Is it a no-no to use one space after periods on the personal statement?

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Mizo

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I'm 79 characters over the limit, and I think I can trim my essay down to size neatly by just using single spaces after periods.

Is this a problem?
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Mizo said:
I'm 79 characters over the limit, and I think I can trim my essay down to size neatly by just using single spaces after periods.

Is this a problem?
Click to expand...

No, if you use single spaces after periods you will NOT get into medical school.


lol. Are you really asking this...
 
Go for it. I did it. I don't think it's a problem and is even becoming preferred in some instances.
 
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I haven't used a double space after a period in years, including in important papers for school. Does anyone do this anymore?
 
Mizo said:
I'm 79 characters over the limit, and I think I can trim my essay down to size neatly by just using single spaces after periods.

Is this a problem?
Click to expand...

Lord almighty.
 
Schemp said:
I haven't used a double space after a period in years, including in important papers for school. Does anyone do this anymore?
Click to expand...

I use a single space after a period.
 
Schemp said:
I haven't used a double space after a period in years, including in important papers for school. Does anyone do this anymore?
Click to expand...

Not really. In all honesty, once you pass 6th grade grammar, no one cares. Same goes for whether or not you can diagram sentences.
 
Double spacing after periods was a practice observed in the type-writter days to make documents more readable since the character spacing was almost as wide as a typicaly space. These days, readability with computers isn't a problem and single-spacing after the period is the defualt. Change all your double spaces to a single.
 
Having gone through 12 years of grade school english plus a few writing courses in college, this is the first time that I have EVER heard of this typing convention. I guess you learn something new everyday...

So OP, don't worry. I'm sure it won't be a problem.
 
Schemp said:
I haven't used a double space after a period in years, including in important papers for school. Does anyone do this anymore?
Click to expand...

i still do it. out of habit, i guess. but i did eventually have to go through and manually take out each extra space in my PS so i wouldn't run out of characters :laugh: (though it should be noted that those spaces were the first things to go, before i sacrificed any words or anything)
 
ensuii said:
Double spacing after periods was a practice observed in the type-writter days to make documents more readable since the character spacing was almost as wide as a typicaly space. These days, readability with computers isn't a problem and single-spacing after the period is the defualt. Change all your double spaces to a single.
Click to expand...

👍
 
Alright, thanks for the input everyone. This really saves me a major headache.
 
Funny! I was thinking about going through and removing the double spacing after sentences because I was over my character limit, but I did some edits which made it sound better and didn't end up having to remove the double spacing. But I'm sure it doesn't matter. No one will even notice.
 
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^^^
I honestly think it depends on the font.

Other than that, this is definitely in the top twenty of craftiest ideas I've ever heard.
 
Single spaces are fine, and your PS is probably too long.
 
I still think double-spacing looks nicer. Normally I do two, but for my PS (and if I need to cut down on secondary essays) I switched to just one space. It really does get rid of a lot of characters, though maybe not 79.
 
dw2158 said:
i still do it. out of habit, i guess. but i did eventually have to go through and manually take out each extra space in my PS so i wouldn't run out of characters :laugh: (though it should be noted that those spaces were the first things to go, before i sacrificed any words or anything)
Click to expand...

Try using find and replace.... Find ". " replace with ". "

Much quicker way to edit out those extra spaces.
 
I would make sure to explain it in your PS
 
Schemp said:
I haven't used a double space after a period in years, including in important papers for school. Does anyone do this anymore?
Click to expand...

Nevermind lol, I misread that.
 
ensuii said:
Double spacing after periods was a practice observed in the type-writter days to make documents more readable since the character spacing was almost as wide as a typicaly space. These days, readability with computers isn't a problem and single-spacing after the period is the defualt. Change all your double spaces to a single.
Click to expand...


^ That. Placing 2 spaces after a period is an obsolete practice.
 
Super old bump--but I found this thread searching before making a new one.

I have to cut about 50 characters from my PS so this is a lifesaver.

Bumping in the off chance that this might help someone else with the same problem--as the majority of us are preparing our personal statements.

Edit: Blah---still 24 characters to cut!
 
Well, you tell me...did you notice that SDN's formatting removes multiple spaces in a row? If not, chances are you are one of the many, many people who really couldn't care less whether what they're reading has 1 or 2 spaces after the period (whether you're aware of the irrelevance or are clinging to some diehard conviction that one or the other is a better convention is a separate issue). I put ~6 spaces between these sentences just for funsies!
 
Nice to see that pre-alol hasn't changed much in the past few years
 
I was talking to an admissions counselor at Hopkins the other day who said "in all my days as an admissions counselor every single, single space PS has been an automatic rejection"

FWIW
 
TIL that the double space isn't just a computer formatting error.
 
This is news to me. I honestly didn't know you are supposed to double space after a period. I've been single spacing my whole life.

Mind = blown

Sent from my Galaxy S2
 
Double space after period was invented during the typewriter era, since all characters were spaced equally on the print head.

Modern word processors/printers auto space text, making double spaces after periods completely useless and downright silly.

#anotheruselessredditfact
 
Mizo said:
I'm 79 characters over the limit, and I think I can trim my essay down to size neatly by just using single spaces after periods.

Is this a problem?
Click to expand...

It's fine. It saves spaces.
 
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