particularly interested in physics/astronomy programs. But there might be schools that might have longer word/page limits on the SOP, or they might let you attach a supplement to your SOP. Those schools are what I'm looking for. I'm really relying on getting into grad school through the strength of my PS (Sean Carroll of Cosmic Variance actually said that a strong PS could actually get you in - he ALSO said that most SOPs he saw were *very* cliche).

Schools may have a page/field at the end where you are allowed to write a supplement. The prompt is pretty open-ended, like "tell us anything you feel will enhance your application or has not been covered," blah blah. I've only heard of being used to (positively and briefly) explain any resume gaps or GPA lapses, but I wonder if there you could attach your PS. For one of my schools, I had to write a Personal History Statement in addition to the SOP (many of the UC schools require this).

What is it you are wanting to include beyond the usual academic background, life/career-shaping experiences, relevant experience, future goals that the SOP covers? Why do you need/want it to be long?

[colormehappy]

Most schools just have you upload a document for your statement. As long as the file size is under the limit, it will upload just fine. If your statement is engaging and well written, I doubt the admissions people are going to stop at the word limit and disregard the rest. That said, if your statement is really long it will stand out and might annoy the readers.

[fuzzylogician]

Most schools just have you upload a document for your statement. As long as the file size is under the limit, it will upload just fine. If your statement is engaging and well written, I doubt the admissions people are going to stop at the word limit and disregard the rest. That said, if your statement is really long it will stand out and might annoy the readers.

If a school has a word-limit, you DON'T want to go (noticeably) over it. The SOP is not going to be the last document you write in academia that has this kind of limit -- abstracts and papers often have similar restrictions. A reviewer (and similarly an adcom member) will simply disregard your submission if you make them work extra-hard. Why should they spend more time on your work, and why should you be given this unfair advantage over others? Bottom line: being able to convey a strong message within an allotted space is crucial in academia. Don't just ignore the requirements.

[InquilineKea]

Yes, I'm definitely going to stick *within* limits. That's the precise reason why I'm looking for programs that have more lenient limits, or that allow additions to the SOP. Some departments are more willing to read longer SOPs than other departments are. They may have a history of admitting applicants who have longer (and more thoughtful) SOPs.

The reason why I want to explain more: I have a *huge* lapse in the middle of my college career where I practically gave up on college in order to pursue my own self-studying (also, I just needed to grow up since I was very immature). It also ruined my GPA (even in easy classes - it's easy to have a low GPA in easy classes when you're not even attending your lectures). Unfortunately, it may take a paragraph to explain, and I don't want it to take up space that could be used to describe my research instead. Unfortunately, since the lapse is HUGE, I cannot leave it unaddressed (I do not believe that it will carry over to graduate school - it was the result of immaturity more than anything else - however - I will have to convince others that it will not carry over)

Plus, when you have low grades even on quarters where you retook classes, it's going to take work to explain. I got much higher grades later on when I took 5 courses in hardcore math/science (2 of them being grad-level courses) - and they're mixed in with other quarters where I only took a 1-2 easy courses and got horrible grades because I just didn't care and skipped my classes.

Edited January 19, 2011 by InquilineKea

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, I'm definitely going to stick *within* limits. That's the precise reason why I'm looking for programs that have more lenient limits, or that allow additions to the SOP. Some departments are more willing to read longer SOPs than other departments are. They may have a history of admitting applicants who have longer (and more thoughtful) SOPs.

The reason why I want to explain more: I have a *huge* lapse in the middle of my college career where I practically gave up on college in order to pursue my own self-studying (also, I just needed to grow up since I was very immature). It also ruined my GPA (even in easy classes - it's easy to have a low GPA in easy classes when you're not even attending your lectures). Unfortunately, it may take a paragraph to explain, and I don't want it to take up space that could be used to describe my research instead. Unfortunately, since the lapse is HUGE, I cannot leave it unaddressed (I do not believe that it will carry over to graduate school - it was the result of immaturity more than anything else - however - I will have to convince others that it will not carry over)

Plus, when you have low grades even on quarters where you retook classes, it's going to take work to explain. I got much higher grades later on when I took 5 courses in hardcore math/science (2 of them being grad-level courses) - and they're mixed in with other quarters where I only took a 1-2 easy courses and got horrible grades because I just didn't care and skipped my classes.

Two thoughts:

Some schools will let you attach an "addendum" to your SOP. It's never an official (required) part of the application, but it could be a way to address your issues without wasting space in the SOP itself. Maybe schools you are interested in allow for this? Other applications have a field for "anything else you feel you need to explain and hasn't been covered elsewhere" or some such, that could also be used for the same purpose.

Your LOR writes are another important resource here. They can address the reasons for your leaving, if you ask them to and explain the situation, even if they didn't know you before. And more importantly, they can speak to your abilities after you returned.

Generally, I'd go about finding which schools to apply to based on fit, then approach the grad coordinator in each of them and ask about a way to explain unusual circumstances. Choosing schools based on SOP word-limit seems like a backwards way of doing things.

[InquilineKea]

Okay thanks for the advice! That makes sense.