<p>For anybody who has applyed to Reed (and gotten in!) how long was your writing piece? I wanted to submit my junior thesis paper, but it is 33 pages long and I am afraid that if it is too long, it will not be read. What do you guys think? Go for it? Or find something shorter?</p>
<p>(It is the best thing I have ever written. :P)</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>You are correct, 33 pages is way too long. Something between 2-5 pages is good, it just needs to be something the admissions office can viably read when they have 1000+ other papers to read also. Then again, I’m no admissions officer, these are just educated guesses. The paper that I submitted was only about 2 pages long, and it was just a comparison paper I wrote for 12th grade English, although I also thought it was one of the best things I had written up to that point. Remember to send it in with the teacher’s comments on it!</p>
<p>(I’m a freshman, by the way.)</p>
<p>What bucket said. I am currently a freshman and when I applied my writing example was 3 pages long, analyzing something or another from Heart of Darkness. I chose it not only because I thought it was the best thing I’d written to date, but also because it was covered in comments, both positive and negative.</p>
<p>I submitted a 4 page paper than analyzed and deconstructed a specific argument. It probably wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever written, but it demonstrated original thinking/argumentation, my teacher thought it was good, and it was a fairly recent writing sample at the time of my application. </p>
<p>I think 33 pages would be overkill. Like bucket said, put yourself in the admissions officer’s shoes… If everything else puts you in the running for admission, your thesis paper would probably be read but perhaps be resented for being so long. </p>
<p>Maybe you could submit your second- or third-best writing sample that is a bit more concise.</p>
<p>I agree that 33 pages is way longer than necessary, but I don’t think the deans would read it all; they’d get what they need in the first few pages.</p>
<p>zchryevns: Hey! Mine was on Heart Of Darkness too! I compared it to a song.</p>
<p>Would you guys say that seven is also too long? My shortest papers are from, like, seven to eleven pages… D:</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the length so much! My son’s paper was 19 pages, and he delayed forever submitting it, because he wanted to give them <em>that</em> particular paper, and his teacher didn’t give it back until January. When he asked about it, he was told that the paper serves a few purposes – it’s a sample of your school writing, but it also shows what the grading is like at your school. If it’s a crappy paper and it got an A, that says something about your grading system in general. </p>
<p>Sending a long paper in will not negatively affect your admissions. They’ll read part of it, look at what they want, and be done with it.</p>