personal statement length?

[n22]

hey guys! is it okay if the personal statement is over a page? (single spaced) I know some colleges will list the requirement but others have not. I think mine would be alot better if it was a little more than a page but some professors have been very insistent that it should only be one page? thanks for your input!

[Rose Garden]

Did the program that you're applying to not give you specific details on page or word limit?  I'd go by what they want. 

[slporbust2016]

I've been told that if the program doesn't specify, you should keep it to two double-spaced pages or about 500 words. If they do specify, you should follow their guidelines precisely, of course. 

[OverCaffeinated]

Unless there's a specification (and there usually is. Try emailing ) I would keep it 3000 characters.  I think that's about 500 words 

[DeWi]

I would ask each school individually if it's not already listed. I've done the same, and gotten wildly different answers: 1 page double spaced, 2 pages single spaced, 1.5 pages at 1.5 spacing, etc. It's best to check with each school to be sure.

[eggfish]

U of Illinois asks for "approximately 500 words in length but a maximum of one page".  I'm used to writing double-spaced, but is this asking for a single-spaced statement? 500 words is about 1 1/2 pages double-spaced.  

[jpiccolo]

U of Illinois asks for "approximately 500 words in length but a maximum of one page".  I'm used to writing double-spaced, but is this asking for a single-spaced statement? 500 words is about 1 1/2 pages double-spaced.  

I did all my essays single spaced and I had many. I think they'd rather see it all together, not with specific formatting like a normal paper.