not using all characters in amcas?

[scarlett14]

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okay this may be a dumb question thats probably also been asked before but for a few of my activities i can easily describe them and what ive done/why i got involved with 40-80 char left over...is that bad? i feel like perhaps i should have more to say but at the same time i dont want to be repetitive?

thoughts?

 

[gravitywave]

okay this may be a dumb question thats probably also been asked before but for a few of my activities i can easily describe them and what ive done/why i got involved with 40-80 char left over...is that bad? i feel like perhaps i should have more to say but at the same time i dont want to be repetitive?

thoughts?

One thing you will see in med school is that nearly all attendings appreciate succinctness. If you've said all you need to say, no need to add fluff. The person reading your file will appreciate it.

 

[yehhhboiii]

quality over quantity. if you've said all you need to say, then you're good

 

[scarlett14]

awesome thanks! thats what i figured 🙂

 

[HopefulReapp]

At least a quarter of my activities didn't require more than 400-500 characters for the summary section. I felt that while I could fill it with words to get the required length, it wouldn't add anything to it.

Take my opinion with a grain of salt, I am a reapplicant.

 

[DoktorO]

A 3000 character statement with no fluff is always better than a 5400 character personal statement with a lot of fluff.

 

[TwinsFan]

I would venture to say most activities don't require more than 2-4 sentences to describe. If most are 600+ characters than you may need to investigate using some brevity. Cutting to the chase is a good thing in a sea of "I must use all the space" premeds...

 

[Narmerguy]

I would venture to say most activities don't require more than 2-4 sentences to describe. If most are 600+ characters than you may need to investigate using some brevity. Cutting to the chase is a good thing in a sea of "I must use all the space" premeds...

I would disagree with this. Most activities, if they are legitimate activities (i.e. not a food drive you worked on for one week), can easily be described in more than 2-4 sentences. Obviously resist fluff, but don't leave vague or unnecessarily short descriptions that undersell what you've done. This is your chance to get credit for something you already did all the work for. Make it count.

To the OP: 40-80 char is no big deal. I wouldn't worry about filling space just to fill it.

 

[scarlett14]

yea the reason im asking is that i think there may be more i can say about ive done. im sure they like to see more than just descriptions, like perhaps why you got involved and the transformative nature of the experience