How long is your personal statement?

[Spang]

I'm trying to get a feel for length. I've got about 4500 characters and it takes up a whole page in MS Word. I get about the same count when I paste it into the AMCAS 2002 app.

I really feel like I've said what I wanted to say and don't see any reason to add crap just to take up another 800 characters.

Any feedback on this?

Spang

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[fishtolive]

5298 characters...I had a lot to say. I think 4500 isn't skimpy though, cuz you can definitely get a point across in 1 page on word.

 

[sandflea]

5300 characters on the dot!

but the actual length of your personal statement isn't what's important--what matters is if you've properly communicated what you want to say. if you feel you've said all that you need to say in 4500 characters and you're perfectly happy with it, don't add 800 characters-worth of babble just to fill the maximal space. i just had a lot to say and that's why mine is so long.

 

[Rudboy3]

Hey, I wouldn't worry about it too much. More isn't better by any means...it is definitely the quality that counts. Mine happened to be about 5,297 but that was just because at one point, it was like 6,100 because word didn't count spacing while AMCAS did....let me tell you it wasn't fun to chop **** out of my essay.

 

[E'01]

4,997 here and that was because I felt I had to cut some things because I wouldn't fully be able to develop them in the personal statement. I used that as material for the vision statement instead.

 

[mcwmark]

Don't worry about the length. In fact, I would advocate cutting out all the "crap" and streamlining your personal statement, realizing that most adcoms will have only a few minutes to browse your whole file--make your points quickly and succinctly.

My personal statement, I remember, only filled up 3/4 of the page, typed on the AMCAS form (back in the old days).

 

[kutastha]

Vision: 3112
Personal: 4748

It's definitely more about what you say and how you say it. Remember how much time they actually give each of these essays. You just want it to be to the point.

Andrew

 

[Legend]

vision: 3432
Personal: 4659

For my personal statement, I brought it down from 6400 characters to 4659. I tried my best to write concisely.