Personal statement spacing ?

[Perseverant 1]

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hey, when i cut and paste my statement into the AMCAS application the format seems to get screwed up. anyone else experience this? how do i fix it?

 

[dmitrinyr]

Is the problem that when you go to the "print preview" of the application, the essay comes out as one big block. If it is here is how to solve the problem (or at least this seemed to work for many people):

A)Copy the personal statement from the MS Word document and paste in on a "Notepad" or "Wordpad" on you computer (under Start, Programs, Accessories).

B)Then make sure that in between each paragraph there is at least one whole line.

C)Then copy that essay from "notepad" and paste it on the AMCAS essay portion.

If this is your problem, then try the above advice. If it's something else then maybe try to specify your problem and I'll try to help in some other way.

good luck,

dmitri

 

[cmudan]

How critical is that? I just sent mine in yesterday and I think its going to be one big block. Is that going to look bad. Great, help me out I'm freakin out here. I tried everything so i gave up and just sent it in.

 

[dmitrinyr]

I really can't answer how bad it will be because I will not be the one reading your essay. I would think that it matters on how good of a day the person who's reading your essay is having that day or how good your numbers are. This is just a logical comment, but I would think that if I would have a bad day and didn't feel like reading any essays and then would have to figure out where the paragraphs start and end on each essay, I would be a bit upset. Also, I would think logically, that if you have good numbers the person would be a bit more patient and try to read your "block" essay rather than the person with a similar essay and average numbers. Remember, sometimes these people don't even read your essay. Eventhough the say that they look at every application from beginning to end, but logically if you think about it, that would take a very long time. So, if you already sent it out, just relax. There is nothing you can do about it not. Just hope that you essay is easy to read and not that hard to figure out the location of each paragraph.

Good luck,

dmitri

 

[Perseverant 1]

help, i have tried everything...even the AMCAS organization can't figure out why it isn't working. this is killing me, i want this torture over with already!

 

[jefras99]

It will print out like that when you print it from your computer, but admissions people can print out different things from your app, and it comes out spaced correctly for them. If you are really concerned, call one of the schools who downloaded your app and see if it is printing out correctly. Should be fine, though, so don't worry.

 

[Cydney Foote]

Don't worry! According to Lewis Associates, "Recently AMCAS discussed formatting of the personal statement essay. What we see is not what AMCAS and the medical schools see. When you print a copy of the application, you don't see the paragraph breaks or indents. Not to worry, as AMCAS and the medical Schools DO see those breaks (so they say!)....You may also notice that when you print your application, the courses may not be in chronological order. Again do not panic. This is okay. Medical schools will sort these out."

It's too bad they haven't solved this formatting problem, as it causes a lot of extra stress for already stressed out applicants, but there's no reason for YOU to stress any more about it. Relax, it's submitted, now just get ready for the secondaries to arrive!