Writing Sample: is there a minimum length?

[davidipse]

Hello!

 

The website of this English PhD program ask for writing samples to be "no more than 20 pgs." No minimum length is specified, but it needs to be only one paper.

 

I have 2 options:

 

1) an excerpt (first half, and conclusion) of my 40pg senior thesis,. This is a good paper and got an A+, but is not as related as the other one to what I propose to study in graduate school.

 

2) Or I can submit a 13 pg. paper that's the most polished thing I've ever written. It engages exactly the topics my statement of purpose says I want to do my dissertation on. In 13 pgs, it says more than the 20 pgs of my thesis excerpt. It's much more succinct.

 

Anyway, is 13 pgs (1 pg. is works cited, so it's really 12 pgs) too short to submit. I'm afraid that even though the program website doesn't specify a minimum, there's an unspoken rule that the sample must be as close to the designated page limit as possible.

 

This is due tomorrow, by the way, so I can't really expand the shorter paper. Thanks a lot.

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

There's no unspoken rule, except to submit the piece with the very best content, which will be most representative of your capabilities.