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Duke Short Essays

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arags01
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Duke Short Essays [#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2006, 20:23
Hi guys,

I am beginning to write my essays for Round 2 and wanted to get your input on the length of the essays. Duke has 2 short essay questions and the instructions on the website are as follows:

For the short answer questions, please restrict your response to a single page each.
1) Please discuss your career path, your short and long-term goals.
2) Why are you interested in The Duke MBA program and how will it help you achieve your goals? If you are interested in the Health Sector Management concentration or a joint degree program, please address in this essay.

Since the only restriction here is that the essays need to be one page, does this mean that there is no limit on the number of words? I have written my initial drafts and they are between 500-700 words each. Also, there is no way I can try to put all that information and double space my essays.

Has anyone completed their short essays and what was your length, font, spacing etc? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

AR
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jaynayak
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[#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2006, 21:49
Usually 1 page with double spacing means 300-350 words. But even I went overboard with it. I tried to squeeze into 300 words but it was not what I wanted to say hence I stuck to around 400-450 words.

I used the font size 10 and tweaked a little with the margins. But again I did this only for Short essay 1, for short essay 2 I used the font size 11 but no changes to the margins.

IMO you can tweak the margins, but the content should be important (soemthing that is absolutely necessary). Also double spacing is mandatory. They have clearly specified that hence do not try to bypass it.
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arags01
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No word limit or spacing style [#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2006, 23:22
Thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, Duke doesn't explicitly state that their essays need to be double-spaced. All it says is that the short essay should be no more than 1 page.
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lhotseface
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Re: No word limit or spacing style [#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2006, 23:39
Duke asks for 1.5 spacing.

https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/mba/daytime/apply/#ess

arags01 wrote:
Thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, Duke doesn't explicitly state that their essays need to be double-spaced. All it says is that the short essay should be no more than 1 page.
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arags01
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Thanks [#permalink] New post   04 Dec 2006, 00:04
Wow.. I totally missed that. So much for being meticulous:) Even though it mentions that "For the short answer questions, please restrict your response to a single page each", can I go a little over..say 1.5 pages?
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[#permalink] New post   04 Dec 2006, 00:24
If you ask me..... I would say no.

Tweaking with the margins (not recommended) can be allowed in some cases. But going over 1 page when specifically mentioned will not be looked in a good light.
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willget800
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[#permalink] New post   29 Dec 2006, 21:41
so how wide can you go with margins without looking bad?
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willget800
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[#permalink] New post   29 Dec 2006, 21:48
I have Font 11, and my margins extended quite a bit both on left and right side.. it fits in when i do a pdf converter... Do we have to submit word files.. Can we submit pdf files?

I also had 587 words!!

Is that ok? I am thinking if its a short essay, isnt that too much? any ideas anyone?
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EconGirl
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[#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2006, 09:24
Mine is 439 words, times, new roman, size 12, space = 1.5. that made my essay fit on one page exactly.

Deffinitelly don't go over one page and if I were you I would work on shortening it instead of playing with margins. It is a short essay for a reason and you never know what they do with your essay - They may format it on their own (I know wharton does) and would not miss your tweeking.
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willget800
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[#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2006, 09:33
EconGirl wrote:
Mine is 439 words, times, new roman, size 12, space = 1.5. that made my essay fit on one page exactly.

Deffinitelly don't go over one page and if I were you I would work on shortening it instead of playing with margins. It is a short essay for a reason and you never know what they do with your essay - They may format it on their own (I know wharton does) and would not miss your tweeking.


Times New Roman, Font 12, spacing 1.5 and you fit in 439 words in one page!!!

When I tried font 12, spacing 1.5.. I could fit in 350 words only.. Waav.. how did you mange that? any tricks I am missing with word?
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EconGirl
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[#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2006, 10:28
I just double checked. Top/bot. margin = 1'' and left/right = 1.25''

with title : 452 words, characters (with space) = 2,583.

I don't know. Are these standard margins? (I assumed so because I did not play with them at all).

Maybe you just use more sophisticated (and usually longer) words than I do :wink:
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willget800
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[#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2006, 11:08
EconGirl wrote:
I just double checked. Top/bot. margin = 1'' and left/right = 1.25''

with title : 452 words, characters (with space) = 2,583.

I don't know. Are these standard margins? (I assumed so because I did not play with them at all).

Maybe you just use more sophisticated (and usually longer) words than I do :wink:


Econgirl,
hahaha.. I wish .. I am bad in writing... I am a bad microsoft user too.. So can you help me how you found out what margin you have?
hahaha..

believe it or not, i have used a linux documentation tool more than word.
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willget800
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[#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2006, 11:11
ok, i just checked.. microsoft help is a powerful feature no doubt!!!

I have 1/1 for top/bottom and 1.25/1.25 for left/right..

hmm maybe because I put tabs when I begin a new paragraph!
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EconGirl
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[#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2006, 12:34
hmmm, it has to be word choice then. tabs would not count as words, besides, I used tabs as well. :?
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willget800
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[#permalink] New post   30 Dec 2006, 14:31
without tabs you could get around15 more words i think :)
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