Grad School Writing Sample: Choosing What to Send

Grad School Writing Sample: Choosing What to Send

Send your strongest analytic paper in the field, at or under your program's page limit, and follow its rule on excerpts. At the nine programs below, stated page limits run from 10 pages (Penn Weitzman) to 25 pages (Yale History), and one sociology department wants all chapters of a thesis rather than an excerpt.

Writing-sample advice often gives one length and one rule for excerpts. The program pages disagree with each other, and the disagreements are exactly where applicants go wrong: Columbia History prefers a primary-source excerpt to a complete secondary essay, while UCLA Sociology advises sending a whole thesis. This page puts nine programs' rules in one table, then gives a procedure for choosing, cutting and lightly revising a paper. Your statement of purpose frames the sample, so when both are drafted, a PhD SOP review can check that the SOP and the sample tell the same story.

Every program page quoted below was checked on October 30, 2026. Requirements change between cycles, so reread your program's page before you cut a paper to fit it.

Nine programs' rules in one table

Applying to a creative writing MFA? The sample there is your fiction or poetry, and our MFA writing sample limits by program covers those caps.

Read across the rows:

• Stated lengths run from 10 to 25 pages at six programs (our count from the table). Three are hard limits: Penn Weitzman 10, Columbia 20, Yale History 25. Yale English and SPIA give preferred or expected ranges, and UCSB Communication recommends 10–12 pages and may not read past 12. UCLA's 15–30 pages is an average, not a limit.
• Three programs exclude the bibliography from the count. Columbia, Yale English and Penn Weitzman say so in writing. The others do not say.
• Programs disagree on excerpts. Columbia and Yale English accept or prefer excerpts. UCLA Sociology advises the whole thesis.
• Authorship rules are explicit where they exist. UCLA prefers single-authored work; UCSB Communication requires you to be "sole author and editor"; Penn Weitzman bars outside translation.

Choosing the paper

Our view: choose the paper that shows the kind of work the program trains you to do, even if a different paper got a higher grade. Every program in the table that describes its preference describes a kind of work, not a grade: Columbia wants historical arguments "from primary sources", Yale English wants "a literary critical mode", UCLA wants original research, SPIA says quality matters more than length.

Philosophy departments add their own twists, such as Purdue's rule that the sample need not match your main area; see the philosophy PhD writing sample and statement guide.

Run these checks in order:

1. Field. Is it in the program's discipline, or close to it? If not, read our guide to a sociology writing sample from another field before you decide.
2. Kind of work. Does it make an argument from evidence? UCLA's FAQ: "An academic research paper is better than a more journalistic paper or a term paper." History programs want primary sources.
3. Authorship. Is it yours alone? If it is co-authored, check the rule. UCLA Sociology: "Yes, but we prefer a single-authored paper. If you send a paper co-authored with a professor, please ask the professor to explain your involvement in and contribution to the paper."
4. Fit with the SOP. Does it show the interest your statement of purpose claims? For literature applicants, see whether your writing sample fits your SOP.
5. Length. Can it meet the cap without losing its argument? If not, see the next section.

The countercase: if your strongest paper is in a different subfield from the one you name in your SOP, a weaker on-topic paper can still be the wrong choice. Columbia says its writing sample "is often the decisive factor in our decision". When the sample carries that much weight, the strongest argument usually beats the closest topic. Say in one SOP sentence why you sent it.

Cutting a long paper to the limit

Cut only where the program accepts excerpts. Yale English does ("If you submit an excerpt from a longer senior essay or thesis, you may attach a brief abstract that describes the longer project"), and Columbia prefers a research excerpt to a complete secondary essay. UCLA Sociology says the opposite for a thesis: "If you send a thesis, it’s advisable to send all chapters rather than select one or two chapters."

Our recommendation for an excerpt:

1. Keep the introduction that states the question and argument.
2. Keep one complete analytical section, with its evidence. Do not stitch together fragments from several sections.
3. Keep or write a short conclusion for the excerpt.
4. Add a cover note: what the full project is, what you cut and where the excerpt sits.
5. Recount pages under the program's rules: double spacing where stated, bibliography excluded where stated.

Constructed example: an excerpt cover note

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant document. 79 words.

This sample is Chapter 2 of my 64-page senior thesis, "Grain Prices and Protest in Two Provincial Towns, 1840–1848." The full thesis compares two towns' market records and petitions. Chapter 2 analyzes the petitions from the first town and makes the thesis's central argument: that petitioners framed price demands as appeals to custom, not to law. I have cut the literature review and the second case study. Pages are double spaced; the bibliography is excluded from the 20-page count.

The note follows the Yale English rule (a brief abstract of the longer project) and the Columbia rule (bibliography excluded). It would not suit UCLA Sociology, which asks for the whole thesis.

How much can you revise?

Seven of the nine pages do not say. Where they do speak, they speak about authorship:

• UCSB Communication: "You should be the sole author and editor of the paper or thesis."
• Penn Weitzman: "Your writing sample must be written by you in English. The writing sample may not be translated by an outside party, even if English is not your first language." It also says the sample "can be a paper you have already written, or you can write a new sample specifically for the application."
• UCSB Communication's cover page names the faculty member "who graded or reviewed the paper".

Our view: revising your own paper for clarity, correcting errors and tightening it to the cap is normal where the program is silent. Rebuilding its argument is a different paper. If the cover page names the course and the grader, as UCSB Communication's does, the paper you send should still be recognizably the one they graded. Keep the graded version and note what you changed.

The countercase: if the program allows a new sample, as Penn Weitzman does, or your only paper is years old, writing something new can be the better route. Our guide to a writing sample after years away from study covers recovery and reconstruction. For professional writing in communication programs, see work samples vs academic papers.

Format checklist before you upload

1. Under the cap, counted the way the program counts: Yale English and Yale History state double spacing; Columbia, Yale English and Penn Weitzman exclude the bibliography.
2. A cover note if you excerpted or cut the paper.
3. Your name on the first page if the portal does not add it.
4. PDF, which MIT Economics requires: "Files should be in PDF format."
5. One sample, unless the program welcomes more. MIT Economics says "multiple samples are welcome". The other pages describe a single sample.
6. The companion documents. Yale History also requires a book review of at most 1,000 words. Check whether your program asks for anything else with the sample.

Questions about grad school writing samples

How long should a writing sample be for grad school?

As long as your program's limit allows. At the programs in the table, stated lengths run from 10 pages (Penn Weitzman) to 25 (Yale History), with Columbia at 20 and Yale English preferring 15–20 double-spaced pages. If the program gives no length, about 20 double-spaced pages fits four of the six stated lengths above (our count), but not Penn Weitzman or UCSB Communication. For page limits across more fields, see graduate writing sample length by field.

Can I submit a co-authored paper as a writing sample?

Check the program. UCLA Sociology accepts one but prefers single-authored work and asks a co-author professor to explain your contribution. UCSB Communication requires you to be "sole author and editor". If a program is silent, prefer a sole-authored paper.

Can I use professional or non-academic writing?

Sometimes. UCSB Communication allows "a nonacademic writing sample of comparable length" if you have not attended college for some time and someone in a position of authority can verify you wrote and edited it alone. UW iSchool's optional work sample accepts "basically anything you want to submit". History and literature programs in the table ask for academic work.

Does my writing sample need to match my SOP topic?

No program in the table requires it. Our view: a sample close to your stated interest helps, but argument quality matters more, and Princeton SPIA says "The length of the paper is not as important as the quality of the work." Explain any gap in one SOP sentence.

Can I submit a paper written in another language?

Only where the program allows it. Penn Weitzman requires English and bars outside translation. None of the other eight pages addresses the language of the sample, so ask the department before you translate a paper. A writing sample is not a proposal; if you also need one, see the annotated 1,500-word PhD research proposal.

Social work PhD programs often tie the writing sample to the statement; LSU, for example, asks you to explain in the statement why your samples show analytic capacity (see the social work PhD personal statement).

Get a free review of your statement of purpose

GradPilot has no writing-sample rubric. The document that frames your sample is the statement of purpose. Get a free Quick Review of your PhD statement of purpose against GradPilot's PhD SOP rubric. It reads for a clear research direction, how your prior work prepared you for it, and your use of scholarship and evidence. Applying in literature? Use the literature PhD SOP rubric, which reads for a workable research question and the materials you will study. For any field, the graduate SOP Scholar Voice rubric checks whether your statement shows your own thinking about the field, not just a list of projects.

More guides for the same application:

• Research statement example for a PhD application: when the program asks for a research statement as well.
• CV for grad school applications: list the paper you send, with its course or thesis, on the CV.
• All PhD essay guides.

Sources

Retrieved October 30, 2026 (UTC), except where noted.

• Columbia University Department of History, Doctoral Program Admissions (deadline December 3, 2026): page limit, sample types, excerpt preference, "decisive factor".
• Yale Department of English, Applying to Yale (December 1 deadline): page range, excerpt and abstract.
• Yale Department of History, Admissions (December 1 deadline): 25-page limit, primary sources, book review.
• UCLA Department of Sociology, Admission (December 1 deadline): writing sample rule and FAQ answers.
• Princeton SPIA, Ph.D. Application (deadline December 1, 2026): 20 to 25-page paper.
• MIT Department of Economics, PhD Admissions (September 2027 start): writing sample requirement, multiple samples, PDF.
• UC Santa Barbara Department of Communication, How to Apply (2027-28 programs): 10–12 pages, sole author and editor, cover page, nonacademic option.
• Penn Weitzman School of Design, How to Apply (fall 2027): 10-page limit, 3,500 words, new sample allowed, no outside translation.
• University of Washington Information School, Ph.D. Application Materials (Autumn 2027): optional work sample.