Vanderbilt MDiv - Personal Statement

[xypathos]

So is the Personal Statement for Vanderbilt as an MDiv student four actual essays, or are they simply asking you to answer these questions within the context of your personal statement? The wording on the website seems to indicate that they want four actual essays but that seems rather excessive, especially since I can't find any guidance on how long they want these essays to be. Obviously if they're looking for each essay to be say 250 words, that's different than say 2-3 pages for each question.

 

Anyone presently or in the past, have any light to shed on this? I haven't officially started on my application yet. From the schools I'm applying to, Vanderbilt provides a nice framework for me to build around for other schools so I've started on the essays first.

 

Likewise, if there's anyone here who is willing to look at my essay, I'd appreciate it. Context, grammatical errors that I missed, maybe points that you'd like me to elaborate on more, etc. For right now I've written it as a single essay, about 1300 words or four pages double spaced.

[sport1]

As I recall - way back in the day - I wrote several short ones. But the Admissions office is always happy to help answer questions.

[B-612]

I'd definitely say contact the admissions office to get clarification. Asking questions means that you're interested and responsible enough to seek help when needed. I'm a Vandy M.Div. grad (2011) and I recall writing one essay in which I wove the answers to the questions together, though my memory may fail me. 

[DLumpee]

I've had the same question. I just assumed it was 4 essays of any length. The admissions staff is incredibly helpful, though. Let me know if you contact them. 

[xypathos]

I've had the same question. I just assumed it was 4 essays of any length. The admissions staff is incredibly helpful, though. Let me know if you contact them. 

 

I contacted them last week but so far no response. So far I've kept it as one essay but the prompt within the application makes references to essays but also seems like they want one cohesive response. There's also no mention of length guidelines but I'm not too worried about them since I'm following the lengths of other schools and keeping it at about 2-3 pages.

[xypathos]

I've had the same question. I just assumed it was 4 essays of any length. The admissions staff is incredibly helpful, though. Let me know if you contact them. 

 

Vandy just got back in touch with me.

 

As per the original question of one essay or four, they said to write in whatever style works the best for you as an individual.

 

As per the question of length, they said at a minimum they recommend one page double spaced per question. At a maximum, four pages, again per question.

 

That being said, I don't want to be the person who turns in a 16 page personal statement so I'm sticking to four pages.

[DLumpee]

Awesome, thanks so much!

[Perique69]

Be sure to use a "normal" font, too.  They don't like crazy fonts and triple spacing, etc.