Tinieblas. Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 On 11/28/2012, 7:04:32, Swagato said: This year I'm going with Garamond 12, double space. Garamond's a pleasant font, standard enough, but a relief from "yet another TNR." Garamond is the font I have on my resume, and I'm really happy with the way that it looks. I'm trying to edit my writing sample from 19 pages down to 12 for one program (arggg), and I'm considering changing the font from TNR to Garamond. Did it work out okay for you in the end? Or would you say it's not advisable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhr Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 On 11/28/2012, 1:04:32, Swagato said: Last year, I used Georgia, 12 point, single-spaced. My SOPs were around 2,000 words. Please. Do. Not. Repeat. My. Mistake. Georgia is horrible to read. Georgia 12 point looks terrible. Singles-space is bad, bad, bad. And try not to exceed 2 pages, ever. This year I'm going with Garamond 12, double space. Garamond's a pleasant font, standard enough, but a relief from "yet another TNR." Also, I'm using Chicago style everywhere and am not applying to English programs (film studies), so I hope that will not be held against me. Garamond is my preferred font, particularly for stuff like my CV. It's highly readable, well sized, and universally available. When universities have a specific brand standard font on their website and no specific font listed for documents, I tend to default to the university brand standard. One, I know it matches the school's standards for accessibility and readability (things I study), but also because I know it will be a font that people at the school are familiar/comfortable with. FWIW, I would always default to shorter. These folks are reading dozens, if not 100s of documents, so the odds that anyone is reading all 22 (hidden as 20) pages of your sample is unlikely. One of my programs wants <10 and the rest are 15-20, so I'm creating a 12 page sample that I can trim for that one program. Tinieblas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Old Bill Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I did some reading on this topic a year or so ago, and have been using Century Schoolbook for my papers this semester as a result. It's one of the most readable serif fonts, and is widely used in legal fields for that very reason (given the extreme amount that lawyers etc. have to read). As for my applications, I started off by using Times New Roman, but switched to Arial based on advice I received here. Sans serif fonts are easier to read on a screen, and the going assumption at the time was that most adcoms would be reading the apps electronically. Not sure if that holds any water or not, and ultimately I suspect the font doesn't really matter (within reason), but I do think that Times New Roman has largely fallen out of favor in many circles. Tinieblas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haltheincandescent Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 1 hour ago, Wyatt's Terps said: Not sure if that holds any water or not, and ultimately I suspect the font doesn't really matter (within reason), but I do think that Times New Roman has largely fallen out of favor in many circles. Maybe it's just because I work in publishing, & we auto. standardize literally every file we get (it takes about 5 seconds) for readability, but, it almost wouldn't surprise me if some programs run macros on everyone's application files in order to standardize font to whatever is their decided preference, format margins and spacing, add page numbers, take a word/page count, etc. In which case, it really wouldn't matter which font you choose. Tinieblas., __________________________ and 1Q84 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unræd Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) I'm normally as big a typesetting geek as the next guy--I write all my papers in LaTeX, and use Junicode as my default font for its facility in producing attractive medieval characters--but I think WT is right that (assuming your document is readable and professional) font really doesn't matter. I did all my app documents in TNR, and whether or not it's falling out of fashion, it didn't seem to have any adverse effect. Edited November 16, 2015 by unræd Tinieblas., knp, __________________________ and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
__________________________ Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 All my materials were in caroline minuscule. Ramus, unræd and dr. t 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eigen Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I like Calibri as a sans-serif font, but Myriad is also nice. I've been using the former for most of my job materials, as the spacing/size is pretty similar to TNR, but I find the san-serif makes reading on a screen so much easier, and most materials are read as PDFs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unræd Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 39 minutes ago, mollifiedmolloy said: All my materials were in caroline minuscule. (Merovingian chancery hands, man. Or New Roman Cursive. Adcoms today don't know how good they have it.) Of course, what really makes mollifiedmolloy's comment so excellent is that, in the broadest sense, it's true--and is so for everyone here. dr. t and __________________________ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) 33 minutes ago, unræd said: Merovingian chancery hands, man. It says "Theudericus rex francorum vir inlustris" right across the top, as clear as day; what's the problem? Edited November 16, 2015 by telkanuru __________________________, Tinieblas. and unræd 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 1 hour ago, unræd said: I write all my papers in LaTeX, and use Junicode as my default font Wait, there's another medievalist who uses LaTeX? Can we be best friends now? unræd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Q84 Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 7 hours ago, haltheincandescent said: Maybe it's just because I work in publishing, & we auto. standardize literally every file we get (it takes about 5 seconds) for readability, but, it almost wouldn't surprise me if some programs run macros on everyone's application files in order to standardize font to whatever is their decided preference, format margins and spacing, add page numbers, take a word/page count, etc. In which case, it really wouldn't matter which font you choose. I would really love for this to be true, and that they standardize all incoming apps in Comic Sans or (worse yet) Papyrus. haltheincandescent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haltheincandescent Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 3 minutes ago, 1Q84 said: I would really love for this to be true, and that they standardize all incoming apps in Comic Sans or (worse yet) Papyrus. Alternatively.... knp, mk-8, __________________________ and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhetoricus aesalon Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Seriously, I wrote everything in Baskerville. Because of "science": http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670556/are-some-fonts-more-believable-than-others 1Q84 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unræd Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 6 hours ago, haltheincandescent said: Alternatively.... Not today, Satan. Not today. __________________________, knp, Dr. Old Bill and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roquentin Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Too funny. Reminds me of this classic CHE thread: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,32865.0.html unræd, dr. t, Dr. Old Bill and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unræd Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 8 hours ago, telkanuru said: Wait, there's another medievalist who uses LaTeX? Can we be best friends now? \emph{YES}. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haltheincandescent Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 (edited) 44 minutes ago, Roquentin said: Too funny. Reminds me of this classic CHE thread: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,32865.0.html Ohmygosh. I think I now have some good ideas for how to format my personal statement for Michigan (ugh, seriously, you all want a statement of academic purpose and a separate, actually personal, personal statement?.....) I mean, I was considering limericks, but a performance art piece might be a bit more effective in conveying "the [absolutely non-academic] personal journey that has led to my decision to seek a graduate degree." Edited November 17, 2015 by haltheincandescent knp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 55 minutes ago, Roquentin said: Too funny. Reminds me of this classic CHE thread: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,32865.0.html This is now my favorite necrothread ever. 35 minutes ago, unræd said: \emph{YES}. So have you discovered ednotes yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knp Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I would be down for limericks for Michigan! I have been known to answer questions that annoy me by breaking into awful poetry—I believe my AP Government exam was 2/3s completed in governmentally-themed verse. Maybe if we all do it together they'll get the hint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepriorwalter Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 3 hours ago, haltheincandescent said: Ohmygosh. I think I now have some good ideas for how to format my personal statement for Michigan (ugh, seriously, you all want a statement of academic purpose and a separate, actually personal, personal statement?.....) I mean, I was considering limericks, but a performance art piece might be a bit more effective in conveying "the [absolutely non-academic] personal journey that has led to my decision to seek a graduate degree." [whispers] look up the rackham merit fellowship (and how one qualifies). as far as i can tell, that's why they want a second personal statement. if you meet any of those criteria, make sure it comes across in your personal statement. both the funding and non-teaching fellowship years (3 of 6) are very generous under the rmf. *flies away* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinieblas. Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Phew! Managed to get my writing sample down to 12 pages. My font freak-out is over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Q84 Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 On November 16, 2015 at 12:19:53 PM, Chadillac said: Seriously, I wrote everything in Baskerville. Because of "science": http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670556/are-some-fonts-more-believable-than-others Just wanted to come back and say thank you for this. I am now in love with this font and don't know how I ever typed anything in TNR. rhetoricus aesalon and Dr. Old Bill 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now