<p>I am wondering which style is favorable. Thank you!</p>
<p>Times New Roman</p>
<p>Really? I have seen some students say they use Calibri? Use Times New Roman, 10.5, Microsoft Word? I have thought of using Adobe Reader…</p>
<p>Calibri is perfectly OK to use, too.</p>
<p>The traditional rule of thumb is to use a serif font for body text, and either the same typeface for headings or a sans serif font. The reason for this is that serif fonts are easier to read for extended passages of text as the serifs tend to lead the reader’s eye. </p>
<p>Times New Roman used to be the default font for MS Word, so it’s ubiquitous. As a result, it’s stale, though otherwise, it’s a perfectly good font. In the most recent versions of MS Word, Calibri is the default font. Even though this is a sans serif font, it has subtle rounding, making it softer than some other sans serif fonts. It probably would be classified as a “humanist” sans serif as opposed to a “grotesque” sans serif, like Arial. Humanist sans serifs generally are somewhat easier on the eye in longer text passages.
Microsoft also has made an effort to commission new fonts that look good on screen as well as in hard copy. </p>
<p>Another consideration is to use fonts that your readers are likely to have on their computers. If you email a MS word document, but the recipient doesn’t have the font in which it was written, then the computer will convert to a similar font that is available. Some readers might not have Calibri unless they have a more recent version of MS Word or unless they downloaded Calibri. If you convert the document to Adobe .pdf format before sending it, however, it will preserve the original font you used.</p>
<p>Thank you very much!!
Hmmm… I am still wondering whether it is proper to convert the document to Adobe .pdf? Thanks a lot!! 
Thank you for typing so long a passage to illustrate the font and the format of document for me.</p>
<p>Wow zapfino - how do you know so much about fonts? I’m intrigued.</p>
<p>^That really just scratches the surface of what there is to know about fonts. Graphic design, including typography, is just one of the arcane subject that interests me, so I read up on it a bit. lol It’s all about making your documents look better, be more readable and legible, and conveying the impression that you you want to convey. After all, we don’t live in a typewriter world anymore (at least, not since 1984 when the Mac was released). </p>
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[Typofile</a> Magazine - Home](<a href=“http://www.will-harris.com/type.htm]Typofile”>http://www.will-harris.com/type.htm)
[History</a> of typography: Humanist | I love typography, the typography and fonts blog](<a href=“http://ilovetypography.com/2007/11/06/type-terminology-humanist-2/]History”>http://ilovetypography.com/2007/11/06/type-terminology-humanist-2/)</p>
<p>typefaces, actually.
Something generic is fine. Times or times in new roman are both good.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, for the love of God do NOT use Comic Sans.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>My teachers always insist that I use Arial, though I’ve read about the sans serif font. I’d probably stick to something generic, though I’m pretty adverse to Calibri because of it’s tendency to look small.</p>
<p>The Commonapp converts everything to .pdf, so don’t worry about doing it yourself.</p>
<p>I used Chaparral Pro for my essays (comes packaged with Adobe Photoshop). But then again, I also wrote them in InDesign, because I’m a bit of a design nerd.</p>
<p>Formatting-wise: I’d recommend doing 1.3 linespacing (more readable than single-spaced and double-spaced; this is around what novels get printed as) with text no smaller than 11pt but preferably 12pt.</p>
<p>Are you on a Mac or a PC?</p>
<p>Mac: Palatino Linotype, Baskerville (it’s a little delicate, so make it slightly larger than normal, say 12.5pt), Garamond.</p>
<p>PC: Constantia (little thick for my tastes, though), Garamond.</p>
<p>I would shy away from a sans-serif one like Calibri (I think people are still more used to seeing serif typefaces for body text, although sans-serifs are used so widely on the internet I doubt there’s any significant difference in how readable either one is anymore.) Factoid: serif typefaces are supposed to be easier to read because the little serifs (the usually-horizontal strokes at the ends of lines, say on the top and bottom of a lowercase L) lead the eye from letter to letter.</p>
<p>Avoid typefaces specifically designed for the screen (there are subtle differences in typefaces-for-print and typefaces-for-screen): Georgia and Verdana are both not optimal if these essays will be printed out, which is quite likely at many colleges.</p>
<p>That said, if you prefer a sans-serif: Calibri (PC) is pretty great; Gill Sans is a humanist typeface (as zapfino noted, a good choice for body text) that I’m fairly fond of.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t use Arial (which always felt unbelievably awkward to me) or Times New Roman; they are both so common the essay reader might feel a sense of subliminal fatigue looking at your words. I mean, if we want to get strategic here, then choose a typeface that is subtly different from the norm (that’s why I chose Chaparral Pro) so it feels somewhat fresh and new, while still being perfectly professional and readable. </p>
<p>May I suggest downloading the free and open-source [Fanwood</a> or Linden Hill](<a href=“The League of Moveable Type”>http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/) for your essays, if you can? These are fantastic typefaces with just a subtle hint of character.</p>