Personal statement length (One page now appears to be <600 words)

[ipodtouch]

I heard in the past how the ERAS formats the PS (font 10 courier new, with wide margins). At that length, 700 words was usually safely within one page. But now, the eras actually gives you the option to print an uploaded PS. Using this feature, I've seen that ~590 words fits onto one page.

This is a bit alarming to me. My PS is 700 words exactly, which is nearly a page and a half.

Would this be considered ok? Or do you recommend further cuts?

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[Promethean]

There is very little that can be said in 700 that can't be said in 600.

How many adverbs can you cut? How often can you rephrase to say as much with fewer words?

 

[ipodtouch]

It was originally 800 words that ive cut down (to now 680 words). It is now at that point where i have to start cutting out ideas entirely.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

The personal statement format has changed. Last year it was confusing because some programs were using the new web based ERAS, and some using the old system. But this year it appears that all will be using the web based system.

In Web based, your PS's look like this:
Times New Roman font, 8 point.
Left margin: 0.5 in
Right margin: 1.8 in
Top margin: 1 in
Bottom margin: 2.3 in

With those settings, you should be able to fit just under 1000 words on a page.

I am amazed if ERAS on your end can't show you exactly what we see on our end.

Not uncommonly, I see personal statements which only span 1/2 the page width-wise. I assume this is because someone has cut-and-pasted their PS from some other program and it has embedded line breaks. It's fine, but it makes your PS look twice as long.

Last, there is this amazing drive to have your PS be one page long. Given the settings above, most will fit in a page. But if your PS is interesting enough, I'll read it to the end regardless of how many pages it is. If it is horrifically boring, I'll read the first 3 sentences, and then the last few, and that's it. SO quality trumps length every day.

 

[ipodtouch]

I did some more digging on this, and the Page discrepancy appears to be due to the inclusion of a header when you print it at home... Which makes a page <600 words. If thats true, then 700 words should fit on a page easily.

In the case of the strange margins you mention, i am typing it on microsoft word. Hopefully this wont be an issue for me?


BTW, those are some very strange margin settings. Everything is basically minimized into the top left of the page. Was this how you found the web format last year?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

On ERAS the text is shifted to the left, almost centered in the page. But those settings will show you what fits on one page.

There is a header when we print/view our PS's also.

 

[Raryn]

I did some more digging on this, and the Page discrepancy appears to be due to the inclusion of a header when you print it at home... Which makes a page <600 words. If thats true, then 700 words should fit on a page easily.

In the case of the strange margins you mention, i am typing it on microsoft word. Hopefully this wont be an issue for me?


BTW, those are some very strange margin settings. Everything is basically minimized into the top left of the page. Was this how you found the web format last year?

With regards to Microsoft Word, the best advice any of us can give is the same advice given by ERAS itself: Copy/paste the personal statement into a text editor such as notepad prior to putting it into ERAS. Save that, then copy paste it again into ERAS. Notepad will strip out any fancy formatting that may be in there by accident. Word can easily screw it up.

 

[camedstudent23]

On ERAS the text is shifted to the left, almost centered in the page. But those settings will show you what fits on one page.

There is a header when we print/view our PS's also.

@aProgDirector is there any update for this year on the font/margin settings that replicate what programs see? Thanks!

 

[NotAProgDirector]

ERAS for us doesn't open until Sept 15th