Length of the Personal Statement

[pateltr1]

Just wondering, is it bad if your personal statement is around 4000 characters, instread of being near 5300 MAX..?

how long is YOUR personal statement?

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[ASDIC]

not really...i know people who got accepted with 3000 words...its quality not quantity that matters

 

[TRUE]

I don't think it would matter too much, but I've heard people say it's not good because its your only big chance to get yourself across to the school and you're not even taking full advantage. I see what they're getting at, but I think you're ok if you fall short. However, if you can, see if you can fit in some more information about yourself.

 

[Machaon]

I agree with the assertion that the personal statement should be loaded with personal standout qualities. Mine came out to about 4900 characters after I cropped some sections that became cumbersome, but I was trying my best to use as many of the 5300 characters as I could. I figure we all want to be doctors and have great reasons, so I shouldn't spend so much time talking about why and how I got to this point but what is it about me that got me here. I've been reading on a lot of these threads that interviewers often read straight from the personal statement, so it's a great way to set up a conversation at interviews. Bring up interesting things you've experienced that make you exceptional: there have to be many or you wouldn't have made it this far! I sent my personal statement to a girl that got into more medical schools than I can count on two hands and her boyfriend that's been on the Stanford admittance committee for years now and they both gave positive feedback, so I think that's at least one viable way to approach this.


I hated writing this crap. First of all, my ego keeps me from thinking I can be summed up in 5300 characters or less on a single piece of paper. Secondly, I got caught up by all of the confounded stipulations that were proposed by our pre-med committee (at Illinois Wesleyan U.); "it's a personal statement, but don't use 'I' too much", "be modest, but don't be too modest." What kind of personal statement doesn't have the word "I" in it a lot? Oy. I felt good about finally getting it done, but what a pain in the butt. Good luck!

 

[UCLAstudent]

I don't think it matters. It's probably better to be as concise as possible (although, this is coming from a person whose personal statement is EXACTLY 5300 characters).