Length of Personal Statement

[Lodoc]

Okay, I have looked everywhere and I can not find a definitive answer to this question: How long should the personal statement be? I was told that most people write about 1-2 pages. However, according to ERAS, they allow for five pages and 32,000 characters! I know that just because they offer the space does not mean you have to fill it up, but I find it hard to believe that such a big discrepancy exists. It seems like everyone always aims for this one page, like it is a requirement or something. Is that true?

And as far as fitting the statement into the space provided, I currently have cut my essay down to three pages and am having no problem at all fitting it in. ERAS actually says to write the residency programs and ask them if there are specific requirements for the lengths of personal statements. Most of the programs I am intersted in don't mention a length requirement.

So if ERAS allows for five pages, why do most people only write one page? Is this just "protcol" or is there actually something out there somewhere that says this is a rule.

I have also heard that Programs will only print out one page of the personal statement. ERAS does not make any mention of this however. And I find it hard to believe that if it were true they would allow for five pages.

Someone help me please.

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[sweetfynesse]

I don't think theres a rule about anything, except that the PS has to fit in the space provided. Now, with that said, a three page personal statement seems awfully personal unless you're planning to go into psych. Really, three pages, and it still isnt submitted. At this point, I cant imagine any PD sitting to read a three page PS, esp after having read all the PS that have already been submitted...

Three words for you: edit, edit, edit

 

[VentdependenT]

Shape that bovine novel into a succinct literary masterpiece. The essay shouldn't go over one page (so says the helpful first aid for the match) because these poor people have to read hundreds of these damn things. After about the 10th one I would imagine they all sound identical. Once the PD gets to your pile of paper he's gonna toss it aside with an exasperated sigh and move on to the 5 paragraph 3/4 of a page essay.

 

[ckent]

i hope that you are working on next year's eras and not this years, because you are *very* late in the application cycle if you haven't even written your personal statement yet. You should try to make your personal statement 1 page. If you go a few lines over, that's alright, but aim for 1 page.

 

[doc_strange2001]

Is your app this late b/c you have been writing all this time. . Dude cut it to one page

 

[grouptherapy]

killer intro, killer concluding paragraph. they start to skim at this point in the year.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I agree - much more than 1 page is overdoing it. Even the best writers cannot compete with the need for sleep when being read at late hours, or the family commitments or anything else your committee members would rather be doing than reading your PS.