Hi folks, long time no see. I was too busy with my work (I still have a life before getting into grad school
) as well as with my applications. Finally I am submitting an on-line application to one school that has an early deadline.
I wanted to ask a question about on-line submission of essays. Actually I am submitting an essay in the text file format rather than in any word-processed form because I figure that text file form is the most generic and is portable in any form of editor. However, I am also supposed to submit my resume/CV; as much as I like to play around with text files, I think it is difficult to make a nicely formatted CV (which is rather long) in the txt form. But I do not want to use MS-word because I feel that it is unreliable, i.e. it sometimes gives different output in different machines. The only reliable form of documents that I know of is PS (postscript) and PDF files. Well, PS file is out of the question because not many people know about it, and most people do not bother to install ghostview in their Windows box. PDF, on the other hand, is a widely used and reliable form of a document, and I believe that most machines have acrobat readers. So I am thinking of submitting (or rather uploading) a PDF form of my CV as an addition academic info in the, what else, "Supplementary Academic Info" entry of the on-line form.
My Q: Is it appropriate to upload a PDF file? The instruction says I can choose my "favourite" word processor. But PDF is not a word processor although you can generate a PDF file from any decent word processor. Or should I write a text file? Any thoughts?
Personally I think it is a pity that Tex/LaTex has not taken over the world.