maximum letter count, I hate you!

[Camillekc]

I'd just like to rant about how the personal statement maximum letter count and I have permanently broken up. I've whittled it down as much as I can and it's at 5344. 44 characters! Come on AMCAS, just let me have it!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

I'd just like to rant about how the personal statement maximum letter count and I have permanently broken up. I've whittled it down as much as I can and it's at 5344. 44 characters! Come on AMCAS, just let me have it!

44 is not that much at all. Just drop some gratuitous descriptive words or drop unneccessary prepositions. Or switch long words for short words or contract long phrases into single words (if possible).

 

[UCLAstudent]

Yes, but I think adcoms love the maximum letter count.

By the way, my personal statement was 5299 characters. I figured I might as well get my money's worth.

 

[Camillekc]

44 is not that much at all. Just drop some gratuitous descriptive words or drop unneccessary prepositions. Or switch long words for short words or contract long phrases into single words (if possible).

Oh, if it were only that easy. That's how I got it down from 5700 in the first place.

 

[Turkeyman]

Yes, but I think adcoms love the maximum letter count.

By the way, my personal statement was 5299 characters. I figured I might as well get my money's worth.

Hahahah mine was 5299 as well

 

[UCLAstudent]

Mine was definitely 5300 characters exactly. Here's a little trick I used that might not be a good idea but I don't care. Instead of putting 2 spaces after some sentences I only put one. I didn't do it to all of them though.

Actually, that's not really a trick. That's how most people type. Computers make the space between sentences a little bigger automatically. So, if you wanted to, you could legitimately get your character count further under 5300.

 

[Flopotomist]

delete the following tired words/phrases:

"committment to______"
"wanted to help others..."
"dedication to______"
"selfless service...."

that should get rid of a few characters and make the thing more readable

 

[godot]

I had the same dilemna, but paring down the statement actually made it better. I like flopotomist's suggestions. You never realize how verbose you are till you're faced with a character limit. In the end my statement was 5210 characters.

 

[SitraAchra]

there are ALWAYS ways you can cut down on your word count.

i ascribe to the addage "less is more" - booyakasha!

 

[deuist]

Mine was definitely 5300 characters exactly. Here's a little trick I used that might not be a good idea but I don't care. Instead of putting 2 spaces after some sentences I only put one. I didn't do it to all of them though.

In Microsoft Word (or whatever text editor you used), do a "find...replace" to change all of the doubles spaces to single spaces. In fact, you don't need doubles spaces for the AMCAS personal statment at all. Since AMCAS is web-based, your essay will come out single-spaced anyway---even if you did use double spaces.

 

[kdwuma]

does the character limit count spaces as characters????

 

[UCLAstudent]

does the character limit count spaces as characters????

Yea, verily.

 

[srinu]

Just delete the first and last letters of every sentence and you're good to go.

 

[willthatsall]

Mine was like 270 letters. Basically I was like, "Look at my application and then you can invite me for an interview and get to know me." I don't have time to be writing pages of crap for some ADCOM who might or might not even read the thing. They're gonna have to meet me half way.

 

[champango]

Mine was like 270 letters. Basically I was like, "Look at my application and then you can invite me for an interview and get to know me." I don't have time to be writing pages of crap for some ADCOM who might or might not even read the thing. They're gonna have to meet me half way.

Yea I totally agree, I practically left mine blank. Why waste your time? You have secondaries to worry about.

 

[TheMightyAngus]

Anybody find that the double line space between paragraphs on the AMCAS printout makes their essay seem distorted? Is there a way to make the space only a single line?