Statement of Purpose length requirements

[abisch]

Hello all,

I apologize if this topic has been discussed in a previous thread. 

I'm wondering how important it is to make the length requirements for the statements of purpose. I've heard from numerous professors and grad students that the writing sample lengths suggested on many programs' websites are arbitrary, and that it is acceptable to submit a writing sample that is a couple pages over the requested length. With that being said, does the same apply for statements of purpose? I am currently at approximately 1000 words; two pages if I use 11pt font and make the margins smaller. Some of the programs I'm applying to ask for a maximum of 500 words or one page only. I'm hoping that a longer statement of purpose won't hurt, but as applications begin to get closer, I begin to get more paranoid. 

[sidebysondheim]

If I was on an adcom and had to read a couple hundred statements of purpose, I'd probably unconsciously hate anyone who went over the limit and made me read more. 

 

Take that for whatever it's worth.

[knp]

Some of my applications suggested a length, something like, "most successful statements of purpose are between 2 and 3 double spaced pages." In that case, going slightly over is probably fine. I expect that that's an extremely different situation than going past a stated maximum. What do you think you will gain by submitting 1000 words to a place that asked for an SOP of "no more than one page"? At best, you look like you didn't bother to read their directions.

[maxhgns]

Going over by a little bit is OK. Going over by a lot or by a noticeable amount is not. Screwing with the size and margins counts as 'noticeable'. When it says 'one page' and you have one sentence on a second page, that's noticeable too. When it's 500 words, you're better off cutting down to that much. 

[smwinterfeldt]

On 12/3/2015 at 7:32 PM, sidebysondheim said:

If I was on an adcom and had to read a couple hundred statements of purpose, I'd probably unconsciously hate anyone who went over the limit and made me read more. 

 

Take that for whatever it's worth.

This is the advice that I received when I met with my thesis committee this semester. You're making the people on the admissions committee, who already have a lot of applications to deal with, do extra work. As they're reading these lengthier SoPs, one of things that they are going to be considering is how it could've been cut down to meet the word or page limit. It might even come off as pretentious. You might come off as thinking that what you have to say to *so* important that you get to justify violating their specified word limit.

All of my SoPs are between 500-700 words. But they will be short, sweet, and to the point, emphasizing my research interests, referencing my presentations, my teaching experience, and ending it with a simple, "Thank you for your consideration."

Edited December 9, 2015 by smwinterfeldt