abbreviating in PS

[destinedsirius]

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Hi all,

I'm writing my personal statement and was wondering if it is ok to abbreviate the name of a school even the first time such as using UCSD insteading University of California, San Diego. Or is UC San Diego okay too?

Thanks

P.S. I'm not restating it as the place I went to as undergrad or something.

 

[TXistheReason]

I would say UC San Diego. The UC part is definitely common knowledge, especially when followed by San Diego. The full abbreviation UCSD, might make the reader have to think about it, which would be annoying for someone reading a ton of personal statements.

 

[Pennywisdom]

Better yet, if you have enough characters (space) left for your PS then I suggest you write it out.

 

[destinedsirius]

thank you

 

[Maygyver]

If you use it multiple times, I would use the long form first, and then UCSD subsequently. I think that's the general rule of thumb in writing.

 

[Sunspear]

Sometimes in my personal statement, if I knew I'd be mentioning something more than once, I'd write out the entire name followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. So I might say "Remote Area Medical (RAM)", and then just use "RAM" from then on. That way, the reader knows exactly what the abbreviation means.

 

[John Durian]

If you use it multiple times, I would use the long form first, and then UCSD subsequently. I think that's the general rule of thumb in writing.

Sometimes in my personal statement, if I knew I'd be mentioning something more than once, I'd write out the entire name followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. So I might say "Remote Area Medical (RAM)", and then just use "RAM" from then on. That way, the reader knows exactly what the abbreviation means.

👍

This is also what I did.

 

[FLOSS UR TEETH]

what about this everyone- Say I wanted to mention UNC in my ps, should I say UNC-Chapel Hill or should I say the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina?

 

[Maygyver]

what about this everyone- Say I wanted to mention UNC in my ps, should I say UNC-Chapel Hill or should I say the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina?

University of North Carolina.

 

[John Durian]

what about this everyone- Say I wanted to mention UNC in my ps, should I say UNC-Chapel Hill or should I say the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina?

This is best: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You only have to put Chapel Hill if UNC has universities in other cities; otherwise you can put University of North Carolina as Maygyver suggested. You don't have to say "in Chapel Hill, NC" though.

 

[Sunspear]

I'm pretty sure there are other UNC campuses (such as Charlotte.. right?), so I'd recommend first saying "University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC)" and then just use UNC from then on if needed.

 

[Maygyver]

I'm pretty sure there are other UNC campuses (such as Charlotte.. right?), so I'd recommend first saying "University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC)" and then just use UNC from then on if needed.

True. I know I just think of Chapel Hill though. When I put down my school I didn't put "Main campus."

 

[FLOSS UR TEETH]

I'm pretty sure there are other UNC campuses (such as Charlotte.. right?), so I'd recommend first saying "University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC)" and then just use UNC from then on if needed.

Oh yeah.. it's kind of like the Cali system actually.. but thanks for the input everyone.. I think they should know that UNC-Chapel Hill stands for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill though considering it is one of the dental schools lol... that would be fairly odd if they weren't familiar with that abbreviation 🙄... that is why I am asking because I don't want to have it come across like they are naive about abbreviations and that for some crazy reason I am "putting them on a lower level" or something.. I don't know, I just want to be careful with how things come across.....

 

[Maygyver]

Oh yeah.. it's kind of like the Cali system actually.. but thanks for the input everyone.. I think they should know that UNC-Chapel Hill stands for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill though considering it is one of the dental schools lol... that would be fairly odd if they weren't familiar with that abbreviation 🙄... that is why I am asking because I don't want to have it come across like they are naive about abbreviations and that for some crazy reason I am "putting them on a lower level" or something.. I don't know, I just want to be careful with how things come across.....

It's more professional to write school names out. At least at first.