General Admissions & OTCAS Personal statement length

[Sjaze]

Hello,
So this is my first time applying through Otcas and my personal statement is app 1200 words. I couldn't find a word limit anywhere and I want to make sure I stay within the normal parameters. I feel that cutting out any more words would lower its quality. I'm really nervous since this is my first time writing a personal statement and I have a lack of access to creditable critiques. Is 1200 words to long? Thanks

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[Nonameiwant]

So mine is about 562 words (although I now have a new job and will be adding a little more to it due to new experiences). I think I had close to 900 when I first wrote it. I took it to my University's writing center, and they help me edit and revise quite a bit. I found this helpful as we cut out a lot of unnecessary verbiage in my essay (for example I used the phrase "be able to" multiple times. Just removing that took out about 27 words.

I'm not saying it is too long, but if you can find someone who can help you edit I guarantee, they can find ways to take out unnecessary parts. I'd also say have someone who doesn't know you read it because they will add more critique compared to someone you know.

Good Luck, it's definitely not a fun part of the application.

P.S. I don't know if you have access to a writing center, but my city also has a community writing center. They offer online appointments maybe it would work for you Writing Coaching | SLCC

 

[applic_able]

I would recommend asking a couple of schools you are applying to and seeing if they have a preference. It will give you some potential guidelines.

 

[OT yc17]

One of the schools I'm applying to says 1200 word limit, so I wrote about 1000-1100 words

 

[nOTeworthy]

The schools I applied to limited me to 300 words. Max 500.