Is it bad if the personal statement is short?

[Chuckwalla]

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My personal statement is a little less than 3000 characters, I think we have 5500 to work with. Is it a bad idea to not use up all the space?

 

[lord_jeebus]

Sounds like a wasted opportunity to me.

I don't think you'll lose points for having a short essay, but you have a chance to communicate 2000+ characters worth of information about yourself that you're missing out on.

 

[Vihsadas]

It's not a bad idea to be a little bit shorter I don't think. I mean if you can be concise and fit it all in with a particularly compelling and unique story, then by all means do so, however, less than 3000 seems almost *too* short. You might get pegged for not making a real effort. I would aim for at least 4.1K or 4.3K. I mean, there's got to be more aspects of your life and experiences that are goldmines in terms of your motivation to practice, you should use that extra space to address those.

I can't speak for adcoms, but I know that if I were reading thousands of essays, I'd appreciate a well-written, focused essay that is shorter than the character limit...however, I'd want to come away reading the essay with the feeling that the applicant said everything that they wanted to say.

 

[bozz]

Go all out

If you don't represent yourself 100%, who else will?

 

[closer23]

Go all out

If you don't represent yourself 100%, who else will?

Your mommy!

 

[ninjapenguin]

If you've touched on everything that you would like them to know, then I wouldn't say there's much sense in adding anything more (definitely do not repeat or 'summarize' your listed ECs). Bear in mind that they read through thousands of personal statements. I doubt they'll spend more than a few seconds browsing through yours, and I'm sure they can identify when people are scrapping the bottom of the barrel and adding filler just to use up all the space. Short and sweet never hurt anyone.

 

[Dedikated2liftn]

Sounds like a wasted opportunity to me.

I don't think you'll lose points for having a short essay, but you have a chance to communicate 2000+ characters worth of information about yourself that you're missing out on.

Agreed. As other posters have mentioned, you don't have to max out the character limit, but 2k short of the limit is selling yourself short. This game is hard enough without shortchanging yourself (and there are plenty of people out there who have no trouble speaking volumes about their abilities). Additionally, unless you get an interview, this is the only chance you're going to get to demonstrate those non-concerte elements that adcoms look for. Ultimately, the aforementioned is what's going to set you apart (granted you've got the academics) from the pack and make you seem like a "fit". IMO it's what seperates those who get interviewed and those who don't.

 

[zenlike]

My ps:

Three words: hard working, alpha male, jackhammer, merciless, insatiable

 

[bcat85]

If you don't have anything more to say, don't fill your PS with unnecessary BS.

 

[bodonid]

My ps:

There's nothing on my horizon except everything. Everything is on my horizon.


Edit: Oh, and my PS was 2600 char. I tried to add more, but compared to what I already had, what I was adding seemed inconsequential. Plus I was tired of asking my friends/family to read the "newest" version.

 

[Mobius1985]

If I were an adcomm, I'd read the short one's first and bless the writers for their brevity.

 

[Textuality]

While it's true that quality is more important than quantity, I'd also agree that it probably is a wasted opportunity to sell yourself and let your personality shine through. Also, I think it takes very skillful writers to write in the more succinct style, it's probably harder to write a 3k PS than a 5k one while conveying all the same things in the same depth and quality. You might be an amazing writer and pull this off, but I don't think most people can. Most of the shorter essays I've read are the same "density" as the longer ones....they're just...shorter and say less, rather than saying a comparable amount in a shorter space.

But if you REALLY have nothing more to say whatsoever, and it's either 3k or 3k+rambling BS, then I"d go with the 3k. But reread your essay and see if there's any other personal strengths you'd like to convey to the adcom. And make sure you're "showing" and not "telling".

My final PS was 5200 characters, and I can't imagine how I'd be able to cut that in half, and I'm a pretty "normal" applicant (no stories of near death experiences or anything like that).

 

[Chuckwalla]

The phrase "wasted opportunity" really stuck with me. I was able to find some things to talk about that are certainly not filler. Thanks a lot everyone.

 

[HoboCommander]

It's not going to hurt you but you are essentially castrating yourself by not filling up every character space of the 5300 that they give you. I only used 5299 and I'm hurting.

 

[BluePhoenix]

So long as you're satisfied with what you've written and you feel like you said everything you needed to say...it's fine. Some of us are concise writers, sometimes it doesn't take that many words to convey your idea. Don't feel that you need to use up every last possible space. If you can say in 3000 characters what other people need 5300...more power to you and I imagine the adcoms will not be upset about a shorter, more concise essay.

 

[sleepy425]

well, personal statements rarely enhance an application. unless your personal statement is particularly unique (and it's completely ok if it's not as long as it's not filled with cliche), it won't help your application.

the thing you want to avoid is having a personal statement that hurts your application. just check your grammar and spelling, be honest, and don't step on anyone's toes. other than that, you'll be fine. length doesn't matter as long as the PS is logical. if it isn't logical, that's when you might run into a problem. so remember, aim for your personal statement to have absolutely no effect on your application!

 

[UVAbme2009]

I used 3700 and I said what I wanted to say. I originally had one that was a little longer, but I cut out things that didn't fit the tone/subject of my statement.

 

[HanginInThere]

It's not going to hurt you but you are essentially castrating yourself...

...ouch.

 

[jackson1]

My advice would be not to add more unless it's essential, you definitely don't want to make it longer just for the sake of making it longer. We have mock interviews at my school, and an adcom from the local med school comes. He strongly suggested keeping it short and said they appreciate it when people don't try and use up all the space unless it's really worthwhile stuff.

 

[brandpeg]

I know someone who wrote the following personal statement:

"Succinct."

This person got in to a very good school.

 

[adamg]

Essay Edge recommends focusing on 1-2 truely meaningful experiences in your life and using them to show, not tell what your motivation is for medicine. Focus on a few main themes and make it as potent as possible.

That means making every word count.

Remember that the admission officer is reading hundreds of these things, skimming most. They don't want to waste time reading redundant material.

The PS is to convince them that your desire to be a doctor is sincere, that your not just in it for personal gain.

If you can write a powerful essay in 3K words that shows who you are as a person, how committed you are to others, how you have the soul of a doctor, then adding 2500 words is useless.

This essay is supposed to make you stand out as an applicant, not tell your life story or summarize your ECs or academics.

5500 words is 5.5 pages roughly, if it takes you that long to tell the most powerful story of your life, then you either have one hell of story to tell or need to practice cutting out the filler.

 

[HanginInThere]

5500 words is 5.5 pages roughly, if it takes you that long to tell the most powerful story of your life, then you either have one hell of story to tell or need to practice cutting out the filler.

That's 5300 characters, not 5500 words. The personal statement is about one full page single-spaced, not 5+. Depending on what experiences you've had and what you choose to write about, it can take a lot of wordcrafting to tighten your essay into the length limits.

 

[Textuality]

That's 5300 characters, not 5500 words. The personal statement is about one full page single-spaced, not 5+. Depending on what experiences you've had and what you choose to write about, it can take a lot of wordcrafting to tighten your essay into the length limits.

Haha, yeah, it's actually about a page and a third. And honestly, I'd be pretty surprised if you can potently convey the experiences and motivations that contribute to your pursuit of medicine and to why you'll be a good physician in less than one single spaced page. Even though I just focused on two things , it's still pretty tricky to fit in all you wanted to say in a page.

In my opinion, you're trying to Show:
1. Why you want to go into medicine
2. That you know what you're getting into, and know what will be expected of you (and of course, how it is you know these things)
3. That you have the traits to be a good physician (and thereby also making a stand as to what you think the important aspects of being a physician are)
4. That you are unique/special/memorable in some capacity.


And you have to do all of this in a way and style that is not cliche, or bland to read, but rather showcases your personality and hopefully reflects all the soul searching and work that you've put into all of this.

And I emphasize the word "Show" because if all you had to do was tell them these things in a list format, then yes, you might be able to just fit it into a page.

Anyways, just my opinion. In any case, it looks like the OP found some worthwhile things to discuss 🙂

 

[EpiPEN]

If I were an adcomm, I'd read the short one's first and bless the writers for their brevity.

uh huh, followed by a quick toss into the waitlist pille. 😀