SOP is 1212 words

[TexasGuy]

i feel like its too long. Its 2 pages plus 6 lines on the third page... and I haven't written a title yet (wait..do i have to have a title?). Its a word document and im uploading it into my online application.

I am having a MISERABLE time trying to cut it down to ~1000.

First 6 lines- why i like chemical engineering

Next 12 lines- Research project 1

Next 11 lines- Relevant Research project 2

Next 10 lines- 2 courses that are VERY relevant to my proposed research area

Next 9 lines- Relevant Laboratory Project

Next 10 lines - experience in industry

Next 22 lines - Why i like the program and how it will help me with my goals

Last 8 lines- My future and long term aspirations

basically i cant figure out which of these paragraphs needs to be omitted..

and its a size 11 font...if i make the font 12 it will look even longer and im afraid they;ll toss my application in the trash...

what should i do?

Edited January 24, 2012 by TexasGuy

[finknottle]

Trim the opening paragraph and the one about courses. And you don't "need" to get it under 1k really. 1100 should be fine too. So just knock off 100 words. It would be ~1.5 pages which is alright. If there isn't a hard limit, even 1.2k is alright. People don't count the number of words when they are reading an essay. If you submit pdfs, I don't think the word count would be displayed either. So just maintain the natural flow of things and keep it interesting. No point fussing over a 100 words here and there.

[TexasGuy]

yeah i'll be uploading it as a pdf....does it need to have a title before my intro paragraph?

[surefire]

i feel like its too long. Its 2 pages plus 6 lines on the third page... and I haven't written a title yet (wait..do i have to have a title?). Its a word document and im uploading it into my online application.

I am having a MISERABLE time trying to cut it down to ~1000.

and its a size 11 font...if i make the font 12 it will look even longer and im afraid they;ll toss my application in the trash...

what should i do?

What is the phrasing pertaining to the SOP? Does it say 1000 words? 1000 is generally thought to be about two pages. Edit that thing until it is two pages WITH SIZE 12 FONT! I understand that you've made the font size 11 so it doesn't look longer, but you need to trust what that apprehension indicates... that is, that it's too long. General formatting is 1" margins all around, size 12 font, double-space. You should default to that where there are no alternative stipulations.

I've mentioned this elsewhere. I've been on an admissions committee. finknottle is right to point out that words are not counted by the adcomm; so if the guidelines said 1000 words and a paper was 1027, but still on two pages AND within the general formatting guidelines I've stipulated above, I wouldn't notice.

However, I DID notice if someone had done any of the following:

-messed with the margins

- messed with the line spacing

- messed with the font

Here's the thing, adcomms look at hundreds of these things, when there are a few that diverge, it's noticeable. I did not bounce anyone outright for going over the limit, there wasn't a "over the limit SOP - reject!" application pile. However, ones that were over the limit (and worse, those over the limit that tries to hide it in a sneaky way) were irritating (also, hard on the eyes). After reading SO MANY other SOPs, when you get to an over-limit one, you CAN'T HELP but think: who is this applicant who can't follow instructions, who thinks that they deserve more space and more of my time than other applicants. That was the biggest part for me: the committee takes great pains with guidelines to try and ensure that EVERY applicant gets a fair shake, when someone tries to alter the parameters of the application, it feels like they don't respect the committee, the process, or other applicants. It annoyed me, and WHY would you want an adcomm to be annoyed when reading your SOP, it's not a good introduction and it's just not worth it.

Edit the SOP. Every one else is performing in the alotted space, you can as well.

yeah i'll be uploading it as a pdf....does it need to have a title before my intro paragraph?

Good news for you here. Every line counts right? If you need that first line, (and IF there are no specific stipulations as to format) then just inbed the title/your name/page number in a header. That's what I did for mine. It ensures that your info is there, within generally acceptable formatting, but saves you space and is not obnoxious/hard to read.

I know that this was kind of a bad news/good news post, and probably not what you wanted to hear. But it's honest. You can totally do this, and when you get it within the 1000-word range, it's going to feel awesome; and when you send it in, you won't give yourself an ulcer worrying that you've miffed the committee. Good luck!

Edited January 24, 2012 by surefire

[TexasGuy]

12 size font and DOUBLE SPACED??? i would have to cut out 3/4 of it!! lol...

this school is asking me to describe my research and experience..as well as why im applying to their school

I think one of my applications does say 750 words so i'll probably take out one of my research projects since it is in my resume

[TexasGuy]

surefire im taking your advice and using 12 size font. Currently chopping everything down so it fits on two pages

[Helpplease123]

Think it really depends on the school - i've had some ask for 3 pages but no mention on fonts, spacing etc, others numbers of pages with formatting guidelines and other with word counts. Some have asked for double spacing, some for 1.5 and some haven't mentioned - same with font sizes. The important thing is to follow the guidelines. I can't see you being penalised for 1200 vs 1000 words if the school has made no specifications to the contrary.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Helpplease123

[TexasGuy]

Ok Cool. Thanks.

[Andsowego]

Trim the opening paragraph and the one about courses. And you don't "need" to get it under 1k really. 1100 should be fine too. So just knock off 100 words. It would be ~1.5 pages which is alright. If there isn't a hard limit, even 1.2k is alright. People don't count the number of words when they are reading an essay. If you submit pdfs, I don't think the word count would be displayed either. So just maintain the natural flow of things and keep it interesting. No point fussing over a 100 words here and there.

I disagree with this where hard word limits are concerned. I've mentioned this in another thread, that I was the student rep on the admissions committee for my department, so I can speak from that context. Don't give an admissions committee ANY reason to throw out your application (or even to be annoyed with it!). Word count matters. I can only speak from my experience, but here's what happens in my department: the graduate secretary reviews all the applications to make sure there's nothing missing, AND she includes the exact SOP word count on a cover page for the ad comm. All pdf's or word doc's are easy to establish word count. One year, I sat on the committee with a prof who wanted to literally black out every single word beyond the limit with a sharpie marker before the application was evaluated. So yes. Word count really does matter! Why risk pissing people off simply because you think you're smart enough to fool them? It indicates a sense of arrogance on the part of the applicant.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Andsowego

[finknottle]

Wow, that sounds a bit extreme. Anyway, my point is that of course the best thing to keep it under the word limit specified. However, depending on the number of applications, the time you spend on customizing each SOP, and the rest of your work/research/life that you need to do, getting the word count perfect for essays can become quite harrowing. When I write essays, I assume an open minded reader who is really more interested in knowing about my work or research than the exact word count. Exceeding the word count by a small margin is not at all about arrogance or fooling people. I just assume that everyone is aware of the larger picture and context and details like these don't come in the way. I don't think I would want to go to a school or work with supervisors who feel otherwise. Life is too short and too interesting to be agonizing over word counts.

Edited January 24, 2012 by finknottle

[-hermes-]

Can I be "that person" and ask what font people prefer to use? That also makes a difference with regards to page length, despite the font size restriction!

[Helpplease123]

I disagree with this where hard word limits are concerned. I've mentioned this in another thread, that I was the student rep on the admissions committee for my department, so I can speak from that context. Don't give an admissions committee ANY reason to throw out your application (or even to be annoyed with it!). Word count matters. I can only speak from my experience, but here's what happens in my department: the graduate secretary reviews all the applications to make sure there's nothing missing, AND she includes the exact SOP word count on a cover page for the ad comm. All pdf's or word doc's are easy to establish word count. One year, I sat on the committee with a prof who wanted to literally black out every single word beyond the limit with a sharpie marker before the application was evaluated. So yes. Word count really does matter! Why risk pissing people off simply because you think you're smart enough to fool them? It indicates a sense of arrogance on the part of the applicant.

This sounds like an incredibly extreme version of most places...i've heard repeatedly, 10% over is fine and most places do not count words, they know roughly how long the essay should be and that's what they're looking for. It can be time consuming to establish word counts on however many files as you attach the documents in pdf and so they'd need to paste it back into word, plus even in word some people include titles others don't - so even just highlighting the text minus title would take a minute and they're getting hundreds of applications...

[Andsowego]

I disagree with this where hard word limits are concerned. I've mentioned this in another thread, that I was the student rep on the admissions committee for my department, so I can speak from that context. Don't give an admissions committee ANY reason to throw out your application (or even to be annoyed with it!). Word count matters. I can only speak from my experience, but here's what happens in my department: the graduate secretary reviews all the applications to make sure there's nothing missing, AND she includes the exact SOP word count on a cover page for the ad comm. All pdf's or word doc's are easy to establish word count. One year, I sat on the committee with a prof who wanted to literally black out every single word beyond the limit with a sharpie marker before the application was evaluated. So yes. Word count really does matter! Why risk pissing people off simply because you think you're smart enough to fool them? It indicates a sense of arrogance on the part of the applicant.

Wow, that sounds a bit extreme. Anyway, my point is that of course the best thing to keep it under the word limit specified. However, depending on the number of applications, the time you spend on customizing each SOP, and the rest of your work/research/life that you need to do, getting the word count perfect for essays can become quite harrowing. When I write essays, I assume an open minded reader who is really more interested in knowing about my work or research than the exact word count. Exceeding the word count by a small margin is not at all about arrogance or fooling people. I just assume that everyone is aware of the larger picture and context and details like these don't come in the way. I don't think I would want to go to a school or work with supervisors who feel otherwise. Life is too short and too interesting to be agonizing over word counts.

Writing an essay is completely different than writing an SOP for grad school entry. Yes, getting the word count right can be a harrowing experience (I've been through tons of these trials), but exceeding the word count by even a small margin does project a sense of arrogance (again, my opinion). It implies that you think your words or ideas are so important or significant that you have the right to exceed the standards that others are adhering to. Writing an SOP for grad school is excellent practice for learning how to write academic funding grant applications (or conference proposals, or publishable papers, etc.) and there is absolutely no room there for a person to go beyond a required word count simply because they believe what they have to say is Just. That. Important. Intentionally choosing to exceed a word count limit is about ego. A very important part of becoming a successful grad student (and future scholar) is learning how to express your academic ideas succinctly within limits, and learning how to elegantly refine your arguments. I see required word counts as an opportunity to do that (however "harrowing" that task may be).

Edited January 25, 2012 by Andsowego

[fuzzylogician]

If you're successful now you'll have to deal with many word/page/whatever counts in the future. Grant proposals, conference abstracts, proceedings papers, full-length journal papers - most academic writing is done under some kind of limit. If you don't meet the requirements, your work may not be reviewed/accepted; would you really risk a multi-million dollar grant for an extra 212 words? Similarly with SOPs. There are more strong applicants than open positions in any incoming cohort, and you are not more special than anyone else who is applying. Why take the risk? Everyone can get their pitch across in the alloted space, so can you.

[TexasGuy]

hey guys...should i just talk about research areas that interest me or should I include professor names?

[coonskee]

The SOP I wrote had a word limit of "around 500 words," so I used the 10% over/under rule and had, I think, 545 words in my final version. I got an interview, so apparently I didn't piss too many people off

hey guys...should i just talk about research areas that interest me or should I include professor names?

In my personal experience, I mentioned three professors with whom I would be interested in working. This is because my desired areas of research are microbiology and pharmacology, but I haven't hammered out exactly what I want to do yet - therefore, I mentioned my interest in those labs to show what kinds of things I'm interested in, and also to show that I'm thinking ahead (each professor got one sentence with a project I'd be interested in working on with him or her). I think stating which professor you'd enjoy working with helps you really demonstrate fit, but if you manage to show fit while talking about general research areas - well, more power to ya!