PS: lines between paragraphs

[SCUBAfan]

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How important is it to place a line break between each paragraph. My PS is exactly one page without line breaks. It looks better (and I think is easier to read) with the line breaks, but is that worth cutting out 4 lines of content?

 

[lulu09]

I don't think the one page will be preserved once you put it in into ERAS. Just go ahead and see.

 

[SCUBAfan]

It's 1 page in ERAS, I checked. I uploaded it with and without line breaks. Without it's a page, with it's 4 lines over...

 

[lulu09]

How are you checking the length of the PS? Using print and view as pdf?

First, I'm not how accurate that is.

Second, I just did mine which I considered to be on the longer side with 750 words...and it is one page. So I would really go by word count. I think 500-750 is reasonable, but if it's closer to 1000 it's probably too long.

 

[thehundredthone]

Most people go by the margins aProgDirector had posted a few years ago. 0.3" on the sides and 0.8" above and below, font Courier New 10pt. That's supposed to be accurate to +/- 1 line.

There is some talk that the new web based PDWS will change this, but not everyone has signed up for that so I guess the old guidelines would still hold. Some people use a line break, others put in 3-5 spaces as a paragraph indentation (some might do both).

 

[mcl]

Personal preference: I'd rather have no break between paragraphs that have the personal statement go over by 4 lines. When I print out applications for my reviewers/interviewers who prefer paper to computer screens, those 4 lines (and sometimes 4 words) end up killing a lot of trees.