personal statement?

[butterfly18]

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Hi everyone,

I will be applying this June to pharmacy school but i just wanted to know how did you get started on your personal statement. I am having a really difficult time getting started and i was just wondering if there is any piece of advice, you would like to offer. How much information do they require---one page, two or three pages or 500 words? I know this seems early but i am just trying to get a headstart before the whole application process begins 🙂 .

 

[Jbuprepharm]

Hi everyone,

I will be applying this June to pharmacy school but i just wanted to know how did you get started on your personal statement. I am having a really difficult time getting started and i was just wondering if there is any piece of advice, you would like to offer. How much information do they require---one page, two or three pages or 500 words? I know this seems early but i am just trying to get a headstart before the whole application process begins 🙂 .

they're usually supposed to be about 1 1/2-2 pages. Not too much info, but do a good job of explaining, on a personal level why you want to enter the given profession. What made you desire this profession, or some experience that that pointed you in the right direction. Also, you can give examples of qualities of yourself that demonstrate why you would be a good candidate. Mostly stuff like that. Hope it helps

 

[Moxxie]

This actually helped me a lot:

http://www.studentdoctor.net/essays/index.asp

My main piece of advice would be prepared to revise, revise, revise! What I actually sent into pharmacy school was pretty different from my first draft. Utilize every resource available to you - teachers, friends, parents, etc. for comments/editing, etc.

 

[DownonthePharm]

PharmCAS limits the number of characters you can use. Otherwise, if you are given no other guidelines, the rule of thumb is around a page, page 1/2 or so. I ended up writing 2 full pages for mine, but I needed that to say what I had to say, and it didnt feel overlong. Respect that the admissions people have to read hundreds to thousands of these things, but dont sell yourself short because you think you have to tell your life story in 4 paragraphs.

 

[lola69r]

Hi there,
If you plan on applying through PharmCAS then you are limited to about 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces)...I applied last year for admission in Fall 2006, so I'm sure the length will be about the same this year as well. Our question last year was why you selected pharmacy as a career and how the PharmD degree related to your immediate and long-term professional goals...like you it took me forever to get mine right, but all I really did is sit down and think back to when I first decided I wanted to pursue pharmacy, then I thought about where I'd like to be in 7-10 years...I had a lower GPA so I'm sure the personal statement helped me out since I won't have to go through the application process a second time (thank goodness!)
Good Luck! 🙂