i don't see how i can get my personal statement any shorter than it is now. i've trimmed it down as best as i could but 927 at last count is the minimum i need to say what i need to say, and already that's leaving plenty out. what will they do, do you suppose, if i turned in something twice as long as they wanted? can i just trust that someone wouldn't mind reading an extra page? i could, i suppose, strike the more autobiographical bits, but everyone who's read my draft so far - julian, addy, bob reeder - tells me that's the most compelling bit and addy said i was not to change a word of it. but to leave off the more thesis-proposal like bits is unthinkable. naturally i would hate to sound prematurely professionalised - festina lente! - but one must at least say something purposeful! and i've tried to be merely suggestive and not overdetailed about the sort of thing i'd like to do, because it seems so wrong to talk shop - that should be the business of the writing sample, one thinks. oh bloody hell it's ridiculous. what kind of a personal statement can you write in 500 words anyway? princeton at least told you you had 1000 words. and i don't think i can do the "candidate me" sort of thing i am advised to at all - what kind of asian kid can?! sigh...