Advisor is recommending to max out the character count for my personal statement

[.-.]

Which I'm totally fine with doing, but from the advice here it seemed like short and concise personal statements were the norm.

As of right now I have two personal statements, one short and one long. The shorter one focuses on my love of dentistry and my desire to be a dentist, and the longer one includes that with life details like traveling with my Dad to other countries when he worked as a physician.

Any thoughts? I really don't have a preference either way, just whichever is more close to what they want.

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[Charles_Darwin]

IMO, if your personal statement is so well-written that it hooks the reader and keeps them interested the whole time, length won't matter overall

 

[doc toothache]

Keep in mind that the number of words in ps is counted and determines the grade given.

 

[.-.]

IMO, if your personal statement is so well-written that it hooks the reader and keeps them interested the whole time, length won't matter overall

So as long as it's compelling and not bloated, it'd be beneficial to max it out you think?

 

[.-.]

Keep in mind that the number of words in ps is counted and determines the grade given.

I had never heard this! So you mean that a student with more words in his PS would receive a better grade than another student with less? (assuming the quality of writing is equal in both)

 

[Rand627]

I had never heard this! So you mean that a student with more words in his PS would receive a better grade than another student with less? (assuming the quality of writing is equal in both)

He's being facetious.

 

[wjc]

I say so long as it is on point and well written then use all of the space you can. The PS is the only way that you can really come off as a unique and compelling individual prior to the interview. They wouldn't give you 4500 characters if they weren't okay with you using it.

 

[Charles_Darwin]

So as long as it's compelling and not bloated, it'd be beneficial to max it out you think?

Yup! I spent 2 months and 2 proofreading services on mine. I loved the way it turned out, it just also happened to be 4499 characters

 

[fayevalentine]

I wouldn't write only 2 paragraphs, but I also wouldn't add in a bunch of filler just to make it 4500 characters.

 

[super frank]

I wrote a haiku for mine.

 

[fayevalentine]

I wrote a haiku for mine.

If this is true, you must post it after you are accepted!

 

[Mad Jack]

This is dumb advice from what is clearly yet another clueless advisor. Being concise isn't going to hurt you in a world in which adcoms have to slog through 50 apps a week.

 

[MahiMahi]

How long are we talking about? Are you at 50% of the character limit, for example? If so, that's a little too short. If you're >75%, you're fine as long as it's a strong personal statement.