Personal Statement Length Question

[pipersnap]

Hi,

For those of you who have access to the current pharmcas application, could you please tell me how long the maximum amount of words for the personal statement is?

How long should it be? 1 page single spaced, or 1 page double spaced?

Please give me an idea!

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[Twentytwelve2]

4,500 characters including spaces too
Your Personal Essay should address why you selected pharmacy as a career and how the Doctor of Pharmacy degree relates to your immediate and long-term professional goals. Describe how your personal, educational, and professional background will help you achieve your goals. The personal essay is an important part of your application for admission and provides you with an opportunity for you to clearly and effectively express your ideas.
From pharmcas

 

[pipersnap]

Thank you!

 

[pipersnap]

Oh, I was also wondering. On Pharmcas, is there just 1 essay, or are there more than the one that was posted above? (I know there are secondary applications where you'd have to write more essays)

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Oh, I was also wondering. On Pharmcas, is there just 1 essay, or are there more than the one that was posted above? (I know there are secondary applications where you'd have to write more essays)

You are right, the supplemental essay prompt will be provided by the schools themselves. PharmCAS only has one essay, which is your personal statement.

Make sure you submit official transcripts early! That way you will not continually hit refresh on pharmcas.org to see if it went missing or not after two weeks. It sure did scare me lol.

 

[Solar de riokos]

It will be 4500 characters including space. If you want to know more about PharmCAS at this time, I suggest download ding the PharmCAS instruction booklet and read it too see what you will have.
Oh by the way, you will copy your statement to PharmCAS so single spaced nor double spaced will be lost.

Hi,

For those of you who have access to the current pharmcas application, could you please tell me how long the maximum amount of words for the personal statement is?

How long should it be? 1 page single spaced, or 1 page double spaced?

Please give me an idea!

 

[bw6]

Hi,

For those of you who have access to the current pharmcas application, could you please tell me how long the maximum amount of words for the personal statement is?

How long should it be? 1 page single spaced, or 1 page double spaced?

Please give me an idea!

There is no ideal length but keep in mind that admissions committees read hundreds of these. I would recommend keeping it as short as possible while saying what you need to. Don't add filler or try to make it longer just because you think it "looks too short." You want to grab their attention without boring them so keep it short and sweet. Three paragraphs should be enough but if you have a lot of IMPORTANT stuff to say, then throw it in there. PharmCAS gives you way more space than you need and I would say anything more than 4 or 5 paragraphs is just way too long.

Bigger is not better. Especially if you use a lot of filler.

 

[owlegrad]

I have read quite a few essays and I have to agree with this statement. A short PS is a joy to read. A bloated PS is something that must be struggled through. Three paragraphs might be a bit too short (depends on writing style, etc. but if you have one paragraph intro, one paragraph closing, and two-three paragraphs for the body, that should be enough), but the idea is correct - concise is good. I have NEVER read a PS and thought to myself, this really would have been great if only it had been longer. My advice pretty much always involves cutting stuff out.

There is no ideal length but keep in mind that admissions committees read hundreds of these. I would recommend keeping it as short as possible while saying what you need to. Don't add filler or try to make it longer just because you think it "looks too short." You want to grab their attention without boring them so keep it short and sweet. Three paragraphs should be enough but if you have a lot of IMPORTANT stuff to say, then throw it in there. PharmCAS gives you way more space than you need and I would say anything more than 4 or 5 paragraphs is just way too long.

Bigger is not better. Especially if you use a lot of filler.

 

[DrDrugs2012]

Brevity is important. Make sure you cover everything you need to cover, but keep it short and efficient. Word economy is at a premium!!!! Typically, even for residency applications, they say 1 page, size 11-12 font, single spaced, 1" margins. Grad school apps go by a similar mantra.