should my uchicago essay be double spaced

UChicago Supplemental Essay Questions

The University of Chicago has long been renowned for our provocative essay questions. We think of them as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions. They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between.

Each year we email newly admitted and current College students and ask them for essay topics. We receive several hundred responses, many of which are eloquent, intriguing, or downright wacky.

As you can see from the attributions, the questions below were inspired by submissions from UChicago students and alumni.

2024-25 UChicago Supplement

Question 1 (required).

How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.

Question 2: Extended Essay (Required; Choose one)

Essay option 1.

We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents. – Inspired by Ramsey Bottorff, Class of 2026

Essay Option 2

"Ah, but I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now” – Bob Dylan. In what ways do we become younger as we get older? – Inspired by Joshua Harris, Class of 2016

Essay Option 3

Pluto, the demoted planet. Ophiuchus, the thirteenth Zodiac. Andy Murray, the fourth to tennis's Big Three. Every grouping has something that doesn’t quite fit in. Tell us about a group and its unofficial member, why (or why not) should it be excluded? – Inspired by Veronica Chang, Class of 2022

Essay Option 4

"Daddy-o", "Far Out", "Gnarly": the list of slang terms goes on and on. Sadly, most of these aren’t so "fly" anymore – “as if!” Name an outdated slang from any decade or language that you'd bring back and explain why you totally “dig it.” – Inspired by Napat Sakdibhornssup, Class of 2028

Essay Option 5

How many piano tuners are there in Chicago? What is the total length of chalk used by UChicago professors in a year? How many pages of books are in the Regenstein Library? These questions are among a class of estimation problems named after University of Chicago physicist Enrico Fermi. Create your own Fermi estimation problem, give it your best answer, and show us how you got there. – Inspired by Malhar Manek, Class of 2028

Essay Option 6

And, as always… the classic choose your own adventure option! In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, choose one of our past prompts (or create a question of your own). Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun!

Some classic questions from previous years…

Exponents and square roots, pencils and erasers, beta decay and electron capture. Name two things that undo each other and explain why both are necessary. – Inspired by Emmett Cho, Class of 2027

“Where have all the flowers gone?” – Pete Seeger. Pick a question from a song title or lyric and give it your best answer. – Inspired by Ryan Murphy, AB’21

“Vlog,” “Labradoodle,” and “Fauxmage.” Language is filled with portmanteaus. Create a new portmanteau and explain why those two things are a “patch” (perfect match). – Inspired by Garrett Chalfin, Class of 2027

Due to a series of clerical errors, there is exactly one typo (an extra letter, a removed letter, or an altered letter) in the name of every department at the University of Chicago. Oops! Describe your new intended major. Why are you interested in it and what courses or areas of focus within it might you want to explore? Potential options include Commuter Science, Bromance Languages and Literatures, Pundamentals: Issues and Texts, Ant History... a full list of unmodified majors ready for your editor’s eye is available here . —Inspired by Josh Kaufman, AB'18

You are on an expedition to found a colony on Mars, when from a nearby crater, a group of Martians suddenly emerges. They seem eager to communicate, but they're the impatient kind and demand you represent the human race in one song, image, memory, proof, or other idea. What do you share with them to show that humanity is worth their time? —Inspired by Alexander Hastings, Class of 2023, and Olivia Okun-Dubitsky, Class of 2026

Who does Sally sell her seashells to? How much wood can a woodchuck really chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Pick a favorite tongue twister (either originally in English or translated from another language) and consider a resolution to its conundrum using the method of your choice. Math, philosophy, linguistics... it's all up to you (or your woodchuck). —Inspired by Blessing Nnate, Class of 2024

What can actually be divided by zero? —Inspired by Mai Vu, Class of 2024

The seven liberal arts in antiquity consisted of the Quadrivium — astronomy, mathematics, geometry, and music — and the Trivium — rhetoric, grammar, and logic. Describe your own take on the Quadrivium or the Trivium. What do you think is essential for everyone to know? —Inspired by Peter Wang, Class of 2022

Subway maps, evolutionary trees, Lewis diagrams. Each of these schematics tells the relationships and stories of their component parts. Reimagine a map, diagram, or chart. If your work is largely or exclusively visual, please include a cartographer's key of at least 300 words to help us best understand your creation. —Inspired by Maximilian Site, Class of 2020

"Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" - Eleanor Roosevelt. Misattribute a famous quote and explore the implications of doing so. —Inspired by Chris Davey, AB’13

Engineer George de Mestral got frustrated with burrs stuck to his dog’s fur and applied the same mechanic to create Velcro. Scientist Percy Lebaron Spencer found a melted chocolate bar in his magnetron lab and discovered microwave cooking. Dye-works owner Jean Baptiste Jolly found his tablecloth clean after a kerosene lamp was knocked over on it, consequently shaping the future of dry cleaning. Describe a creative or interesting solution, and then find the problem that it solves. —Inspired by Steve Berkowitz, AB’19, and Neeharika Venuturupalli, Class of 2024

Joan of Arkansas. Queen Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mash up a historical figure with a new time period, environment, location, or occupation, and tell us their story. —Inspired by Drew Donaldson, AB’16

Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Milo drives through the tollbooth. Dorothy is swept up in the tornado. Neo takes the red pill. Don’t tell us about another world you’ve imagined, heard about, or created. Rather, tell us about its portal. Sure, some people think of the University of Chicago as a portal to their future, but please choose another portal to write about. —Inspired by Raphael Hallerman, Class of 2020

What’s so odd about odd numbers? —Inspired by Mario Rosasco, AB’09

Vestigiality refers to genetically determined structures or attributes that have apparently lost most or all of their ancestral function, but have been retained during the process of evolution. In humans, for instance, the appendix is thought to be a vestigial structure. Describe something vestigial (real or imagined) and provide an explanation for its existence. —Inspired by Tiffany Kim, Class of 2020

In French, there is no difference between “conscience” and “consciousness.” In Japanese, there is a word that specifically refers to the splittable wooden chopsticks you get at restaurants. The German word “fremdschämen” encapsulates the feeling you get when you’re embarrassed on behalf of someone else. All of these require explanation in order to properly communicate their meaning, and are, to varying degrees, untranslatable. Choose a word, tell us what it means, and then explain why it cannot (or should not) be translated from its original language. —Inspired by Emily Driscoll, Class of 2018

Little pigs, French hens, a family of bears. Blind mice, musketeers, the Fates. Parts of an atom, laws of thought, a guideline for composition. Omne trium perfectum? Create your own group of threes, and describe why and how they fit together. —Inspired by Zilin Cui, Class of 2018

The mantis shrimp can perceive both polarized light and multispectral images; they have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. Human eyes have color receptors for three colors (red, green, and blue); the mantis shrimp has receptors for sixteen types of color, enabling them to see a spectrum far beyond the capacity of the human brain. Seriously, how cool is the mantis shrimp: mantisshrimp.uchicago.edu What might they be able to see that we cannot? What are we missing? —Inspired by Tess Moran, AB’16

How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve, but are not limited to, statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy. —Inspired by Florence Chan, AB’15

The ball is in your court—a penny for your thoughts, but say it, don’t spray it. So long as you don’t bite off more than you can chew, beat around the bush, or cut corners, writing this essay should be a piece of cake. Create your own idiom, and tell us its origin—you know, the whole nine yards. PS: A picture is worth a thousand words. —Inspired by April Bell, AB'17, and Maya Shaked, Class of 2018 (It takes two to tango.)

“A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” –Oscar Wilde. Othello and Iago. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Autobots and Decepticons. History and art are full of heroes and their enemies. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined). —Inspired by Martin Krzywy, AB’16

Heisenberg claims that you cannot know both the position and momentum of an electron with total certainty. Choose two other concepts that cannot be known simultaneously and discuss the implications. (Do not consider yourself limited to the field of physics). —Inspired by Doran Bennett, AB’07

Susan Sontag, AB’51, wrote that “[s]ilence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.” Write about an issue or a situation when you remained silent, and explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend. The Aesthetics of Silence, 1967. —Anonymous Suggestion

“…I [was] eager to escape backward again, to be off to invent a past for the present.” —The Rose Rabbi by Daniel Stern Present: pres·ent 1. Something that is offered, presented, or given as a gift. Let’s stick with this definition. Unusual presents, accidental presents, metaphorical presents, re-gifted presents, etc.—pick any present you have ever received and invent a past for it. —Inspired by Jennifer Qin, AB’16

So where is Waldo, really? —Inspired by Robin Ye, AB’16

Find x. —Inspired by Benjamin Nuzzo, an admitted student from Eton College, UK

Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they? —Inspired by an anonymous alumna, AB'06

How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.) —Inspired by Kelly Kennedy, AB’10

Chicago author Nelson Algren said, “A writer does well if in his whole life he can tell the story of one street.” Chicagoans, but not just Chicagoans, have always found something instructive, and pleasing, and profound in the stories of their block, of Main Street, of Highway 61, of a farm lane, of the Celestial Highway. Tell us the story of a street, path, road—real or imagined or metaphorical. —Anonymous Suggestion

UChicago professor W. J. T. Mitchell entitled his 2005 book What Do Pictures Want? Describe a picture, and explore what it wants. —Inspired by Anna Andel

“Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.“—Miles Davis (1926–91) —Inspired by Jack Reeves

University of Chicago alumna and renowned author/critic Susan Sontag said, “The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.” We all have heard serious questions, absurd questions, and seriously absurd questions, some of which cannot be answered without obliterating the very question. Destroy a question with your answer. —Inspired by Aleksandra Ciric

“Mind that does not stick.” —Zen Master Shoitsu (1202–80)

Superstring theory has revolutionized speculation about the physical world by suggesting that strings play a pivotal role in the universe. Strings, however, always have explained or enriched our lives, from Theseus’s escape route from the Labyrinth, to kittens playing with balls of yarn, to the single hair that held the sword above Damocles, to the Old Norse tradition that one’s life is a thread woven into a tapestry of fate, to the beautiful sounds of the finely tuned string of a violin, to the children’s game of cat’s cradle, to the concept of stringing someone along. Use the power of string to explain the biggest or the smallest phenomenon. —Inspired by Adam Sobolweski

Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness…and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard. —Inspired by Katherine Gold

People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language—the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you’re startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation. —Inspired by Kimberly Traube

In 2015, the city of Melbourne, Australia created a "tree-mail" service, in which all of the trees in the city received an email address so that residents could report any tree-related issues. As an unexpected result, people began to email their favorite trees sweet and occasionally humorous letters. Imagine this has been expanded to any object (tree or otherwise) in the world, and share with us the letter you’d send to your favorite. -Inspired by Hannah Lu, Class of 2020 

You’re on a voyage in the thirteenth century, sailing across the tempestuous seas. What if, suddenly, you fell off the edge of the Earth? -Inspired by Chandani Latey, AB'93 

The word floccinaucinihilipilification is the act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant or of having no value. It originated in the mid-18th century from the Latin words "floccus," "naucum," "nihilum," and "pilus"—all words meaning “of little use.” Coin your own word using parts from any language you choose, tell us its meaning, and describe the plausible (if only to you) scenarios in which it would be most appropriately used.  -Inspired by Ben Zhang, Class of 2022 

Lost your keys? Alohomora. Noisy roommate? Quietus. Feel the need to shatter windows for some reason? Finestra. Create your own spell, charm, jinx, or other means for magical mayhem. How is it enacted? Is there an incantation? Does it involve a potion or other magical object? If so, what's in it or what is it? What does it do?  -Inspired by Emma Sorkin, Class of 2021 

Imagine you’ve struck a deal with the Dean of Admissions himself, Dean Nondorf. It goes as follows: you’re guaranteed admission to the University of Chicago regardless of any circumstances that arise. This bond is grounded on the condition that you’ll obtain a blank, 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, and draw, write, sketch, shade, stencil, paint etc., anything and everything you want on it; your only limitations will be the boundaries of both sides on the single page. Now the catch… your submission, for the rest of your life, will always be the first thing anyone you meet for the first time will see. Whether it’s at a job interview, a blind date, arrival at your first Humanities class, before you even say, “hey,” they’ll already have seen your page, and formulated that first impression. Show us your page. What’s on it, and why? If your piece is largely or exclusively visual, please make sure to share a creator's accompanying statement of at least 300 words, which we will happily allow to be on its own, separate page. PS: This is a creative thought experiment, and selecting this essay prompt does not guarantee your admission to UChicago. -Inspired by Amandeep Singh Ahluwalia, Class of 2022

Cats have nine lives, Pac-Man has three lives, and radioactive isotopes have half-lives. How many lives does something else—conceptual or actual—have, and why? -Inspired by Kendrick Shin, Class of 2019

If there’s a limited amount of matter in the universe, how can Olive Garden (along with other restaurants and their concepts of food infinity) offer truly unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks? Explain this using any method of analysis you wish—physics, biology, economics, history, theology… the options, as you can tell, are endless.  -Inspired by Yoonseo Lee, Class of 2023 

A hot dog might be a sandwich, and cereal might be a soup, but is a ______ a ______? -Inspired by Arya Muralidharan, Class of 2021 (and dozens of others who, this year and in past years, have submitted the question “Is a hot dog a sandwich,” to which we reply, “maybe”)

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” – Jessamyn West -Inspired by Elizabeth Mansfield, Class of 2020

essay...double or single spaced?

<p>Is the long essay supposed to be 1-2 pages double or single spaced?</p>

<p>It is as long as it takes you to show them that you can handle ideas well and let them know why it would be good to have you as a student in Chicago course. There are no hard and fast rules as to length.</p>

<p>comparing to other colleges with the traditional “500 words” a single spaced two page essay may be a bit much. Mine is about 580 words on a page and quarter. Don’t over do it</p>

<p>I know this has been discussed before, so maybe do a little searching for some other takes on the situation.</p>

<p>There is no word limit. I know its annoying that it is so vague, but really like idad said: say what you have to say and do so in a length that is appropriate–Don’t feel like you have to fill up 2 pages if it doesn’t enhance your point, and don’t limit yourself if it compromises the essence of what you are trying to say.</p>

<p>Also single space your essay, from what I have read (sorry my parenthetical citations and what not are MIA) it is much easier to read (they aren’t making comments) and a few college counselors who are on CC have said they prefer 1x spacing.</p>

<p>If it makes you feel better, mine was 1085 words, a page and 3/4ths… I have seen longer and shorter, so no worries.</p>

<p>My essay was about a page, single spaced.</p>

<p>Have fun.</p>

<p>My essay was about 1.9 pages, double spaced.</p>

<p>My essay was about 2 pages single spaced, but I added a little quote in the beginning so in essence it’s about 1.75 pages single spaced</p>

<p>I already had fun LouieCope08 HAHA >:D</p>

<p>i think my uchicago extended essay pushed 800 words. But I had a lot to say, and I think it flowed well overall, so that’s not a problematic length.</p>

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, should my college essays be double spaced, or is that outdated.

Quick formatting question: I'm about to start typing up my essays, and I can’t remember if they’re supposed to be double spaced or not. Does anyone know if colleges have a preference on essay spacing these days?

Hello! Your question about essay formatting is quite common among applicants, and it's definitely important to present your essays properly. Typically, college admission essays do not require a specific spacing format unless a college provides explicit instructions. The Common Application and other online application platforms often use text boxes where you paste your essay, which usually render spacing irrelevant since they format the text to fit their own styling guidelines. Nevertheless, it's good practice to space your essay in a way that makes it easy to read for the admission officers who will be reviewing many essays. Double spacing is certainly an acceptable and clear way to format your essay. If you are attaching documents where formatting carries over, like a PDF, use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial in size 12, and double spacing can indeed make the essay more readable.

In summary, focus on making your essay as legible as possible, and if you are submitting a document where the formatting is up to you, double spacing is a fine choice. Best of luck with your essays!

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Should You Double Space an Essay: When and When Not To

Double Space an Essay

What is Double Spacing?

Double spacing can be regarded as the formatting style in which a full blank line is purposefully left between every line within an essay. But when should you double space an essay?

Because of this, it doubles the number of vertical spaces between lines, hence resulting in more spaces between them. 

Double spacing is mostly utilized in academic writing such as essays, research papers, theses, and dissertations. 

Purpose of the Article 

The purpose of this article is to further explore the issue of double spacing in your essays in terms of when it should be done and when it should not, and the pros and cons of it. 

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When to Double Space an Essay

1. academic institutions that require double spacing.

You should double-space your essay if your academic institution requires the summited work to be double-spaced. 

Some educational institutions have set writing standards that should be utilized by every student pursuing education in them.

This standardizes the essay formats to make it easier for grading.

If you are in such an institution and it requires the submitted essays to be double-spaced, ensure that you adhere to the specified formatting to avoid losing marks. 

2. Writing Styles that Recommend Double Spacing

Some writing styles recommend double spacing. In most academic essays, the instructions specify the writing style you are required to present your paper.

The most popular or preferred writing styles for academic writing include American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA). 

The two writing styles are formatted in double spacing. If your professor instructs you to write an essay in MLA or APA style without specifying the level of spacing, you should write it in double space.

However, always be keen on following the instructions because you may be told to use the aforementioned formats but with different levels of spacing. 

3. Situations where it is Necessary

As noted, the prevailing academic conventions recommend the use of double spacing when writing your essays. 

As such, if you have been given an assignment on a particular topic and you have been told to write about it, you may decide to use double spacing because it is the most acceptable format within the academic context.

Additionally, you may need to create an essay that has high readability. This may be because you want your readers to follow your thought process without confusion. 

In the case of enhancing readability, it may be necessary to use double spacing because the paper will have more white (blank) spaces between lines. 

Further, longer documents like lengthy essays, research papers, theses, and dissertations will require double spacing instead of single spacing. 

This is because such documents have a lot of content and squeezing the lines and paragraphs together will make them appear dense and overwhelming. 

When Not to Double Space an Essay

1. shorter essays with strict word count limits.

In cases where you have been assigned a short essay with strict word count limits, you should avoid using double spacing. 

This is because shorter essays have lesser content and using more spaces between lines and paragraphs makes the content clattered or appear too far apart. The essay will look unprofessionally written. 

2. Writing Styles that Do Not Require Double Spacing

As noted, some styles dictate the type of spacing you will apply throughout your document.

Some writing styles do not require double spacing and instead may need you to use single space (1.0), or one and a half space (1.5). Such styles especially apply to official letters.

3. Situations Where It’s Not Necessary

There are other situations where it is not necessary to use double space in your document. Such situations can occur when you are required to write an official letter as part of an assignment.

Other situations occur when the essay is short or when you feel that your document will appear more aesthetically pleasing when you use other types of spacing. 

People Also Read : How Many Words are 6 Pages of work? Get Optimized Essay Length

Pros and Cons of Double Spacing

Advantages of double spacing , easier to read.

One advantage of double spacing is that it makes the essay easier to read. The lines and paragraphs will be adequately spaced in relation to each other hence the reader will have no problem following the content. 

Provides Space for Annotations and Comments

Double spaces also leave adequate room for annotations and comments. Since there is enough space between the lines, you can annotate your references and make comments within them.

Additionally, double spacing allows editors or instructors to make corrections and give feedback on your work. 

Disadvantages of Double Spacing

Makes an essay appear longer than it actually is.

A major disadvantage of double spacing is that it makes the essay appear longer than it actually is. This is because double spacing increases the blank spaces between lines and paragraphs making lesser text occupy a page.

For example, 550 words can easily fit into a single-spaced page. However, if the page was double-spaced, only half of those words would fit into it. 

Can Be a Waste of Paper and Ink

By using double spacing in your essay, you will end up having a lot of white spaces (blank) between lines that contain no written text.

This means that you will end up wasting your paper because lesser words will fit into it. Additionally, you will end up printing more papers in a double-spaced essay hence wasting ink.

People Also Read : 9 Ways How to Make an Essay Longer and meet the Word Count

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Double Space an Essay

• Open your document in a word-processing software such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
• Select (highlight) the entire text of your essay. You can use your computer’s cursor to manually highlight the entire text and then select it. You simply click and drag the cursor over the text and select it. 

To automatically select the entire text on computers running Windows Operating System (OS), you click “Ctrl + A”. For Apple’s Mac OS, you should click “Command + A”. 

• After selecting the text, go to the formatting options. Those options are mostly found in the toolbar located at the top of the screen. They are labeled as “Line spacing” or “Paragraph”. 
• You should click on the line spacing option where you will find a dropdown menu with pre-set spacing options.
• Select the “2.0” or “Double” option for the dropdown menu. This will automatically adjust your essay’s line spacing to double.
• Apply the changes so that the essay will become double-spaced. You should review the essay to ensure that the changes have taken full effect. 

In conclusion, the advantages of double spacing are that it makes the essay easier to read and it provides adequate space for comments and annotations. 

Additionally, double spacing is the most widely used spacing requirement for academic essays hence it can be widely applicable. 

However, the disadvantages of double spacing are that it is a waste of paper and ink because of the unnecessary spaces and it makes an essay appear longer than it is supposed to. 

The final thought on whether an essay should be double-spaced is that it all depends on the instructions or essay requirements. Always adhere to instructions to avoid academic penalties. 

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What is the standard font size for double-spaced essays?

The standard font size used for double-spaced essays depends on the type of font. However, if you are using Times New Roman or Arial, the size will be 12. 

How much longer does double spacing make an essay appear?

Double spacing makes an essay appear two times longer than a single-spaced essay. This is because it creates double the space between lines hence doubling the length of the entire essay. 

Does double spacing apply to footnotes and references?

Double spacing does not apply to footnotes because the footnotes will end up taking a lot of spacing within the paper hence displacing the actual text (content) of the essay. 

However, references should be double-spaced if the rest of the essay (introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion) is double-spaced. There should be consistency. 

Can you mix double spacing and single spacing in the same essay?

Mixing double spacing and single spacing is not acceptable in the same essay. 

However, it can occur if you are writing a double-spaced essay and you need to include a long quote from other sources. The long quote should be treated as an individual single-spaced paragraph. 

Does double spacing affect the readability of an essay?

Double spacing does not affect the reliability of an essay because it is the most utilized spacing option in academic writing.

However, if you have been instructed to use other forms of spacing such as single spacing and you use double spacing, it will make your essay unreliable. This is because you have gone against the instructions. 

Additionally, you will appear like a lazy student who wants to make your essay appear longer. This is because single-spaced essays appear shorter than double-spaced. 

Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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Home » University Of Washington » Should I Indent My College Essay?

Should I Indent My College Essay?

Table of Contents

Should I indent or us paragraph breaks in my college essay? Either. Just be consistent . The exception here is if you’re pasting into a box that screws up your formatting—for example, if, when you copy your essay into the box, your indentations are removed, go with paragraph breaks.

Should I indent my college essay on Common App?

Don’t Format Your Essay in the Text Boxes It should be single-spaced, double-space between paragraphs (two hard returns), and with no indents . Break up line paragraphs into smaller groupings of sentences. The Common App counts words (650), not spaces.

What should you not do in a college essay?

Many essays included things that you should not do in your college admissions essay including:

• Never rehash your academic and extracurricular accomplishments.
• Never write about a “topic”
• Never start with a preamble.
• Never end with a “happily ever after” conclusion.
• Never pontificate.
• Never retreat into your thoughts.

How should I head my college essay?

General College Essay Formatting Guidelines

• There’s no need for a title; it takes up unnecessary space and eats into your word count.
• Stay within the word count as much as possible (+/- 10% of the upper limit).
• Indent or double space to separate paragraphs clearly.

Should I double space my college application essay?

Your essay should always be double-spaced throughout . Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the margin. Use only one space after all end punctuation. The end punctuation helps define the tone and meaning of a sentence.

How should I format my college essay in Common App?

The Common Application essay text box only has formatting for Bold, Underline and Italics. I would format your essay along MLA guidelines (using italics for things like book titles, foreign words, those types of copyediting rules.), and then make sure they translate or carry over after you upload or copy and paste.

How should I space my Common App essay?

The current version of The Common Application, however, requires you to enter the essay into a text box, and you won’t have any spacing options . The website automatically formats your essay with single-spaced paragraphs with an extra space between paragraphs (a format that doesn’t conform to any standard style guides).

Can you curse in your college essay?

Avoid swearing in a college essay , since admissions officers’ opinions of profanity will vary. In some cases, it might be okay to use a vulgar word, such as in dialogue or quotes that make an important point in your essay. However, it’s safest to try to make the same point without swearing.

Why is it so hard to write a college essay?

First, writing is inherently difficult. Even for the best writers, putting thoughts down on paper in a cogent, coherent way takes a lot of energy, patience and time. Second, as I mentioned earlier, the college essay requires a completely different sort of writing than most high school students are used to .

Should I talk about mental health in my college essay?

If you are going to discuss your depression, anxiety, or other mental condition in your application, do so in a strategic manner for the purpose of illuminating otherwise unexplained inconsistencies in your academic record.

What format should a college essay be?

A college essay format and general rules are pretty standard. Typically, your admission paper should follow a basic 5-paragraph format . This means you will need to include one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

How many paragraphs is a 650 word essay?

3.25-6.5 paragraphs How Many Paragraphs Is 650 Words? 650 words is about 3.25-6.5 paragraphs for essays or 6-13 for easy reading. A paragraph length typically has 100-200 words and 5-6 sentences.

Do college essays need titles?

You don’t need one . In the vast majority of cases, students we work with don’t use titles. The handful of times they have, they’ve done so because the title allows for a subtle play on words or reframing of the essay as a whole. So don’t feel any pressure to include one—they’re purely optional.

Should I indent paragraphs in a personal statement?

Allow for ample enough margins that the reader isn’t distracted by cramped-looking text. Margins of at least one inch are standard. Single space your text, skipping a line between paragraphs. You can indent paragraph beginnings or not, as long as you’re consistent .

Do you put a space between paragraphs in an essay?

Double space: Your entire essay should be double spaced, with no single spacing anywhere and no extra spacing anywhere. There should not be extra spaces between paragraphs . Margins: According to the MLA, your essay should have a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, left, and right.

Should my UChicago essay be double spaced?

Although there is no set word limit for any of the prompts, InGenius Prep counselor Natalia Ostrowski, who worked as the Assistant Director of Admissions at UChicago, recommends that you limit the first essay (“Why UChicago”) to a page (double spaced in 12 point font) .

How do you indent paragraphs on Common App essay?

About the Common App Platform. It does not allow indenting (tabbing) , so add an empty line between paragraphs to separate them.

How long should my college essay be?

The primary essay for your college application, often called a personal statement, is typically around 400-600 words . The Common App personal statement — which is used as the primary application essay by more than 800 colleges — must be 250-650 words.

Are college papers double-spaced?

As a general rule, all college papers are typed in Times New Roman, a default font that can be found in every word processing application. The font is almost always double-spaced and in 12-pt font because it makes it easier for your instructor to read.

Should you add spaces between paragraphs for Common App?

Instead there will be one line of space between each paragraph. This is normal for all online common applications and cannot be changed .

Can you talk about drugs in a college essay?

Writing about sex, drugs, or any other inappropriate topics in your college essay isn’t edgy, it’s disrespectful , and it shows that you’re someone who is thinking more about getting a reaction than about communicating something truthful and helpful to the admissions officer reading it. Sex: Seriously, avoid it.

By Antonia Leonard

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Antonia is a firm believer in the power of education, and she is passionate about helping students reach their full potential. She is also a strong advocate for equal opportunity, and she works tirelessly to ensure that all students have access to quality education regardless of their socioeconomic status or race.

Antonia is a gifted educator, and she is widely respected within the education community. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her work, including being named one of the "Top 10 Educators to Watch" by Education Week magazine.

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Is washington a party school, why is seattle homeless, is seattle a good place to raise a family.

Mechanics: The Essay Should Be Double-spaced

I expect you to do each one of these steps (not all 5 of the prewriting tricks, only the one(s) that work for you), and I expect your specific processes to show in the rough draft materials you staple together to hand in, along with this checklist also marking total hours spent. The actual writing process usually loops and repeats steps in varying order, but be sure that you do these approximately 20 steps in whatever order works for you. Drafting � 5 tricks: revise, revise, revise, revise, revise. 1) Check each paragraph for a topic sentence related to a specific preview in your thesis assertion. 3) Check that any longer or more complex quotation is followed by your paraphrase and commentary that links it to your thesis assertion. 4) Check that each paragraph does more than summarize the text, that instead it analyzes textual passages according to the thesis assertion. 5) Check your introductory and ending paragraph strategies. Data was generated by https://essayfreelancewriters.com.

Bibliographic Form � Use exact MLA form. Structure: Thus, try for a well-structured essay, with 1) an intro paragraph that sets up a context for the one-sentence thesis statement typed in bold toward the end of the paragraph; 2) a set of body paragraphs that explain and give examples, including textual citations, to support the thesis; and 3) a short concluding paragraph that does more than repeat the intro, suggesting other directions or implications of the thesis. This structure does not mean that the prose has to be stiff. There is room in literary criticism for personal response as well as critical analysis. sample literary analysis essay high school pdf : The essay should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins, in type of no less than 10pt. An optional cover page with your name, the course, the date, and the assignment is ok (to add space to the essay pages). An original title is a plus. Again, the essay should include direct quotations to support your thesis. Use MLA format for in-text citations. A final page should include a Works Cited, also in MLA format. Revisions: You might need to draft an essay to develop and arrive at a focused thesis statement, and then reposition the discovered thesis�and paragraphs�into the final essay. Be sure to plan time for pre-writing, writing, and revising. Consider free-writing, clustering, brainstorming, etc. Save all doodles, notes, outlines, and drafts, and submit these�stapled together (no paper clips) and clearly labeled with your name and the assignment�in class. Also include with your rough stuff this checklist, plus your peer editors� responses to your paper, one peer editing form per editor. This post was done with the help of https://essayfreelancewriters.com.

If there is a local radio station, or a hospital radio station, then it could be an idea to approach them to see if your writing group can become involved in some way. Perhaps your group could offer visits to care homes, social groups or schools who might be interested in hearing your group's original work. Staging readings of your group's work is not only fun and gives the group something to work towards, but also attracts potential new members. If there is already some kind of literary festival in your area, then I strongly encourage you to get involved. There is almost always room for more contributions. Riverside Writers have taken part in the annual Wirral Bookfest, for example, which sees numerous literary events taking place across the peninsula. If nothing seems to be happening, or if you want to do something of your own, then organise it yourself.

Have a chat with the head librarian, or the manager of your local bookshop. Use the internet and the local press to promote it. In 2009, I organised Parallel Dimensions which took place at West Kirby Library, Wirral, and which saw six published Science-Fiction and Fantasy authors performing before a substantial public audience. Perhaps your group could produce a self-published anthology. You might opt to use a traditional printer or prefer to make use of the several print-on-demand self-publishing sites which can be found online. Afterwards, you could try to sell the anthology at public events to boost group funds and your group's sense of achievement. All these things help to give your writing group an on-going sense of purpose, of things to look forwards to and to work towards. Once every blue moon, a pest will descend upon your group. This person has no interest in joining. They come only to loftily inform you how you're doing it all wrong, that their group is better than your group, and that you're all just a bunch of amateurs anyway. This content was generated by Essay Writers .

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Do spaces count as characters on Common App?

adMISSION POSSIBLE TIP Highlight what you want to have counted, go up to Tools and scroll down to word count, and a screen will come up with the word, characters without spaces, and characters with spaces count.

Table of Contents

Should I put space in my Common App essay?

The font used by the platform should be standardized once you paste your work in, but in case it doesn’t, choose a single font for all your essays: 12 pt. Single space.

Do spaces count as characters in college essays?

The character count does include spaces. While word wrap is on, if you hit return at all when you enter your essay each return is worth two characters. So, if you put a line between paragraphs, I believe that will cost you 4 characters.

Can you go over the word limit for a college essay?

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit. If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words. You should aim to stay under the specified limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely.

Should I double space my college essay?

Your essay should always be double-spaced throughout. Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the margin. Use only one space after all end punctuation.

Do you put a space between paragraphs in an essay?

Double space: Your entire essay should be double spaced, with no single spacing anywhere and no extra spacing anywhere. There should not be extra spaces between paragraphs. Margins: According to the MLA, your essay should have a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, left, and right.

How long is a 1000 character essay?

Answer: 1,000 characters is between 140 words and 250 words with spaces included in the character count. If spaces are not included in the character count, then 1,000 characters is between 170 words and 330 words.

Is 1000 words too long for a college essay?

The shortest word limits for college essays are usually around 150 words (less than half a single-spaced page). Rarely will you see a word limit higher than around 650 words (over one single-spaced page). College essays are usually pretty short: between 150 and 650 words.

Is 1000 words a lot for a college essay?

In most cases, it ranges between 250 and 650 words. However, if it is not specified, keep in mind that the most common requirement is 500 words.

What if my Common App essay is too long?

There are no strict word limits. We suggest that for the first essay (where you choose one of the seven prompts), the extended essay stay around 650 words. While we won’t as a rule stop reading after 650 words, we cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention for as long as you’d hoped it would.

Should you put a space between paragraphs on Common App?

It should be single-spaced, double-space between paragraphs (two hard returns), and with no indents. Break up line paragraphs into smaller groupings of sentences. The Common App counts words (650), not spaces.

Should my UChicago essay be double spaced?

Although there is no set word limit for any of the prompts, InGenius Prep counselor Natalia Ostrowski, who worked as the Assistant Director of Admissions at UChicago, recommends that you limit the first essay (“Why UChicago”) to a page (double spaced in 12 point font).

How do you space in an essay?

How many words is 1000 characters including spaces.

How many typed pages is 1000 characters?

With that in mind, 1,000 typed words is about four pages. The average person types 40 words per minute, so it would take about 30 minutes to finish 1,000 words of writing. If you’re asked to submit a paper with single spacing, you will be writing two-and-a-half pages.

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1.5 spacing versus double?

Hi! The pre-law advisor at my school recently told me that my essays (personal statement, diversity statement, etc) can have 1.5 spacing, because admissions committees either cannot tell or do not care about the "minute" difference between that and a double-spaced essay. While they have worked for admissions committees in the past and have lots of connections, this seems incredibly different from everything else I've heard. I'm worried about throwing out my chances of acceptance for something as silly as submitting my essays in 1.5 spacing instead of double...and I also don't want to seem like I'm trying to cheat the system just because of some professional advice I received. That being said, my essays are the perfect length in 1.5 spacing but too long with double spacing, and I would rather not shorten them if I don't have to. Could anyone give me advice? Thanks!!

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