The LINE limit on UCAS Personal Statement really annoys me.

OP

<_<

Couldn't be bothered reading that.
Even if it wasn't really relevant.

Thus my point stands.

Reply 22

Joanna May

FyreFight

Get defensive easily much? Here's the basic English lesson you so gracefully asked for. You write the paragraphs like this. And yes, I am aware that UCAS remove indentation:

That's very nice, but if your lines aren't only three words long, the paragraphs still look like a big text block. Also, I'm fairly sure that your text is shrunk down, so your lines might not look the same as they do on the Apply preview.

Reply 23

FyreFight

14

Joanna May

That's very nice, but if your lines aren't only three words long, the paragraphs still look like a big text block. Also, I'm fairly sure that your text is shrunk down, so your lines might not look the same as they do on the Apply preview.

As long as lines are 2/3 words shorter at the end of the paragraph, it's still pretty clear where the paragraph ends. By leaving about half a line blank in the preview you'll probably be fine when it gets shrunk. And even if you're unlucky and it does still look like a text block, then you still have the advantage of a whole extra paragraph than everyone else has.

EvenStevens

<_<

Couldn't be bothered reading that.
Even if it wasn't really relevant.

Thus my point stands.

You only needed to read about 3 lines from my post and you couldn't be bothered? =/ Why are you even going into higher education?

Reply 24

FyreFight

Get defensive easily much? Here's the basic English lesson you so gracefully asked for. You write the paragraphs like this.

Yes, I get defensive easily when I quite clearly know what I'm talking about. I'm a personal statement helper on this site. Despite not having been one for more than 5 months, I've seen hundreds, if not thousands of personal statements in my time, and I know what the admissions tutors are looking for. Those things that you've written may be intended to be paragraphs, but they might as well be all written on the same line, because you can't tell whether new sentences starting at the left-hand margin are new paragraphs or just inconveniently placed word wrapping.

FyreFight

By doing it like this, you get about 4 extra lines of text that you wouldn't have used if you'd just left the line blank. Whether you do it like that or not is up to you, but remember that even if you don't, other people will and they'll use that extra space to prove that they're more worthy applicants than you are.

And back to my little "I know what I'm talking about" game: who the hell needs 47 lines of text to write a personal statement? Half of what the average applicant writes on a personal statement is unnecessary (or unnecessarily verbose) and, consequently, unread.

Reply 25

Captain Biggles

2

Why doesn't everyone just press 'Enter' on their keyboard when they want to start a new paragraph??? I did, and my PS looks perfectly adequate in the circumstances. I can't believe admissions staff would blame the student for the lack of formatting ability, however I will admit, right here and now, the line limit is somewhat unnecessary. University students are not the type to format their PS in such a shoddy manner that it takes up 5 pages or more when printed. The limit was probably put into place to keep the application file sizes to a minimum (there'll be a difference in size needed to save a text character and a line space) when sending them out to Unis. Or maybe they're just mean and it's a test to see who can effectively use the space.... :confused:

Reply 26

FyreFight

You only needed to read about 3 lines from my post and you couldn't be bothered? =/ Why are you even going into higher education?

Tell me, why do you leave double spaces between paragraphs in your posts on this forum if it doesn't make them any more easily legible?

...

Good.

Reply 27

FranklyMrShankly

13

I don't get the issue here.

Yeah, the limit sucks. But we are all in the same boat and complaining isn't going to change anything (for our batch anyway).

Sheesh.

Reply 28

OP

I know complaining will have absolutely no effect.

But I like to complain.
It makes me feel better. >_>

Reply 29

Stevo the Victorious

Why doesn't everyone just press 'Enter' on their keyboard when they want to start a new paragraph??? I did, and my PS looks perfectly adequate in the circumstances. I can't believe admissions staff would blame the student for the lack of formatting ability

It's not a case of "blaming" the student. Admissions tutors aren't given huge lists of guidelines of things to tick off. Accepting someone for university entry is very subjective, and if you get left with any negative impressions of a student (particularly at a very high-ranked university), you'll most likely reject them. The lack of objective criteria to look for means that admissions tutors are (at least partly) going on instinct, gut feelings, and common sense. Please tell me you realise that if someone types a 47-line paragraph you will think, no matter how minutely, "oh for ****'s sake, do I really want to read this person's essays for the next three years"?

Stevo the Victorious

however I will admit, right here and now, the line limit is somewhat unnecessary. University students are not the type to format their PS in such a shoddy manner that it takes up 5 pages or more when printed. The limit was probably put into place to keep the application file sizes to a minimum (there'll be a difference in size needed to save a text character and a line space) when sending them out to Unis. Or maybe they're just mean and it's a test to see who can effectively use the space.... :confused:

A linebreak takes up the same 'space' (in filesize) as two characters. So, no. It's to make it fit on the page, because it all gets printed off at the other end. It's also to give it a sensible limit, because admissions tutors don't want to read a biography.

Reply 30

FranklyMrShankly

13

EvenStevens

I know complaining will have absolutely no effect.

But I like to complain.
It makes me feel better. >_>

(Me too

)

Reply 31

Jessaay!

Wouldn't it be useful to indent paragraphs instead of leaving lines?
I don't know, just a suggestion really. Then you might be able to include a little more text.

Reply 32

FyreFight

14

generalebriety

Yes, I get defensive easily when I quite clearly know what I'm talking about. I'm a personal statement helper on this site. Despite not having been one for more than 5 months, I've seen hundreds, if not thousands of personal statements of personal statements in my time, and I know what the admissions tutors are looking for. Those things that you've written may be intended to be paragraphs, but they might as well be all written on the same line, because you can't tell whether new sentences starting at the left-hand margin are new paragraphs or just inconveniently placed word wrapping.

Why does it matter that you can't tell whether sentences starting on the left-hand margin are new paragraphs? You just look to where the text moves onto a new line before reaching the right-hand margin. Looking at the paragraphs I quoted, I can tell instantly that it's 3 paragraphs long. Any extra lines between are superfluous.

And back to my little "I know what I'm talking about" game: who the hell needs 47 lines of text to write a personal statement? Half of what the average applicant writes on a personal statement is unnecessary (or unnecessarily verbose) and, consequently, unread.

I don't know how much the average applicant does in their spare time, but I know for sure that I had more than 47 lines worth of relevant accomplishments, work experience and the likes to talk about in my PS. If someone has had a life so dull that they can't even fill an A4 page with talking about it, I feel sorry for them.

generalebriety

Tell me, why do you leave double spaces between paragraphs in your posts on this forum if it doesn't make them any more easily legible?

...

Good.

Because TSR doesn't have a 47 line limit? :yy:

Reply 33

OP

Jessaay!

Wouldn't it be useful to indent paragraphs instead of leaving lines?
I don't know, just a suggestion really. Then you might be able to include a little more text.

As already mentioned in the thread, any unnecessary whitespace (namely indentations) get filtered out so you're just left with solid lines in the end anyway.

Reply 34

Jessaay!

Sorry, I didn't see the second page.
I'm only in AS, so I just advised blindly as I was thinking more along the lines of essay writing as I used to use unnecessary lines between paragraphs.
Seems a little silly though.

Reply 35

Joanna May

FyreFight

I don't know how much the average applicant does in their spare time, but I know for sure that I had more than 47 lines worth of relevant accomplishments, work experience and the likes to talk about in my PS. If someone has had a life so dull that they can't even fill an A4 page with talking about it, I feel sorry for them.

I wrote 44 lines for my statement (four paragraphs with blank lines in between each) and I managed to mention:
two residential trips relevant to my course
another day trip
several books and newspapers I read in foreign languages
why my subjects were important
why I wanted to study the languages
teaching in a local primary school
relevant work experience
my part time job
the skills and attributes that I feel make me suitable for the course.

Sure, I had a couple of other things I could mention, but they weren't relevant enough to merit mention.

The universities don't want to read 47 lines of waffle, when a shorter statement will do. From helping friends with their statements, I found that those who used up or exceeded the line limit generally tending to mention irrelevant things the admissions tutors didn't really care about. Being concise is an important skill.

Reply 36

FyreFight

Why does it matter that you can't tell whether sentences starting on the left-hand margin are new paragraphs? You just look to where the text moves onto a new line before reaching the right-hand margin. Looking at the paragraphs I quoted, I can tell instantly that it's 3 paragraphs long. Any extra lines between are superfluous.
Yes, but we're not interested in the admissions tutors counting the number of paragraphs. It makes it harder to read if you can't scan down the left margin and pick out the paragraphs. :s-smilie:

FyreFight

I don't know how much the average applicant does in their spare time, but I know for sure that I had more than 47 lines worth of relevant accomplishments, work experience and the likes to talk about in my PS. If someone has had a life so dull that they can't even fill an A4 page with talking about it, I feel sorry for them.
Oh, my arse you did. How much of your "relevant accomplishments" do you think the average admissions tutor cares about? I'll give you a clue: not as many as you think.

You should kinda trust me on this, not just feel the need to keep replying because my earlier post was strongly worded.

FyreFight

Because TSR doesn't have a 47 line limit? :yy:

You're answering a question I didn't ask. You're answering why it's acceptable to put extra linebreaks in your posts, not why it's a good idea. You're telling me extra lines are superfluous, and yet you put them into your posts because it makes them easier to read. Yes? Marvellous. So what I said was right? Good. I'm not going senile.

Reply 37

Joanna May

I wrote 44 lines for my statement (four paragraphs with blank lines in between each) and I managed to mention:
two residential trips relevant to my course
another day trip
several books and newspapers I read in foreign languages
why my subjects were important
why I wanted to study the languages
teaching in a local primary school
relevant work experience
my part time job
the skills and attributes that I feel make me suitable for the course.

Sure, I had a couple of other things I could mention, but they weren't relevant enough to merit mention.

The universities don't want to read 47 lines of waffle, when a shorter statement will do. From helping friends with their statements, I found that those who used up or exceeded the line limit generally tending to mention irrelevant things the admissions tutors didn't really care about. Being concise is an important skill.

Indeed, and I'd be willing to bet money that most of your admissions tutors didn't read past why you wanted to study the languages.

Reply 38

OP