# Courier Font on Columbia Application



## Calliegrl03 (Feb 27, 2008)

Hey All,
I'm offically on freak out mode for Columbia...

Anyhoo, 
I tried so hard to stick to the font rules, but I couldn't. My autobiographical essay was 12 points, dialogue and formal writing sample 11 points and my 1 page treatment was 10pts.
I went on their website and it said that breaking the font will count against your application. Do you think it can make or break it? Anyone who got an interview, please tell me what you did.

PS 
I used Courier New Font...It's bigger than Courier.I don't own any screenwriting software. Too expensive.


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## maozbrown (Feb 27, 2008)

I don't think many things can make or break your application when it comes to film school. It's not like law school, where you need to be in a certain GPA/LSAT bracket.

But in the interest of being candid...if they say it counts against you, then it means a few points deducted. I guess it's up to you to do the cost/benefit analysis. If you put out some really compelling, crucial information by bending the rules, then maybe it was worth it.


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## d_lefeb (Feb 27, 2008)

Chill out, Calliegrl! I didn't notice the courier font requirement until after I sent it in and I still got the call! I also just re-read my materials and found 3 or 4 typos. If the material is good (which I guess mine was), I don't think they'll shun you for disrespecting this rule. Cheers and good luck!


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## Calliegrl03 (Feb 27, 2008)

Yeah...I'm okay now. I found some errors in my application and was still okay.


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## grabbag (Feb 27, 2008)

I think going over the page count needs to be warranted and won't count against you if it is--that is, if your story is just that complicated or compelling that you needed 200 extra words. But if you just aren't able to express yourself clearly and run over because you cannot EDIT your ideas, then that would count against you. (D'ya like my play on the word "edit". . . . I mean, good films can become great ones with a bit more editing.)


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## Calliegrl03 (Feb 27, 2008)

Good advice, man.
But I was talking about the font, not page count. I was within the limits.


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## birdman78 (Feb 27, 2008)

I wasn't even aware of the whole courier font thingy. That's cool - courier is a nice font. It is kind of weird that you changed the font size for every application. I mean, that makes it obvious that you tried to cram more information within the page limit - you should have just put all of them at 10 points. 
that said, honestly - I'd like to believe they're a little bigger than that.


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## heywetried (Feb 27, 2008)

Ugh, I hated that requirement, I get that they want consistency, but that font is so ugly and hard to read that I wish they just made it Times or Ariel or something (except for the script excerpt).

I played with margins a little bit on the one-page summery (which is probably where they'll notice it most, sadly), and on my app last year I used a font size of 11.75 and reduced the line spacing to 1.9, but I didn't change the font size in between documents (I wouldn't worry about it, honestly, but it does make it a bit obvious).

And the personal essay limit was 6 pages, which is huge until you consider the gigantic font. The limit for NYU was 5 pages, but the Columbia one ended up being shorter in word count.

My guess is that it counts against you in such a small way that it would be very surprising, shocking even, if that were the desiding factor in anyone's acceptance or rejection.


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