5,000 Characters...Really? Non-Trads?

[sooprnova]

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I am having a Sisyphean struggle with my personal statement. 5,000 characters, particularly for a non-trad with 10 years work and 30 years life experience, seems darn near impossible. I have a degree in English, so I'm either overly succinct or terribly verbose. There's no middle ground.

I'm wondering how people, non-trads in particular, have dealt with this. I just feel that there's so much that makes me who I am (and who I am is a fantastic vet school applicant!) that it's difficult to pare it down into a half dozen paragraphs. I'm definitely interested in getting some SDN eyes on my PS, but until I can pare it down to the sub 6K mark, I don't really want to put anyone through that.

I'm trying to focus on my veterinary/animal experiences and how those have shown me that vet med is right for me, but I don't think I'm doing those experiences justice unless I put them in the perspective of what I like to call my "past life". Any suggestions or people willing to trade PS's?

 

[squirrelsrule]

My PS is a little long (like 5800 characters) and I know the feeling. I don't want to have to cut anything out and I keep thinking of things to add. And I am not that old (25) and don't have that much vet experience hours in. I think the main thing is to remember that they don't want to hear about every little thing you have done, just take them on your journey to deciding to become a vet and then somewhere in there put what kind of vet you want to be.

If you want to trade, I'll trade PSs with you and we can each give feedback on the others. I am kinda non-trad since I graduated with my bachelors degree when I was 18 and was out of school for 5 years before deciding to go back to finish my prereqs and become a vet. I worked my way up in a company for those 5 years, from builder on the shop floor to working in the office, but I realized that I didn't want to do that forever. I didn't even mention that job in my PS even though it was one of only 2 places I have ever worked. I put some info. about it in the work experience section and that's enough. I can talk about it more in my supplementals and interview if it fits.

 

[nyanko]

Here's my advice: you don't need to include irrelevant details about places you worked or things you did if they're elsewhere in the app (say your veterinary/animal experience section, extracurriculars, whatever). Relate them to your journey in a big-picture sense and be as brief as possible about them if you must include a mention of every place and every thing. Only expand when you're telling a story that displays some great aspect of you. The PS doesn't need to be a narrative of your entire life up until now.

Look at it from an admissions commitee member's perspective - they have to read hundreds of these. 5000 characters is a good limit. 😉

I've usually offered to check out people's PS's but I'm not getting a good vibe from a lot of people applying for this cycle tbh. When I read people's statements for them I don't sugarcoat my opinions and for some reason I feel like a lot of people around now would get butthurt about that.

 

[JumpHigherLivie]

My advice. First, start off by writing the PS that you want to write, saying skrew the character requirement, and get it out of your system. You will be very cranky until you have at least gotten to write the PS that you want to write. 🙂 Then, start chopping. If you mentioned it elsewhere in your app -- get rid of it. If there's a way to say the same thing but more concisely, edit it ... slowly hack away at it character by character. Bottom line is you probably wont be able to say everything that you want to say (but keep those things in mind for other areas like your supplemental apps, work history etc.) and do your best to make it as encompassing as possible.

If you were like me this also meant writing a PS from a completely different spin, (so really two PS's) bc I just had to get out of my system what I wanted to say even though it wasn't the PS that was going to get me into vet school. lol. But the above strategy actually worked quite well for me for the real thing. I think it also required copious amounts of ice cream while working on it.

And try not to realize taht there are a number of programs that don't even read your PS as part of your application. Which was quite the kick in the gut when I got done with mine and was actually quite proud of it.

 

[LetItSnow]

Only expand when you're telling a story that displays some great aspect of you.

Key. 👍 Everything you write should ultimately come back to that single point Nyanko made.

As an example, I described a project at work to demonstrate leadership in innovation. After I wrote the paragraph, I realized it was about 10 times longer than necessary because I had stuck technical details in there that did nothing but distract from the point (and they wouldn't have understood all the technical crap anyway). I ripped all but one sentence out, added a vet-related example of creatively improving the hospital equipment to address a common problem, and got double my mileage in half the space.

Every single sentence and word needs to be going somewhere. I've read a bunch of PS's now for people, and with one exception they all had an excess of the equivalent of verbal "ummmm" and "uhhhhhh": needless filler. That's fine in a forum like this where we're not editing ourselves (God knows I'm guilty of it), but with only 5000 characters you can't afford that in the PS.

Regarding squirrelsrule's comment, I see a lot of talk about writing about the decision to become a vet ("your journey to deciding to become a vet"). I think that's subtly off-target. It's fine to include whatever motivated you, but the primary goal isn't really to tell them why you want to be a vet (no matter what the VMCAS question says), it's to convince them that you'd succeed in their program and in the profession. Your decision to become a vet is really only relevant insofar as it also bears on your ability to succeed, so make sure you relate it that way. I'm not saying don't include it; just saying that you have to tell it in a way that it promotes you.

Just my opinion. Obviously, I don't sit on any app committees. 🙂

 

[StartingoverVet]

I chopped my 11000 word PS down to 5000 just by paring, paring, paring and not changing the overall structure. What I found, and you are probably going to hate this as an English major, is that I had to completely remove any writing "style" and just leave a plainly stated PS with the ideas speaking for themselves. It was an utterly un-enjoyable process, but you have to give up your ego to get to the limit.

At the end, I started substituting vet for veterinarian to save 9 characters, and looking for any way I could use 1 short word to replace to 2 short words. Good luck.

 

[jtom]

\I've usually offered to check out people's PS's but I'm not getting a good vibe from a lot of people applying for this cycle tbh. When I read people's statements for them I don't sugarcoat my opinions and for some reason I feel like a lot of people around now would get butthurt about that.

I would not get hurt at all, I dont want my readers to just say its good to not hurt my feelings but have there be issues with my statement. I will gladly pm you my PS when I am finished with it if you dont mind later in the summer.

With the PS length, I went in knowing how long it had to be before I started writing it. What I did was I decided to split up the 5000 words between five 1000 space paragraphs. I would focus on being as concise as possible, combine sentences and delete any details that do not have to be included.

 

[GellaBella]

I think you should pick one or two things that demonstrate different aspects of you: your personality, perserverance, whatever. and show those qualities without outright saying them.

Think about the type of short essay you would want to read after trudging through 500 other applicants boring old "i've always known I wanted to be a vet" PS.

You'd want to read something interesting right? A story. I've gotten people's PS to read before and they were no joke like:

In 2002 I worked at a small animal hospital.

In 2003 I volunteered at the zoo.

In 2004 I did a lot of bird watching.

stab me in the eye with a fork. Make me WANT to read your story. keep me (them/adcoms) interested.

In no way does your PS have to include everything, in fact, as Nyanko said, don't re-iterate things that are elsewhere in your application. Choose something else and let yourself and your personality shine. IMHO

 

[Minnerbelle]

The PS doesn't need to be a narrative of your entire life up until now.

Look at it from an admissions commitee member's perspective - they have to read hundreds of these. 5000 characters is a good limit. 😉.

Yeah, true that. If I had to read a long ***** autobiography of 10 years of work life and 30 years of life experience from every day joes/janes, I'd have to shoot myself! Other than a couple of colorful examples that are relevant, your richness in life experience should be apparent in your tone as well as your (hopefully) balanced perspective of vet med seen through your more mature glasses. The "under the surface" stuff if you will. Don't think of it as a handicap, but rather a strength that you can draw from a bigger set of meaningful experiences compared to other young'uns, who end up needing to talk about starting a school club while you may have built a start-up business, or a summer job instead of years working up the corporate ladder.

I've usually offered to check out people's PS's but I'm not getting a good vibe from a lot of people applying for this cycle tbh. When I read people's statements for them I don't sugarcoat my opinions and for some reason I feel like a lot of people around now would get butthurt about that.

True that even more. I tend to sugarcoat how I word it, but I don't hold back on my opinions and I give back really long and thorough responses... but I've definitely had annoying people message me back and go, "You're wrong. My PS is not bad. I had my mom and dad read it and they loved it. My dad's an English teacher. nyah nyah nyah." Seriously, I spend at least a good 2 hrs of my time to help out a random stranger. The least they can do is have the decency to say thank you and shut it, if they don't agree with what I have to say. I mean, I even put out a disclaimer each time and say that this is just my opinion so they can take it or leave it. And like... I post enough on here with my long verbose posts, so before they ask me to put in a lot of effort on their PS, these people should at least have the courtesy to peruse around and see if they generally like what I have to say. I mean, when I was looking for PS readers, I only sent them out to the people whose opinions I trusted and respected. I'm still happy to read PS's for those people who actually want my opinion, but I decided not to put my name on the list this year because I wanted to avoid wasting my time on PS's from people who just send theirs to the entire list just to get validation and ignore any constructive criticism.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Make me WANT to read your story. keep me (them/adcoms) interested.

YES! My personal opinion is that the best PS's are the ones that any random stranger could pick up and be captivated enough to stop what they're doing and read till the end. I think the point is to write something that's going to make adcoms like you as a person and want to meet you and have you in their class. The best ones I've read really had the audience in mind, and wrote for them. Most people tend to write for themselves. Yes, it's a personal statement so it should be about you, but it shouldn't be written for you. There's a big difference.

 

[StartingoverVet]

I kind of agree with GellaBella (and minnerbelle), but I did something different with my PS (b/c that was pre-SDN for me) and it still worked. My PS was more about figuratively marketing myself than telling a story. I just demonstrated how (surprisingly) vet med is a good fit for someone with my amazing skills and unique background. 😀

Perhaps I was successful in spite of the approach, but always remember you are trying to sell yourself to some degree.

 

[LetItSnow]

Seriously, I spend at least a good 2 hrs of my time to help out a random stranger. The least they can do is have the decency to say thank you and shut it, if they don't agree with what I have to say.

Yup. I nearly went back and took my name off the list recently because someone did that to me. I don't care if you disagree with my opinion, but at least have the decency to recognize that I used my time to seriously consider it and offered sincere advice. Geez. Frickin' entitlement attitude......

 

[Tator17]

I think you should pick one or two things that demonstrate different aspects of you: your personality, perserverance, whatever. and show those qualities without outright saying them.

Think about the type of short essay you would want to read after trudging through 500 other applicants boring old "i've always known I wanted to be a vet" PS.

You'd want to read something interesting right? A story. [...] Make me WANT to read your story. keep me (them/adcoms) interested.

In no way does your PS have to include everything, in fact, as Nyanko said, don't re-iterate things that are elsewhere in your application. Choose something else and let yourself and your personality shine. IMHO

This. This is what I did. I told a story. I didn't explain my strengths and weaknesses outright, and I didn't list my experiences. I took one (ongoing) experience and explained my reaction to it, what change overcame me to convince me to move from marketing to vet med and the steps that I took to make that happen. My strengths were evident in the story, but it truly was a story. I didn't explain my background, only alluded to it. I didn't list my experiences, but mentioned some particular events and how they shaped me.

I think that it's awesome if you've always known that you wanted to be a vet. But be specific about it. If you can cite a specific event, even better. Like, "I had always loved animals, but one day my roommate rescued a kitten that had been hit by a car. We took it to the vet and nursed it back to health. Through that experience I found my calling when I saw the effect of vet med first hand..." or something like that. Engage the reader. Make them want to learn more about you. Talking about your specific experiences with that kitten will make more of an impact than just saying that you've always known that this is your calling, or that you've had experience with thousands of kittens. Your qualifications and experience will be listed in the rest of your application. Add some color to your PS.

But then, that may be the marketing degree speaking

Also, like SOV said, I had to cut out a lot of "style" and was left with very plainly worded sentences that conveyed a story. I saved every draft of my PS, and the evolution it went through makes me laugh. The first draft was so long...

 

[sooprnova]

What I found, and you are probably going to hate this as an English major, is that I had to completely remove any writing "style" and just leave a plainly stated PS with the ideas speaking for themselves.

This is my problem. In no way do I want to simply have a list of things I've done - I want to tell an engaging, exciting story that just happens to also say why vet med is a good career choice. I guess when writing I'm more Thomas Pynchon and less Ernest Hemingway.

If anyone's willing to give the first iteration of my PS a read, I'd appreciate it (and I'm not sensitive...I'd prefer teeth and claws to butterflies and bunnies). I saw the other thread of people volunteering to read them, but I didn't want to just randomly start PM'ing people, particularly those with spelling and "grammer" mistakes in their offers.

 

[squirrelsrule]

Yeah, true that. If I had to read a long ***** autobiography of 10 years of work life and 30 years of life experience from every day joes/janes, I'd have to shoot myself! Other than a couple of colorful examples that are relevant, your richness in life experience should be apparent in your tone as well as your (hopefully) balanced perspective of vet med seen through your more mature glasses. The "under the surface" stuff if you will. Don't think of it as a handicap, but rather a strength that you can draw from a bigger set of meaningful experiences compared to other young'uns, who end up needing to talk about starting a school club while you may have built a start-up business, or a summer job instead of years working up the corporate ladder.




True that even more. I tend to sugarcoat how I word it, but I don't hold back on my opinions and I give back really long and thorough responses... but I've definitely had annoying people message me back and go, "You're wrong. My PS is not bad. I had my mom and dad read it and they loved it. My dad's an English teacher. nyah nyah nyah." Seriously, I spend at least a good 2 hrs of my time to help out a random stranger. The least they can do is have the decency to say thank you and shut it, if they don't agree with what I have to say. I mean, I even put out a disclaimer each time and say that this is just my opinion so they can take it or leave it. And like... I post enough on here with my long verbose posts, so before they ask me to put in a lot of effort on their PS, these people should at least have the courtesy to peruse around and see if they generally like what I have to say. I mean, when I was looking for PS readers, I only sent them out to the people whose opinions I trusted and respected. I'm still happy to read PS's for those people who actually want my opinion, but I decided not to put my name on the list this year because I wanted to avoid wasting my time on PS's from people who just send theirs to the entire list just to get validation and ignore any constructive criticism.

I'd love to hear your opinion on my PS. I can take criticism 🙂. I want to make my statement the best it can possibly be so any and all suggestions.

 

[LetItSnow]

I'd love to hear your opinion on my PS. I can take criticism 🙂. I want to make my statement the best it can possibly be so any and all suggestions.

... and I happen to know that Minnerbelle is an excellent writer. *ducks and runs*

 

[deleted266066]

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[Kylana]

I guess 5000 characters is a bit of an odd length, but for WCVM our statements had to be under 200 words I believe - that was also brutal! I think mine was roughly 1100 characters including spaces. Took me forever and I had no idea what to write!! I ended up writing basically about a single memorable case followed by about two sentences of what I thought about the veterinary profession in general, then I was at the word limit eeks. I wish you luck with writing yours!!

 

[Minnerbelle]

... and I happen to know that Minnerbelle is an excellent writer. *ducks and runs*

lol, thanks. If you really mean it, then if vet med doesn't work out for me, perhaps you can hook me up with your past journalism contacts 🙂.

 

[LetItSnow]

lol, thanks. If you really mean it, then if vet med doesn't work out for me, perhaps you can hook me up with your past journalism contacts 🙂.

I like you, Minnerbelle, I wouldn't do that to you. I was paid $14,500/yr for 75-hr work weeks. I remember working out the hourly wage and being a bit depressed that it was actually less than I had made in high school at my janitorial gig.

On the positive side, it's the only period in my life where I didn't pick up a speeding ticket every couple years..... 😉

 

[Minnerbelle]

I like you, Minnerbelle, I wouldn't do that to you. I was paid $14,500/yr for 75-hr work weeks. I remember working out the hourly wage and being a bit depressed that it was actually less than I had made in high school at my janitorial gig.

goddamn, ok, nm. Even I had a better deal before vet school, and I thought I was compensated crap. I should stop b**chin' now.

On the positive side, it's the only period in my life where I didn't pick up a speeding ticket every couple years..... 😉

Now getting totally sidetracked (and really should be on the rant here thread): Got pulled over last weekend for the first time in 9 years and got a speeding ticket. Going 92 on a 75 . In my defense it was 6 am on a Sat with not another car in sight. Coppers was waiting at the bottom of a freaking hill, so I didn't see him coming. I was going 85 climbing the hill, and was not going to waste my brakepad and gas to slow down going down the hill. SOB actually followed me over a mile, and past an exit, before turning on the siren. Thought maybe I got away... but no. No way in hell an asian female driver with a mass-hole license will ever get away with a warning (I do fit the bad driver stereotype so I guess that's besides the point, lol). I was feeling pretty remorseful for going over 90... and was being pretty careful after that. PoPos tend to give me PTSD, so I was pretty shaken. In fact, I'm pretty surprised I didn't do my usual dear-in-headlights followed by streaming tears act. But anyways, 5 miles after the incident, I sped up to the speed of traffic when cars started passing me left and right, and realized everyone was going over 90. FML. Then I felt shafted.

Silver lining is that since I have an out of state insurance, I supposedly don't get points if I just pay the damn fine.

 

[nyanko]

Silver lining is that since I have an out of state insurance, I supposedly don't get points if I just pay the damn fine.

😀 This is how I avoided multiple license suspensions and insurance hits during my earlier years with erm, less well developed good judgement. I must have gotten about 12 tickets in 3 years in Ohio and Mass, but my license was in Pennsylvania so it didn't matter.

 

[Hotfillyky]

I too, was interested in hearing opinions on my PS. I just didn't want to start randomly messaging ppl.

If somebody is interested then let me know.🙂 I worked on it for over a yr.

 

[Minnerbelle]

😀 This is how I avoided multiple license suspensions and insurance hits during my earlier years with erm, less well developed good judgement. I must have gotten about 12 tickets in 3 years in Ohio and Mass, but my license was in Pennsylvania so it didn't matter.

nice. I'm sooooooo glad I didn't switch my car registration/license over.

 

[Armymutt25A]

Another thing to consider is whether or not you have to write additional essays. NCSU required another 8 shorter essays. I decided that my PS would not address anything covered in another essay. The goal for me was a large information campaign with the message being that I am the best candidate for vet school. I also got my LORs tailored to stay on message by briefing the concept to those writing them. Each was tasked with writing about a different aspect and no information was repeated, so as not to waste a single character.

 

[sooprnova]

SOB actually followed me over a mile, and past an exit, before turning on the siren.

Here's advice that has worked for me on MANY occasions. If you're on a highway, GET OFF at the first exit. Many staties won't follow you off of the highway because it's too much work and paperwork, since you're normally entering into the jurisdiction of some podunk local municipality. I cannot tell you how many cups of coffee I've had at weird gas stations right off of the highway....

 

[dyachei]

SOB actually followed me over a mile, and past an exit, before turning on the siren.

A cop friend of mine shared with me that following you for a mile is another way to clock you as speeding if they don't have a radar gun. Maybe that's why?

Also, sorry bout the ticket, I wish there would be more tickets for terrible driving (at least in Knoxville, where so many people run reds, run stops, and stop in the middle of intersections).

 

[Minnerbelle]

A cop friend of mine shared with me that following you for a mile is another way to clock you as speeding if they don't have a radar gun. Maybe that's why?

no I don't think so. He def got me with the radar 'cause he said so. The mile was after he had caught up to me from being stopped on the shoulder, and was right behind me. By the time I'd passed him I had slowed down close to speed limit (obviously didn't help). But the mile that he was on my tail, I was going below speed limit. So really, the pursuit was even longer.

sooprnova, I totally thought of going off the exit... but I was being really self conscious of where I would pull over. That area just off the highway is kind of awkward, and I was scared that I wouldn't know where to pull over and the copper would start yelling on the megaphone. The one other time I've been pulled over was 9 years ago going 5 miles an hour on a residential (don't wanna go into it...), so I'm not an expert on this whole pulling over shebang. That one scarred me for life. So I go into fight or flight every time I talk to a male po po. Even when it's a campus po telling me that there was an "unidentified man" walking on our womanly campus and offering me a ride to the dorms, or even when I'm the victim making a report. I get queezy just thinking about it!

lol, sorry for the major thread derail! Gotta work on that...

 

[lareinesoleil]

This. This is what I did. I told a story. I didn't explain my strengths and weaknesses outright, and I didn't list my experiences. I took one (ongoing) experience and explained my reaction to it, what change overcame me to convince me to move from marketing to vet med and the steps that I took to make that happen. My strengths were evident in the story, but it truly was a story. I didn't explain my background, only alluded to it. I didn't list my experiences, but mentioned some particular events and how they shaped me.

I think that it's awesome if you've always known that you wanted to be a vet. But be specific about it. If you can cite a specific event, even better. Like, "I had always loved animals, but one day my roommate rescued a kitten that had been hit by a car. We took it to the vet and nursed it back to health. Through that experience I found my calling when I saw the effect of vet med first hand..." or something like that. Engage the reader. Make them want to learn more about you. Talking about your specific experiences with that kitten will make more of an impact than just saying that you've always known that this is your calling, or that you've had experience with thousands of kittens. Your qualifications and experience will be listed in the rest of your application. Add some color to your PS.

But then, that may be the marketing degree speaking

Also, like SOV said, I had to cut out a lot of "style" and was left with very plainly worded sentences that conveyed a story. I saved every draft of my PS, and the evolution it went through makes me laugh. The first draft was so long...

Mine was a kind of combination: first of all, I talked about why I want to be a vet (which was relevant in my case because I was a French major, and I thought adcoms might be asking themselves that very question). I spoke a bit about my experience, and how I'd done everything from kennel help to assistant to receptionist so I really knew the ins and outs of a vet hospital, and how that experience would make me a better vet. I also talked a bit about how one of my passions is behavior and training, and how specializing in behavior is something I'm definitely considering. I did that partially to emphasize how serious I was - if I'd had a "thesis", it would have been I know I want to be a vet, I know what it's like because I have experience, and I'm even thinking about my future.

*they even brought up my training experience in my interview, so I think talking about that definitely helped me. Find something that makes you stand out from the crowd and highlight it in your PS.