I may be overthinking this, but is it okay to use the full 5,300-character limit for the personal statement if everything is cohesive? My draft is currently about a page and a half in Word, and I’m debating whether I should shorten it, though I’m concerned that doing so may compromise the depth of my writing. Additionally, if any adcoms have services they offer for revision, I would be more than happy to reach out and discuss further.
-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
Quick personal statement question
Started by bar00qa
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Wait, are we not supposed to use all 5300? My current draft is 5260.
The general consensus on Reddit appears to be to aim for roughly one page.
morak
Full Member
Nah, use every character you're given, as long as each character you put on the page is meaningful.
My draft 11 v7 (i think this is the one I used) was ~5,280. I wouldn't overthink anything between 4,800-5,300 though. The personal statement from what I understand is the most important part of your primary application, maximize the opportunity to showcase yourself (but also don't waste their time with fluff).
Great question. Take this with a grain of salt.
At my DO school, if you use the 5300 characters, there is a VERY HIGH likelihood that the person in the admissions department who reviews your application will not read the whole thing--regardless of the quality of the statement.
Again, I'm saying that anonymously here so use that information at your own discretion.
Personally, I don't agree with that but I understand why they do that. When you have thousands of applications to review, you are not going to read each and every statement.
At my DO school, if you use the 5300 characters, there is a VERY HIGH likelihood that the person in the admissions department who reviews your application will not read the whole thing--regardless of the quality of the statement.
Again, I'm saying that anonymously here so use that information at your own discretion.
Personally, I don't agree with that but I understand why they do that. When you have thousands of applications to review, you are not going to read each and every statement.
Adjust your font size to fit your draft into one page... 😉
