500 words

[captiv8ed]

Very difficult.

Wait, scratch very because that uses a precious word.

Onerous

I am up to 372 and haven't even gotten through my background.

Anyone else having trouble smooshing qualifications and ambitions into 500 words?

[rising_star]

Strip it to the bare bones. Start by telling them what you want to study and why, then explain why you're qualified to do so.

[KieBelle]

Oh yeah. My first SOP is close to 800 words. That's fine for the school I wrote it for, but I have 5 others that only want 500 words (and one even gave a range of 300-500 words! how can you possibly explain your background, academic goals, future career goals, and why you want to attend that school in 300 words?!). I have no clue where I'm going to shave 300 words off this essay. I've given it to one of my friends who's currently in grad school (and a fabulous writer) and just told her to butcher it- hack away! And of course there's the school that wants 1200 words, which means I'm actually going to have to expand this wretched essay. Good times!!

[alexis]

I first wrote my full SoP that I will use for most schools (about 1000 words), put it aside, and later was able to cut it to 500 words for the program that had the word limit. I had to leave out some stuff I wanted to include, but oh well, 500 is not that much. For me it's easier to write a lot and THEN cut it down, but I know everyone works differently.

[captiv8ed]

Oh! I just reread and found my shortest one is actually 1 page, not 500 words!! Decreased font size, here I come!

Actually I am pretty close to wrap up with standard Word 07 and haven't reached the bottom of the page yet, so I think I might be safe.