Personal Statement - No Text Requirements

[koalalover1]

Hey fellow speech applicants! I have a quick question. Have any of you guys been applying to schools that have a personal statement prompt, but no font or page requirement? If so, what is your general rule of thumb?

I've heard between 500-700 words, but that is just me. Do schools really care how many words you type? I have a personal statement for a school with no requirements, but I do not want to sound like I am talking too much. Without editing it, I have 806 word (yikes!). But is is less that two pages in size 12 font, 1.5 space. This one also required that I answer five questions, whereas most of the other schools I am applying to are more general. Is 806 too many? I can easily rid some of it if that is too many! It is one of my top school choices, so I do not want to blow this one! I have another personal statement I wrote that has 696 words, but it is much more general. 

I also know that some schools like 500 words or less. I will be writing alternate personal statements for those as well.

Edited November 12, 2015 by koalalover1

[esopha]

I've tried to keep mine under 2 pages. For a document like this, the 250 words per page thing doesn't really apply because I assume you're taking up all of the real estate on the page, right? The 250 word per page rule is very general and academic works rarely adhere to it* (it's usually more like 310 words a page, in my experience, though that's not how my SOP ended up being). BUT, since the rule of thumb exists, I try to keep to 2 pages without counting the words.

My SOP is around 800 words as well. Keep the margins standard and you should be fine.

*Source: I used to work in academic publishing.

[PinkSpeech]

I would email the school and ask what length would be preferable if you want to go for the longer one. Generally I would say 500 - 700 words or two double spaced pages, with 12-point Times New Roman font and standard margins. 

[jpiccolo]

I think I submitted a couple that were two pages single spaced. I'm pretty sure one school told me i could go from 1-3 pages to say whatever I needed to say. I'd say 3 is pushing it but I got into schools with two page SOPs. Best to email them and see if they have any preference or how long of an sop typical applicants have at that school. 

[koalalover1]

Thanks for the feedback everybody! I ended up emailing the school. They said that there were no requirements, but to keep in mind, the people who read the letters read so many of them, so the font and spacing should be reasonable. Mine is size 12, 1.5 spacing, no change in margin, and it fits on two pages. I should be good then!  Let's just hope it's enough to be considered.