<p>also, is there a "conventional" way to format an essay?</p>
<p>single
10char</p>
<p>Single, normal font 10-12pt (I prefer 12 personally).</p>
<p>"We're sorry to say we are not admitting you. You used Arial when we in fact were looking for more of a Verdana candidate." lol</p>
<p>I agree with single - that is the professional way to write something. The only reason you would do double is so professors/teachers can make corrections/comments in the middle, which is not the case with college essays. Justifying the margins also makes it look better, but it's always most important to write well rather than to just make it look good.</p>
<p>I always thought double spaced made it much easier to read. Single spaced, after reading thousands of essays, makes it easier for a reader to skip lines and lose place (atleast this is what I have seen trying to cram 3 chapters of a history reading into one night). Double spaced, IMO, is just easier to read. I doubt it matters in the end. It may be conventional to use single spaced, but noone will reject you for the line spaceing. An adcom told my school on a visit that she had seen essays with 6pt font and single spaced without margins to stress that our esssays need to be readable. If a college wants 1 page, single space it. If they do not specify anything besides word count, I would double space it to make it easier to read.</p>
<p>I was just about to ask this question too ;p</p>
<p>single. You double will just look longer.. and when you are tired, more people tend to jump the paragraph end in double.... single spacing is fine</p>
<p>I double-spaced mine because I thought it'd be easier to read that way.</p>
<p>I doubt that the formatting of your essay will either make or break you.</p>
<p>Single. I was always under the impression that double spacing was required in school so that it's easier for teachers to make comments. Plus, don't waste paper!</p>
<p>If you are submitting the common app online the only way you can format it is single spaced (unless there is some html code of which I am unaware). I wouldn't worry too much about the spacing though.</p>
<p>I would single-space unless directed otherwise. That way you can fit everything on one page -- easier on them in making copies, pages less likely to go missing or out of order, etc. I personally find single-space easier to read, assuming the font choice isn't too small and everything isn't in one long paragraph.</p>
<p>If something goes over one page, be sure to put identifying information on each sheet.</p>