SoP word limits

[Kitkat]

That is very true. After all, here we are talking about wanting to go to grad school, they want to see how serious you are about the application.

The main point I think most people though, is not that they want to hand in anything late really, or that they need to double the essay length to truly get across why they would be good for a program (although in some cases I think that they would), but rather, how much over is too much and getting into that situation you imply in your example? I think everyone in these forums understands the fact that many adcomms have a lot of applications to look through, and will only want to read so much before their eyes glaze over.

[process chemist]

My SOP is 1350 words long. I have a really long reasearch history, and I don't have a word limit on it. Should I shorten it to ~1000. As it stands, my SOP is roughly 3.2 pages long.

[rising_star]

My SOP is 1350 words long. I have a really long reasearch history, and I don't have a word limit on it. Should I shorten it to ~1000. As it stands, my SOP is roughly 3.2 pages long.

Yes, you should shorten it. Most of your research history should be on your CV, not in your SOP.