How 'personal' should personal statements be?

[throwawayacc2]

Right now, my personal statement is pretty good but I held off talking about interpersonal issues with family and how its taken a toll on my GPA. I don't want to turn my PS into a sob story that I doubt the admins would even believe for how crazy it is.

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[Ryxndek]

Yeah I don’t think you want to make excuses for why your gpa is low. Instead you could talk about how the family issues caused your grades to slip and how you rectified it and what you’ve accomplished since then. Or you can leave it out and go with what you already have. Have you had others read your PS?

 

[throwawayacc2]

Yeah I don’t think you want to make excuses for why your gpa is low. Instead you could talk about how the family issues caused your grades to slip and how you rectified it and what you’ve accomplished since then. Or you can leave it out and go with what you already have. Have you had others read your PS?

yep, they seem to like it. But, you know, there is just so much more I could talk about. I easily hit the 4500 character limit within an hour or 2 on my first draft.

 

[Ryxndek]

yep, they seem to like it. But, you know, there is just so much more I could talk about. I easily hit the 4500 character limit within an hour or 2 on my first draft.

Yeah it’s not a lot of room. Definitely a short essay

 

[artist2022]

Right now, my personal statement is pretty good but I held off talking about interpersonal issues with family and how its taken a toll on my GPA. I don't want to turn my PS into a sob story that I doubt the admins would even believe for how crazy it is.

Your personal statement should be about why you want to be a dentist, not explaining your grades. There's usually a section on secondary apps to explain poor performance. Also I'd suggest having dentists/current dental students read your PS - I usually make a list in a couple months with a list of readers for the new cycle.