The Student Room Group

Would it be an issue not to leave any blank lines between paragraphs?

My personal statement is too long due to the blank lines I left between the paragraphs.

I have reread it over and over again, but no matter how I look at it, there is nothing I can cut. I did so many things related to my subjects (I am applying for a combined degree) that I can barely fit them in. I have already cut them down so much that were I to shorten what I wrote about them any more, I would not be able to show what I gained or learnt from them, a.k.a. it would be just a pointless list that would make my personal statement suck. I have already shortened everything (I literally have a single line with hobbies just so I would put some hobbies in, for example); nothing else can be shortened any more than it has already been.

My personal statement has eight paragraphs, so I have seven blank lines. As such, I am considering filling the seven blank lines between the paragraphs with more important things that could improve the quality of the personal statement's content. Would that be an issue?
(edited 7 years ago)
A smarter way to paragraph would be to get rid of the blank line and indent the new paragraph with a tab instead.
Reply 2
Original post by BobBobson
A smarter way to paragraph would be to get rid of the blank line and indent the new paragraph with a tab instead.


Is indenting not removed by UCAS? I heard UCAS does not keep any indenting done.
Original post by Michiyo
Is indenting not removed by UCAS? I heard UCAS does not keep any indenting done.


Perhaps use spaces? See if that'll work using preview.
Original post by BobBobson
A smarter way to paragraph would be to get rid of the blank line and indent the new paragraph with a tab instead.

Indents and spaces are removed by UCAS.

The only way to properly paragraph a ps is to leave blank lines.

Op. No university will reject you for a poorly formatted ps. You do risk whoever reads it missing key points due to the formatting.

I've never seen a ps that couldn't be shortened and that wouldn't be improved by that.

Original post by Michiyo
My personal statement is too long due to the blank lines I left between the paragraphs.

I have reread it over and over again, but no matter how I look at it, there is nothing I can cut. I did so many things related to my subjects (I am applying for a combined degree) that I can barely fit them in. I have already cut them down so much that were I to shorten what I wrote about them any more, I would not be able to show what I gained or learnt from them, a.k.a. it would be just a pointless list that would make my personal statement suck. I have already shortened everything (I literally have a single line with hobbies just so I would put some hobbies in, for example); nothing else can be shortened any more than it has already been.

My personal statement has eight paragraphs, so I have seven blank lines. As such, I am considering filling the seven blank lines between the paragraphs with more important things that could improve the quality of the personal statement's content. Would that be an issue?
Original post by PQ
Indents and spaces are removed by UCAS.

The only way to properly paragraph a ps is to leave blank lines.

Op. No university will reject you for a poorly formatted ps. You do risk whoever reads it missing key points due to the formatting.

I've never seen a ps that couldn't be shortened and that wouldn't be improved by that.


Agreed it would be much better to try and maybe shorten some of the slightly less relevant points in order to have a more readable and coherent- looking format.
8 paragraphs seems like a bit much - you should aim for 4-6 at most
Eight paragraphs is a lot. Perhaps you could condense them down into 4 paragraphs or maybe 5?
Reply 8
I'm in the same position as you applying for a combined honours I had so much to mention in my personal statement that I couldn't fit it all even though I'd still had more to add. My PS also had 8 paragraphs. Try cutting down on your paragraphs to 5, that's what I did and just added a few connectives to make it make sense. This gave me room to add a few sentences.

I'm still debating whether to take off my blank spaces just to add more. But I really want to make it easy for Unis to read. But I heard from some people it doesn't really matter.

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