Working Out the Kinks
As you must know by now, this year has ushered in changes in the Common App, particularly around the required personal statement. As I have reported in previous blogposts, the maximum length of the essay has been expanded from 500 to 650 words and there are new topics. There also seem to be some new mysteries regarding formatting and uploading.
This summer, I worked with a student who told me that when he and his father were trying to enter the essay into the online file–just to test things out and make sure all was good– they found that they couldn’t break up the essay into more than two paragraphs. Naturally, I freaked out, as every paragraph break (along with every word, every comma, every everything) is thought-out and important to me (and to the student, who, I like to think, understands the logic of all that we do by the time we finish our work together).
I began to imagine myself trying to penetrate the Common App heirarchy, arguing with the faceless powers there about the need for more than a single paragraph over the course of 650 words, when I got a second email from the father. He told me that you are, in fact, allowed to enter as many paragraphs as you want…but you can’t indent them. Well, I’m fine with justified left margins for paragraphs with spaces between them, as should you be. The point of this all is that if you encounter any confusions or difficulties entering your essay into the allotted format, please know that you are entitled to your paragraphs. And I will keep an ear open to any other kinks I may hear about and let you know what comes up.
