How many times did you use "I" in your PS?

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centersharpie

centersharpie

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I'm just looking over my completed PS and I use "I" almost 30 times... 28 to be exact. Is this bad? How many times did you use it? My advisor told me not to use it too often, but how can I not? It is a personal statement. Can this really hurt an application?

Thanks,
c.s.
 
Lots.

Believe it or not, "I" can actually enhance writing a great deal b/c it enables you to use active voice instead of passive voice. That is typically a easier style to read.
 
37.jpg


I just counted 11.

on recount, there are 13
 
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Are you kidding? What are you going to do, talk about yourself in the 3rd person so you don't have to use "I"??? You have to use "I" to make it a "personal" statement.
 
26...unless you include a quote then its 29
 
I've heard from a fairly reliable source that my state school actually counts how many times applicants use 'I'. Using I too many times, in their eyes, is a sign of arrogance and narcissism. My state school also has the most rigid "hoops" in their admission criteria and requirements, so 'I' counting may not be practiced at other schools.
 
veaselhaufen said:
I've heard from a fairly reliable source that my state school actually counts how many times applicants use 'I'. Using I too many times, in their eyes, is a sign of arrogance and narcissism. My state school also has the most rigid "hoops" in their admission criteria and requirements, so 'I' counting may not be practiced at other schools.
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haha..Utah?
 
veaselhaufen said:
I've heard from a fairly reliable source that my state school actually counts how many times applicants use 'I'. Using I too many times, in their eyes, is a sign of arrogance and narcissism. My state school also has the most rigid "hoops" in their admission criteria and requirements, so 'I' counting may not be practiced at other schools.
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:bullcrap:
 
23 for me.

Unless you're using it so much that your writing sounds stilted and repetitive, I don't think it's really a problem, IMO.
 
41! winner.

haha. Won't be changing it around anytime soon to entice my state school
 
veaselhaufen said:
Are you just stalkerish or did you figure this from my mdapps?
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you said the "most rigid 'hoops'", so this can only be utah...with something like 5 very specific LOR requirements...who else would it be?
 
Zero. I was told to avoid it when I was writing some PS last year for Ontario schools. Don't know how good the advice was, but I listened to it.
 
armybound said:
how'd you manage that?
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I did the exact same thing and came to 3-4. My school's advisors and even career advisors (the exaltedly great University of Illinois Chambana MCB department) REFUSED to read mine because of how many I had initially (more than 20, but not THAT much). They said "I was beyond this" and could write a better statement than this. They also wanted me to talk more about my volunteer/activities more often. After being on this board and graduating, I cannot for the life of me understand WHY I even took their advice.
I then went to an english major who helped me make the best personal statement. Still 3 uses of I, but less activities. I just have a fear that I'm being an idiotic writer if I use it more frequently. But that's because of the bruising I took from those advisors.
 
Haha I've got 40. I really don't see how using "I" is bad writing, can someone fill me in on why it supposedly is?
 
gasdf1234567 said:
Haha I've got 40. I really don't see how using "I" is bad writing, can someone fill me in on why it supposedly is?
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Who cares? Seems like it's normal, and while they might not be "good," it's probably not bad.
 
It wouldn't be very personal if you weren't talking about yourself, and if you're talking about yourself, you use the word 'I'. This isn't an essay, an editorial, or any other piece of literature.

Its called "personal statement" for a very good reason: because your activities, grades, scores, intelligence, etc is already listed elsewhere in your application. This is your only chance to show who YOU (I) are as a person. If you aren't using 'I', you are probably talking about too many things/people other than yourself.

IMO

/28 times
 
neopentanol said:
It wouldn't be very personal if you weren't talking about yourself, and if you're talking about yourself, you use the word 'I'. This isn't an essay, an editorial, or any other piece of literature.

Its called "personal statement" for a very good reason: because your activities, grades, scores, intelligence, etc is already listed elsewhere in your application. This is your only chance to show who YOU (I) are as a person. If you aren't using 'I', you are probably talking about too many things/people other than yourself.

IMO
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Agreed!!
 
veaselhaufen said:
I've heard from a fairly reliable source that my state school actually counts how many times applicants use 'I'. Using I too many times, in their eyes, is a sign of arrogance and narcissism. My state school also has the most rigid "hoops" in their admission criteria and requirements, so 'I' counting may not be practiced at other schools.
Click to expand...

If this is actually true, that school should be ashamed for having such a superficial criterion. Words need to have their context considered.

To the OP: Using I's should not be a problem as long as it doesn't sound awkward and unnatural. You also may want to consider using 'my' or 'me' where appropriate just for the sake of variability.

You definitely don't want to start referring to yourself in weird ways, i.e. instead of using I, you state "the author of this personal statement..." heh.
 
armybound said:
how'd you manage that?
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More passive voice, I suppose. A lot of "my" instead. Reads more formally. Also got rid of unnecessary stuff.

Instead of: "I volunteered at the palliative unit at PMH..."
"My volunteer work at the palliative unit of PMH taught me..."
 
34 and not worried about it.

The last sentence has 5!
 
This medical school applicant will be using "I" quite a bit in her personal statement. As many times as necessary, in fact.
 
I just counted 55. Note to all appliccants: Miami likes narcissistic applicants*.


*Or maybe the personal statement should be, you know, personal.
 
19 I's from a PS with 4600 characters. You people with 30+ are using it too much.
 
I just counted... 54 I's and also 54 my's. I guess I am obsessed with myself.

How can you tell a personal story about what I did without saying I pretty much every other sentence? If my writing I too much or being too narcissistic keeps me out of a medical school then I'm fine with that now. I've submitted my app to AMCAS and there is no turning back.
 
39 times, 5000 characters. I agree with others. The point of ps is to talk about yourself and give schools a sense of who you are.
 
Looking at my essay again, the 34 "I"s probably won't hurt me as much as the one "*****" and two "crackhead"s.
 
The point of the personal statement is to showcase who you are, why you want to go to medical school, and, most importantly, to sell yourself. Of course it's narcissitic - that's the point. It should be about YOU. Furthermore, It's not meant to be the next Great American Novel. There's nothing more obnoxious than reading an applicant's personal statement when it's clear that they are trying to accomplish exactly that.
 
37 I's, 18 My's - in 5,253 characters, 887 words. That's 6% of the words 😀
 
This is so ironic! My mom was just reading my personal statement (made my first REAL draft last night) and she complained about too many "I"s before she even commented on the quality of the whole essay....

Currently my personal statement contains 32 "I"s !

Anyone who has already been accepted from previous cycles add their count of "I"s ?
 
LadyWolverine said:
The point of the personal statement is to showcase who you are, why you want to go to medical school, and, most importantly, to sell yourself. Of course it's narcissitic - that's the point. It should be about YOU. Furthermore, It's not meant to be the next Great American Novel. There's nothing more obnoxious than reading an applicant's personal statement when it's clear that they are trying to accomplish exactly that.
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I suppose it's not that you're supposed to "unpersonalize" your statement, but that if you're using I/My/I've/etc more than 30-40 times, you might want to revise your draft. Think about it; 50 uses of the word I/My REALLY stands out in a 1 page paper.
 
Kaustikos said:
I suppose it's not that you're supposed to "unpersonalize" your statement, but that if you're using I/My/I've/etc more than 30-40 times, you might want to revise your draft. Think about it; 50 uses of the word I/My REALLY stands out in a 1 page paper.
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I agree that there is no excuse for poor writing. If you went to college, you should have decent basic writing skills. But being afraid of sounding "too narcissistic" defeats the entire purpose of the essay. The statement needs to be approached almost like a job interview. Starting every sentence with "I, I, I" will probably cause the essay to flow poorly. But to try to limit yourself to a certain number of "Is" will make your reader wonder what the heck you are talking about, and what your statement has to do with you.
 
I think its silly to think that the usage of the word 'I' automatically makes your PS worse. Actually, I think it's ridiculous. It is very difficult to write a compelling, honest, and passionate statement without talking about yourself in the first person. "I am" is a very powerful statement.
 
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