Writing Sample Choice & Length

[kadee]

This is my second time applying to a PhD program in education policy.  I got an interview the first time around, but must have messed it up since I didn't get in.  I was planning to use the same writing sample I did for the first round of applications, which was a paper I wrote for a Human Rights class in undergrad (I was a philosophy major).  It was good enough to get me an interview so I figured it was good enough to use again.  I'm having second thoughts now though and thinking I should submit something about educational policy.  I just don't have very much written about this since I didn't study it directly in undergrad or grad school (I have a master's in library science).  I do have a short paper from grad school (5 pages) about how Race to the Top impacted school library programs.  It's not a bad paper, but it's less polished and is only 5 pages.  How much better do you think it would be to develop and submit that paper?  The school is asking for a 15-25 page writing sample.  I don't have too much time either, just about a week.  I worked on it all morning and it's still only 8 pages, so I'm worried I won't have time to polish it up and meet the length requirements.