How long to write Personal Statement?

Started by danimalk
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danimalk

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How long did it take you guys to write your Personal Statement?

I've heard of some people taking 2 months etc..
 
I started about 3 months ago, and did a total of about 10 drafts. By the time I was done it was completely different than when I started. 🙂
 
Working just weekends it took me about four weeks, and I've gotten great feedback so far. Don't get too hung up on how long other ppl took (you know how pre-meds can be), as long as you are happy with what you have, you took long enough.
 
I totally agree with this sentiment. It might only take you an hour. The important thing in my opinion is you should read it, and feel like it is about you and only you, like it is your personality in writing.

Of course, what do I know? 😕

ChuckRock said:
Working just weekends it took me about four weeks, and I've gotten great feedback so far. Don't get too hung up on how long other ppl took (you know how pre-meds can be), as long as you are happy with what you have, you took long enough.
 
I got writer's block for like the first two weeks. Then I came up with a really good first draft that was easy to mold into something I was comfortable submitting. I would say 1.5 months 🙂

Karina
 
3-4 days.. although my stepdad helped proofreading and since he's an english prof.. i got near instant feedback as I wrote..
 
im thinking i should start writing my first draft, i plan on submitting end of june.
 
It took me about a month to finish it (including about 5-6 drafts). I had a lot of free time in the beginning because I didnt start work until the end of May.

The hardest part is getting started- finding the right idea and making everything flow in a logical order. It probably took me a good week to figure out what I wanted to write about and how I wanted to say it.
 
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It took me about 1.5 months, from brainstorming to outlining to my first draft to feedback from multiple sources (English major friends, MS1's, pre-med advisor & a post-doc in my lab) to the final, submitted one, 9 drafts later. The post-secondary experience blurbs didn't take as long, but some of those underwent revision as well.

As someone mentioned above, it's different for everyone. There came a point where I was pretty satisfied with it, but I was also just so tired of revising and revising that I finally just sent out the thing.
 
danimalk said:
How long did it take you guys to write your Personal Statement?

I've heard of some people taking 2 months etc..

Well, it took me a decade to have all the life experiences I included, and then another couple of hours to put them down on paper. Then a few minutes more to spell check... 🙄
 
Unfortunately, I probably spent about two hours tops. I knew that it had to be good, but I couldn't stress about it a whole cause I was really busy at the time.

No one read it, I proofread it at least. I got in, but probably wasn't because of my personal statement.
 
Unfortunately, I probably spent about two hours tops. I knew that it had to be good, but I couldn't stress about it a whole lot cause I was really busy at the time.

No one read it, I proofread it at least. I got in, but probably wasn't because of my personal statement.
 
Oh, it probably took me 1 1/2 months or so. I spent the first month just staring at a white computer screen though. I would start, delete, start again, delete some more. Went through several drafts after having several outsiders read my statement...mostly family, friends, and someone at my college writing center (this person gave me the worst advice btw) Anyways, I had a successful statement in the end.
 
When I wrote mine, it took about a month. I think I sent it to too many people to edit and took too long to incorporate their changes. I should have sent it to less and probably would've been done in 2-3 weeks.