Advice on keeping PS character count down?

[guitarguy23]

Any tips? Aren't spaces counted as characters?

Should I just not indent for my paragraphs when I put this thing in AMCAS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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[illegallysmooth]

Just keep your language concise and direct. None of these little "tricks" like having no indent for a paragraph is going to save you a substantial number of characters.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Any tips? Aren't spaces counted as characters?

Should I just not indent for my paragraphs when I put this thing in AMCAS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Spaces are counted. Do not indent. Leave a blank line between paragraphs (counts as 1 or maybe 5 characters?). Don't write long, pretty sentences.

 

[Bernoull]

Make ";" and "." your friends!! These punctuation marks can replace conjunctions/phrases and make ur sentence more succinct. Also use the writing lab at ur school if you have one, they helped me with cutting weight without sacrificing content/message...

GL

 

[missbones]

Have various other people in your life review it for you and suggest what to cut. Easier for an outsider to chop out phrases or sentences that you may be emotionally attached to but that aren't necessary.

 

[amberisma]

Normally when I type I always put two spaces after the end of a sentence. Do not do that in your PS. It's just wasting characters.

 

[DrSmooth]

1st cut anything that doesn't contribute to your answer to the question prompt. After that, look at spaces, abbreviations that still sound normal, using numerals (eg 18) instead of numbers (eg eighteen), etc. AMCAS won't let you indent, at least not your first paragraph. Cutting characters becomes more of an issue in secondaries that are much more limited than the PS.

 

[st2205]

Acronyms and text-speak (lol, ur, ez, r, etc.) You'd be surprised how quickly these add up.

 

[redsquareblack]

Normally when I type I always put two spaces after the end of a sentence. Do not do that in your PS. It's just wasting characters.

Granted, I'm a pedant, but don't do that. Just stop. Modern fonts make the "two space after a sentence" obsolete and unnecessary.

 

[DoctaFuture]

What's the character limit? 5500? Is this something we type in Word and paste it into an AMCAS box?

 

[BlueElmo]

Have other people edit it. Usually, your PS will get shorter.

 

[aker321]

Cut every instance of "really" and "very." See what happens. Your writing gets stronger and your word count goes down...magic! Get rid of transition words (however, moreover, furthermore, generally, specifically, etc.). You don't need them as much as you think you do and usually they make your writing sound crappier anyway.

And I'm also going to reiterate that you should only use one space after a period.

 

[siliso]

Just replace all instances of "you" and "are" with U and R. If you need to emphasize something, try "srsly."

 

[SketchsaurusRex]

using "shan't" instead of "should not" saves four characters