Writing sample length

[Isaac32]

I am applying for religious studies and theology programs that typically ask for writing samples of no more than 20 pages in length. The paper I want to submit as my writing sample is ten pages in length. Is a writing sample that is significantly shorter than the maximum given detrimental to an application?

Edited November 29, 2014 by Isaac32

[isilya]

I've always wondered that too, because I have one school that says not to submit over 50 pages and I was like...umm, I'm submitting something that's 13, is that going to be bad? I talked to one of my professors and he said that usually writing samples are between 7-10 pages, so that's comforting. That's in linguistics though, so different fields could be different.

[fancypants09]

Joining in on the conversation here...I'm still working on my writing sample (15th is the earliest due date for me), for PhD programs in area studies/literature. The schools I've chosen to apply to have page requirements as follows: 

 

School 1: 10-20 pages, 20 pages MAX 

School 2: 20 pages MIN 

School 3: 10-15 pages, 15 pages MAX

School 4: Approx. 15 pages 

School 5: 10-30 pages 

 

I'm writing a new paper for the writing sample because long story short, I'm switching fields. School 2, which is one of my top choices, is really throwing things off---for some reason I thought they also required 20 pages MAX. However, they also allow additional writing samples, so I've decided to submit the shorter (approx. 15 pager) I'm writing now, together with an excerpt from my undergraduate thesis (or perhaps the whole thing, since they didn't mention a maximum limit---it's around 100 some pages), which was in a related field, to show that I can actually handle the research and writing. 

 

Why do these surprises always pop up at the last minute? Sigh...

[Page228]

My various writing sample requirements are:

 

10-20 pages

5k words (approx. 17 pages)

3-6k words

10-15 pages

 

And two that need two writing samples, but don't specify length. I'm writing a 17 page paper and a 13-15 page paper to meet everyone's demands.

Edited December 3, 2014 by FellowSufferer

[fancypants09]

My various writing sample requirements are:

 

10-20 pages

5k words (approx. 17 pages)

3-6k words

10-15 pages

 

And two that need two writing samples, but don't specify length. I'm writing a 17 page paper and a 13-15 page paper to meet everyone's demands.

 

I've been out of the game for a while so I can't imagine writing that many pages in all one sitting for now. Good luck with all of that!

[Page228]

Thank you! I have also been out of the game awhile (and am switching disciplines as well), which is why I have no suitable/recent writing samples. Love writing... Don't so much love not knowing my second topic yet. Good luck to you too!