Spacing in SoP?

[goodbye I]

If a school states that your statement of purpose should be approximately x number of pages, is it assumed that this is x number of single spaced pages?

[ssk2]

Is there no word count or character limit?

My statements of purpose are either 1 page single spaced or 2 pages double spaced - which I'm told (and have read) is an optimal size.

[goodbye I]

Is there no word count or character limit?

My statements of purpose are either 1 page single spaced or 2 pages double spaced - which I'm told (and have read) is an optimal size.

That sounds right for most programs. I have seen 700 words as a pretty common recommendation/requirement. This particular program asks for four pages. Four pages single-spaced would be a dream come true, which makes me lean towards the assumption that they mean four pages double-spaced.

[ssk2]

The latter sounds more plausible - the shorter, the better!

[TMP]

Double. Be concise! 2 pages single spaced is... a lot of fluff. Really.

[GradHooting]

2 pages is too much? That's actually the first time I have heard this. Most of the admissions websites I see say 1.5-2 pages or so. I may have to cut back a lot. I'm at roughly 1100 words.

Edited October 9, 2012 by GradHooting

[ssk2]

2 pages single spaced. Depends on the font, font size and line spacing you use. I have about a thousand words too - this is close to 1 page when I use single line spacing and fits nicely under 2 pages when I use 1.3x spacing.

[grazzle]

I was thinking that after you submitted your SOP online, someone at admissions was just going to reformat it and print a copy for everyone on the admissions committee. I didn't think spacing mattered as much as word count. Although for one school they want a hard copy, I guess they'll just photocopy it to hand out.

[mbrown0315]

I think the expectations differ among fields. Humanities and the less quantitative social sciences may be more open to a 3- or 4-page statement of purpose, while computer science and chemistry may be less interested in your life experiences and all that. Graduate schools that house both English Literature and Bioinformatics may post a word limit for the statement of purpose that does not necessarily apply to all of the programs. For example, Harvard's application form calls for a maximum of 1,000 words, but I talked to the graduate secretary at the sociology department and found out that this limit is not enforced at all in the department. I was also told that my 4-page, double-spaced statement of purpose is just fine.

In short, call your programs and find out what they want.