It’s the dying embers of November 2011, and I’m starting the application process for my college degree.
The main reason for the delay was waiting to have a bit of a ‘launch’ of the whole goal process, and that needed me to get various websites in order, which relate to how I’m going to fund the whole thing!
I started with the personal statement, and was looking forward to it. Long time readers will know that I enjoy writing (and have no problem talking about myself!), so to get the chance to talk about the whole entertaining thing seemed like a pleasure to me, not a chore.
I settled down to get started, thinking that the statement had a 4,000 word limit. No worries there, that would give me enough space to build up a head of steam, and fit everything in!
On closer inspection though, I found it was a 4,000 *character* limit, not words! That’s a whole different ball game, and now the challenge would be to fit it all in.
Unlike 17 year olds who may not have a wealth of life experience, a 45 year old like me does not have that problem, and it really can be difficult to get all the relevant stuff in.
Not only that, I then found out that on the central university application website I have to use, there is a limit of 47 lines to use, and the website reformats your entry when you post it.
I like to use short paragraphs when I write, but all those blank lines really ate into the 47 line allocation – so I found myself having to squeeze paragraphs together. The more I did that, the uglier I thought it looked.
I ended up with 47 lines, and 3100 characters. For someone to use all 4000 characters they would have to have no breaks at all, so I settled for using less characters.
While I was letting that stew so I could come back and read it again later, I moved to other aspects of the application process, which again posed different problems for a 45 year old than they would for a 17 year old – references and exam results…
‘Til next time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
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