Personal Statement Length, Second Opinion Please

[Patassa]

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So my personal statement stands at 5297 characters, 5300 being the limit. All the advice on the interwebs says things like this needs to be captivating to read, interesting, unique, and sincere. I think I accomplished all that, pretty sure I'll be the only one with a line about having a run-in with Assad's secret police etc. However, my friend who is a chief resident right now told me that it's too long. She said anything over a page and I've already lost my audience.

What do you guys think on the length of the personal statement? I plan on applying ED to one school, so it's not like I"ll be in a pile of 1000 people, I'll be in a pile of 70-80 would be my guess.

 

[SN12357]

So my personal statement stands at 5297 characters, 5300 being the limit. All the advice on the interwebs says things like this needs to be captivating to read, interesting, unique, and sincere. I think I accomplished all that, pretty sure I'll be the only one with a line about having a run-in with Assad's secret police etc. However, my friend who is a chief resident right now told me that it's too long. She said anything over a page and I've already lost my audience.

What do you guys think on the length of the personal statement? I plan on applying ED to one school, so it's not like I"ll be in a pile of 1000 people, I'll be in a pile of 70-80 would be my guess.

They give you 5300 characters. If your personal statement is well written and fills that space, that's fine. If it's well written and is shorter, that's fine too.

I would disregard any advice that isn't about the ACTUAL piece of writing. If people who are reading it think it's too wordy, then edit it down. But 'anything over one page is too much' is nonsense, IMO. Plus the way AMCAS displays things the 'one page' isn't necessarily relevant....you'll see once you try printing your app to pdf.

 

[Patassa]

Thanks!

Where's Goro when you need him?

 

[Mr Avante]

Quality > Quantity, Patassa.
If you have achieved quality and yet are in the 5000+ characters, Go ahead👍

Your name sounds awesome👍