Poll: How long is your personal statement

[Creightonite]

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Please, comment. Trying to decide whether 4000 characters I have now is enough or I should expand.

 

[Zuerst]

With or without spaces?

 

[Creightonite]

i think AMCAS has a 5300 limit with spaces

 

[Creightonite]

looks like I have to exand...

 

[floridakppr]

Just because other applicants approach/meet the word maximum doesn't mean you need to. A question that you would want to ask and respond to in the manner that you have is, "Who applied and matriculated and felt that the word count of their PS was an aiding factor in their matriculation?"

Quality over quantity anyday.

 

[Mr. Tee]

If you wanted to expand, you could always add more detail and descriptions in the stuff you talked about.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Over 70% of the poll-takers have statements within 300 spaces of the limit.

Either all of you have a lot to say or it's going to be a tough year for Lizzy and her fellow adcoms.
-Dr. P.

 

[dr.z]

looks like I have to exand...

You don't need to if your essay is good enough.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I just wanna kno who are the funny people who voted for everything that wasn't the last two choices.

For the people voting in the first option, did you write something corny in the box, like one of those one word essays that supposedly got some doof into college so many years ago? For example:

Write an essay about what you feel it is to be a physician and how the world will view your successes, mistakes, and tough decisions. Please limit to 4000 characters.


Life.



When I'm a doc and eventually get on an adcom, I'm so gonna let all those ******s who do that in. Just to get the rumor mill started that one word essays are in style again.

 

[Haemulon]

Here is a suggestion: perhaps try writing a good personal statement that is several hundred characters over the limit.Then go back and condense and re-word to bring down to the character limit. It may help to create a tighter, more coherent essay. Having to re-word for brevity also helps to force you to use a more complex style of writing and it may come off as more mature/polished.

 

[g3pro]

Don't feel constrained by a character limit. If you feel that you have exceeded your expectations for the quality of the message in your personal statement, and you are at 4,000 characters, then by all means keep it as short as possible. Only idiots feel like they need to maximize the character number to get 5,299 characters, and if possible, 5,300 on the dot.

Be elegant, simple, straightforward.

 

[Severus]

Wow... we're a bunch of verbose muthas.

 

[geno2568]

I was at a very managable 3146 characters. I said what I had to say, why bore the adcoms with more bs?

 

[Depakote]

I found this to be a pretty helpful link when I was writing mine.

Note the following:

Constructively fill most of the space you are given. This isn't a ten-page English essay, so you don't need a long, formal introduction or conclusion, or a lot of fluff, but you should try to usefully fill most of the space for the statement. If you leave three-fourths blank, selection committee members will assume you are not an interesting person, and that you have not done much to prepare yourself for the profession.

 

[WildTumor]

I wouldn't write less than 4200 characters.

 

[Haemulon]

Don't feel constrained by a character limit. If you feel that you have exceeded your expectations for the quality of the message in your personal statement, and you are at 4,000 characters, then by all means keep it as short as possible. Only idiots feel like they need to maximize the character number to get 5,299 characters, and if possible, 5,300 on the dot.

Be elegant, simple, straightforward.

Huh? If you have a lot to say, then by all means maximize the space available. I think mine was 5298 and I certainly wouldn't be placed by most people into the "idiot" category. Maybe a lot of other names for sure, but not idiot. 🙄 .

 

[notdeadyet]

]I think mine was 5298 and I certainly wouldn't be placed by most people into the "idiot" category. Maybe a lot of other names for sure, but not idiot. 🙄 .

You're obviously not married. Get hitched and you'll hear it a lot....

 

[Haemulon]

You're obviously not married. Get hitched and you'll hear it a lot....

Well, I did say "most" people.

 

[DoctaJay]

Yeah, when I started writing mine I was at like 6,500 characters with spaces. Then I kept chopping stuff off. For me it was easier to skim mine down, than figure out what to put on it. If you can't figure out what to write, and your point has been conveyed, then you are fine.

 

[Dr.TobiasFünke]

Please, comment. Trying to decide whether 4000 characters I have now is enough or I should expand.

Um.... mine was short too. Use as much space as you need. Do not try to fill it up.

 

[swim2md]

Here is a suggestion: perhaps try writing a good personal statement that is several hundred characters over the limit.Then go back and condense and re-word to bring down to the character limit. It may help to create a tighter, more coherent essay. Having to re-word for brevity also helps to force you to use a more complex style of writing and it may come off as more mature/polished.

This is good advice.... and it's exactly what my aunt, who is an english professor, had me do. I started around 7000 characters (with spaces) and trimmed it down little by little. I gave it to a bunch of people to read and asked them what they thought I should remove/condense. I finished with an essay that I was extremely happy with.

 

[XildUpNawth]

I suggest you add the phrase "I spent the summer deworming orphans in Somalia." Or perhaps, "I just want to help people." Or how about, "I am obsessed with mucus."

JK

I'm sure you can flesh out your essay and give a better picture of your experiences with a thousand or so more characters. I like the suggestion of writing it longer than 5300 then editing so it's tighter. Brilliant.

 

[Depakote]

14 simple characters.

Kill Flanders.

Repeat as necessary.

 

[Spikester]

I've advised premeds for ~10 years. I've heard med school reps on several occassions say that you should use nearly all the characters provided. They want someone with personality and depth. If your personal statement is short, it may indicate that there just isn't much to you as a person.

 

[spospo]

i write best when i don't think about what i am writing or how long it has to be. i just write. get all my ideas out. then i go back and make things connect, cut down on fluff. if i have to write a 10pg double spaced paper, i write it single spaced first. that way it isn't "only 1.5 more pages and i am done." i write horribly if i actually think a lot when i am writing.

 

[g3pro]

Huh? If you have a lot to say, then by all means maximize the space available. I think mine was 5298 and I certainly wouldn't be placed by most people into the "idiot" category. Maybe a lot of other names for sure, but not idiot. 🙄 .

I'm sure people could write essays with 35,000 characters. I wonder what would happen if AMCAS allowed for that, and I'm sure that you would try to get 34,998 characters to "maximize" your discussion. And then you have other people who are reasonable and can write essays in 4,000 characters or so who wouldn't change the size of their essay with the increase in the character limit.

Whatever floats your boat. If you want to be verbose or extraneous, go right ahead and fill 'er up. ADCOMs will only view you as such.

 

[Haemulon]

I'm sure people could write essays with 35,000 characters. I wonder what would happen if AMCAS allowed for that, and I'm sure that you would try to get 34,998 characters to "maximize" your discussion. And then you have other people who are reasonable and can write essays in 4,000 characters or so who wouldn't change the size of their essay with the increase in the character limit.

Whatever floats your boat. If you want to be verbose or extraneous, go right ahead and fill 'er up. ADCOMs will only view you as such.

Why are you being so judgemental? What is reasonable for you may not be for somebody else. Just because someone uses all of the alloted space does not make them unreasonable. You seem to be hung up on this 4,000 character range for some reason. Why does the thought of writing an extra 1300 characters bother you so much? Its what, an extra paragraph? The fact that most people write one more paragraph than you think is needed makes them idiots? This response that I am I typing is probably around 700 characters. Yet by typing an extra thousand characters makes me "verbose" and "extraneous". Interesting conclusion since you would have no idea about the content of my essay or what I have written about. 🙄

 

[g3pro]

Why are you being so judgemental? What is reasonable for you may not be for somebody else. Just because someone uses all of the alloted space does not make them unreasonable. You seem to be hung up on this 4,000 character range for some reason. Why does the thought of writing an extra 1300 characters bother you so much? Its what, an extra paragraph? The fact that most people write one more paragraph than you think is needed makes them idiots? This response that I am I typing is probably around 700 characters. Yet by typing an extra thousand characters makes me "verbose" and "extraneous". Interesting conclusion since you would have no idea about the content of my essay or what I have written about. 🙄

You managed 5,298... If the limit wasn't 5,300 characters, I would find it highly unlikely that you would hit 5,298 characters again.

Again, how many times can you write "I want to help people, that's why I want to be a physician" and expound on that before you become verbose.