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How long is too long? (Admissions essay)


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Hi,

 

I was wondering what your opinion is on too long (or even too short) essay at UBC seems to be about 2000 words...which my essay is approaching. Will the admissions committee be so frustrated after reading a long essay about me, or is it better than having a shorter, less in depth, essay? Opinions welcomed :)

 

(Also, if any current students would be willing to read over my essay, I'd be eternally grateful!)

 

 

Sarah

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I was wondering what your opinion is on too long (or even too short) essay at UBC seems to be about 2000 words...which my essay is approaching. Will the admissions committee be so frustrated after reading a long essay about me, or is it better than having a shorter, less in depth, essay? Opinions welcomed :)

 

 

I think as long as you're within the two pages that they recommend (and the correct font size and margin space), you'll be fine.

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Yeah this is something I'd like to know as well...apparently, they leave it up to us whether we want to make it single or double-spaced, but I wonder what the majority of applicants choose to do...any past or present applicants willing to share info on such very personal matters as the length (ie single vs double-spacedness) of their essays? :D

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I would strongly recommend single-space, and fill up 1.75 to 2.00 pages. There is a field for Negative NAQ when they're scoring your application; according to my meeting with UBC admissions, you will lose marks if you have "lack of due care for your application," including spelling errors, few contacts provided, fudging hours for ECs, failure to follow simple directions, and if your essay is quite short.

 

Think of it this way: the essay is your chance to make your application stick out from a pile of nearly 2,000. Why waste this opportunity by only writing a few sentences and not letting the unique you stand out?

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Basically, the essay is your chance to 'sell yourself'. Here is where you can squeeze in every last little activity that you have ever done, that wouldn't fit anywhere else, to show what a stellar candidate you are. The only way you can do this is by using as much of the allowed characters as possible!

 

Remember, you are being judged against the rest of the applicant pool. So, if everyone else has written two pages, and you only write one, or one and a half ... your score will be lower, based on the fact that you pass on less information that the admissions committee can score you on.

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