Personal Statement

[eslboy2005]

On pharmcas, it said, "maximum 4500 words" how long is your personal statement?? my personal statement is only 2000 words. How about you guys??? Is it better to write more more than 2000 words ??

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[b*rizzle]

On pharmcas, it said, "maximum 4500 words" how long is your personal statement?? my personal statement is only 2000 words. How about you guys??? Is it better to write more more than 2000 words ??

Write as much or as little as you deem necessary. 4500 words is a lot; then again so is 2000. If you think you got it done in 2000, then let it go at 2000. Make sure you get someone to proof it; they may suggest you add stuff or take stuff out. Best of luck!

 

[RLK]

Write as much or as little as you deem necessary. 4500 words is a lot; then again so is 2000. If you think you got it done in 2000, then let it go at 2000. Make sure you get someone to proof it; they may suggest you add stuff or take stuff out. Best of luck!

Mine is 507 words.

 

[Escape]

You are limited to approximately 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces). It is 4500characters not 4500 words...

 

[b*rizzle]

You are limited to approximately 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces). It is 4500characters not 4500 words...

Thanks for the clarification. For the record, mine is about 500 words.

Now it doesn't make sense to have a 15-page personal statement, does it?

 

[eslboy2005]

good luck guys

Trong nay co' tha`ng naoo VN ko vay HUH

 

[annievu]

good luck guys

Trong nay co' tha`ng naoo VN ko vay HUH

hey, you bie't noi tieng Viet ha? co' gi giup ddo~ nguoi ddo`ng huong hen.......

 

[eslboy2005]

annievu,

Troi oi..giup do*? gi troi..tui la ESLBOY..tu VIETNAM moi qua...applying for 2005-2006....dang hoc Gerge mason university..GPA chi co' 3.1 thoi..troi oi..hoc chet len chet xuong ne...GIUP DO gii troi...tui phai can may do^ng huong giup do tuiiii moi du'ng

Are u male or female...neu FEMALE thi cho so PHONE di em hihihihihi...de minh no'i chuyen ve PHARMACY di...PRIVATE me

 

[RLK]

You are limited to approximately 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces). It is 4500characters not 4500 words...

Now it makes sense to me. I was wondering how I could have around 1 page and only 507 of the 4500 words.

 

[funnyshoes84]

When you submit your personal statement to pharmcas, should you do it in paragraph form, or just leave it as one big block of text?

 

[lynzee]

My PS is 4,428 characters (with spaces) or 713 words. I guess I had a lot to talk about!

When I submitted my PS, I did block paragraphs (with no indentation).

Best of luck with the PS!

 

[Escape]

ESLBoy and annievu: Escape cung la nguoi Viet ne`

 

[annievu]

ESLBoy and annievu: Escape cung la nguoi Viet ne`

hi Escape, Vnese are everywhere huhhh....... are you applying for Fall 06? if yes, me too! im applying to Touro and UOPacific.......wish me luck! oh yea, at first i just wanted to apply to Touro only, but my dad didn't like the campus so he gave me money to apply for UOP (in my city)........he really really wanted me to go to UOP because the campus is so nice and the school is popular and accredited.....but anyone here likes to stay home and study hard for pharmacy and cook for family at the same time everyday? i have to do that in the past while i'm in college bc parents have to go work.....how sad huh....

 

[OSURxgirl]

I used every last character. I looked at it as my space to show the admissions committee why I should be picked, so I used every character. With that being said, I didn't just fill it for the sake of filling it. Every sentence was meaningful (not fluff) and I actually had to trim mine down to fit into the space.

 

[RLK]

When you submit your personal statement to pharmcas, should you do it in paragraph form, or just leave it as one big block of text?

Good question.

 

[OoKellyoO]

Troi dat oi...sao nhieu vietnamese dzay.

I'm applying for 2005-2006 also. I just talked to my friend last night and was so motivated. I started and almost finished with it today. I still need to work on my personal statement. I've written 2 already, but still not happy. I dont have any LOR. That is going to be a problem. I called the schools and they said that they wont even start looking at the applications until after christmas break.

I started reading posts from this website last year. I cannot believe that now it is my time to wait. So exciting, yet scary and nerve-wrecking all at the same time.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

When you submit your personal statement to pharmcas, should you do it in paragraph form, or just leave it as one big block of text?

Paragraphs. Big block of text = no one will want to read it...

 

[annievu]

Troi dat oi...sao nhieu vietnamese dzay.

I'm applying for 2005-2006 also. I just talked to my friend last night and was so motivated. I started and almost finished with it today. I still need to work on my personal statement. I've written 2 already, but still not happy. I dont have any LOR. That is going to be a problem. I called the schools and they said that they wont even start looking at the applications until after christmas break.

I started reading posts from this website last year. I cannot believe that now it is my time to wait. So exciting, yet scary and nerve-wrecking all at the same time.

Hi Kelley, ua` nguoi Vietnam ddi dau cung tha'y he't a` ......hihihi......oh so, how many schools are you applying? what year are you in, a Junior? aww, dont have a LOR yet? go get it ! just go and ask your teachers, "Can you write me a LOR?" Thats it! I already finished with 3 personal statements......I completed and sent the application to Touro Univ already . I am still stuck with UOP because the TOEFL doesn't appear on PharmCAS yet. Ok best of luck to all of you guys writing a personal statement! Remember you can get it proofread !! Send your application as early as possible! huhmmm.......that's all i wanna say....

 

[aubieRx]

Paragraphs. Big block of text = no one will want to read it...

yeah one of the keys to getting someone interested in what you write is knowing how to space it all out .

People, even educated people, have short attention spans.

 

[PharmDster]

mi`nh cung la` nguoi Vietnam nua...kekeke, mi`nh thich noi chuyen voi nguoi Vietnam la'm...me thich ddi hoc voi nguoi vietnam luon!!, co' ai apply Virginia Commonwealth University, hay la` Temple, Hampton, Shenandoah khong? neu co' cho mi`nh biet nhe...

 

[nikkai]

Paragraphs are your friend.

So is reducing the space between a period by one (instead of having two spaces).

For some reason, MS Word under counts the characters with spaces so when I posted my PS I was off by about 9 characters. I was like, WHAT!?!

So.

I deleted some spaces between sentences. =P

 

[OoKellyoO]

Troi dat oi...nhieu nguoi Viet wa', but our nicks toa`n la` te^n my~...so it is hard for anyone to guess.

I'm applying to Cincinnati, Lecom, Kentucky, and some more schools around that area. I'm still looking. I don't want to spend too much money, but I need to get in. I'm not too close to the profs. that I want to ask and the ones I'm close to, I only get B's. I need those LOR soon. Hopefully I will have them all sometime in December. I'm soooooooooooo nervous.

 

[annievu]

Troi dat oi...nhieu nguoi Viet wa', but our nicks toa`n la` te^n my~...so it is hard for anyone to guess.

I'm applying to Cincinnati, Lecom, Kentucky, and some more schools around that area. I'm still looking. I don't want to spend too much money, but I need to get in. I'm not too close to the profs. that I want to ask and the ones I'm close to, I only get B's. I need those LOR soon. Hopefully I will have them all sometime in December. I'm soooooooooooo nervous.

Oh I see, I asked both of my science teachers and I did not know them much either. I just had both of their classes the whole year so they remember me. Uhh...about grades, I guess as long as you get above C's then it'll be fine. My teachers actually wrote me very good LOR's even though I got one C in one of those classes. You're planning to wait until December? When are their deadlines? what I've learned is to apply as early as possible. The range is between June and September is very good. But depend on which school, some schools won't even give out their applications until September... Anyway, good luck!

 

[OoKellyoO]

The schools I'm looking at don't even have their applications out yet, let alone their forms for the LOR (they're not part of pharmcas). I wouldn't even dare to ask for a letter with a B. I guess I need to be bold. The 2 science classes I did really well, both the professors don't even work here anymore.

I was going to apply really early, then I called some schools and they all told me that they start reviewing applications after christmas. I guess I'll ask for letters in October. I need to make up a resume or something just to let them know more about me.

It would be a great way to end 2005 or start 2006 if I get accepted to the school of my choice.

 

[hopingstar]

I am a vietnamese too

 

[143namil]

4500 is more than one page and when i submitted my pharmcas they read it so i'm sure it's fine if it's more than one page. just make it interesting and if it's not interesting then shorten it

 

[2bpharmD]

any advice on writing a fantastic Personal statement????

 

[twester]

annievu,

Troi oi..giup do*? gi troi..tui la ESLBOY..tu VIETNAM moi qua...applying for 2005-2006....dang hoc Gerge mason university..GPA chi co' 3.1 thoi..troi oi..hoc chet len chet xuong ne...GIUP DO gii troi...tui phai can may do^ng huong giup do tuiiii moi du'ng

Are u male or female...neu FEMALE thi cho so PHONE di em hihihihihi...de minh no'i chuyen ve PHARMACY di...PRIVATE me

I recommend leaving the angry faces out of the personal statement. Just use as many letters/characters as needed to get the point across. Don't worry if you didn't make it on the first try. Bring your GPA up and try again.

 

[shybabygurl]

Mi`nh cung la ng vn =) hihi well knowing that pharmacy is very competitive, ban can phai bring your gpa len nua... for most school...the accepted gpa is at least 3.3- 3.6 along with your Pcat =) con neu ma ban di hoc truong o CA thi Pcat is not require, but definitely phai co pretty high gpa...by the way good luck nhe.


Pcat Practice...Hope this will help you!!
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/65/07645958/0764595865.pdf

 

[KBOUGHBE]

Just a bit of info:

Your personal statement is very important, It is something that sets you apart from other applicants. Alot of times there are people that didn't score well on their pcat or have a high gpa, but get accepted because they were able to convey/sale themselves very well. So the important thing is to make it really good. That can be done by reading other statements by students already in pharmacy school. That is what i did, and it helped out a ton.

Good Luck!

 

[tungywungy]

My god, it hurts my brain trying to read all this Vietnamese.

 

[sdn1977]

any advice on writing a fantastic Personal statement????

Some really basic tips:

As All4 said - spacing is a key element. Its difficult to read a large block of text.

Don't write your whole life history. Only choose what is pertinent.

Put something of "yourself" in it - something which makes the reader want to talk to you more. You want to make them want to get to know you better by inviting you to an interview.

Avoid "cutsey" or "hokey" first sentences - those get tossed fast.

There are lots of multilinguals who are posting on this thread - which is a good thing. However...your written English needs to be excellent (I'm not assuming these posters are not). That also must be reflected in how you'll write your interview essay & how your verbal communication is during the interview. So, although its important to have great written English - you also must be consistent, otherwise, they'll know someone else wrote your ps for you. Being able to communicate well is essential in the profession.

If you are multilingual - make that be a strong point in your statement, particularly in states like mine (CA) in which we are very diverse. If you are not just multilingual, but come from a different cultural background - include that as well - that again is tremendously important in CA.

If you only took 2 years of high school language - do not call yourself fluent! I can't speak for most of pharmacy schools, but when my daughter applied to medicine....if you put down fluency in a language - you got a least one interviewer who was also fluent in that language. Basically - don't lie!

Make your statement fit each school. Try to comment on what strength the school has to offer which is appealing to you.

Likewise...make a comment about how you'd like to give something back to the profession (not just "helping people" - you can do that by volunteering at a soup kitchen). Think about what leadership skills you have which could benefit some part of the profession.

Finally.....have someone read it who can be objective. Every mother thinks her son/daughter is perfect & wants each "proud" moment of that childs life to be mentioned. I read lots of my daughter's ps's..but she also took them to the career center to get an objective take on them.

Good luck!