Showy PS or simple, straightforward PS?

[rocketbooster]

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I have to rewrite my PS this year...I actually like my old one a lot from last year, BUT I know have to change it plus a lot has changed over this new year. I have to include these new activities...they're 10x better than my old ones.

I can't think of the correct word, but should I write it as showy, exaggerated, using big words, or simple, concise, not exaggerated all, and to the point?

I've seen personal statements of both types and I'm not sure what's better. I had a more showy one last year despite my premed advisors wanting to be simpler.

How's yours?

 

[aznb0y129]

I have to rewrite my PS this year...I actually like my old one a lot from last year, BUT I know have to change it plus a lot has changed over this new year. I have to include these new activities...they're 10x better than my old ones.

I can't think of the correct word, but should I write it as showy, exaggerated, using big words, or simple, concise, not exaggerated all, and to the point?

I've seen personal statements of both types and I'm not sure what's better. I had a more showy one last year despite my premed advisors wanting to be simpler.

How's yours?

I think simple >> showy. Using big words just for the sake of using them seems pretentious to me. Though some slight embellishing of your activities is probably required, not quite exaggeration.

 

[nick_carraway]

Are you a good enough writer to write a flowery personal statement with substantive content and keep it under the character limit? If not, you risk sounding insincere or arrogant.

If you can pull it off, more power to you. For most people however, K.I.S.S.

 

[futIDdoc]

style always beats substance. How about a list of buzzwords that'll spruce up the PS. I'll start: "je ne sais quoi"

 

[Appless]

id keep it more simple and to the point unless you have absolutely excellent writing skills. As often these flowery type PS can come back to hurt you if you dont have the writing skills to make it work.

 

[Mattabet]

id keep it more simple and to the point unless you have absolutely excellent writing skills. As often these flowery type PS can come back to hurt you if you dont have the writing skills to make it work.

People with excellent writing skills are going to keep it simple and to the point. If you try and stretch and create something flowery and crazy, it's going to come off as strange and probably convoluted. K.I.S.S. is exactly right. Channel those writing skills into being clear and concise, not using fancy vocab. No reader cares about fancy vocab; they care about exact vocab. Being exact and concise makes for an easy read and the best possible PS.

Fancy words for fancy word's sake is just literary masturbation for the writer.

 

[longhorn09]

Get it straight, as the adcoms don't have that much time on every essay.

 

[rocketbooster]

so I just made a rough draft of my new PS. it's waaaay different than last year's. last year's was very flowery. this one isn't flowery at all. this one is simply straight from the heart, to be honest. I know the flow isn't real smooth yet, but I like it so far as a first draft. 👍

 

[nick_carraway]

so I just made a rough draft of my new PS. it's waaaay different than last year's. last year's was very flowery. this one isn't flowery at all. this one is simply straight from the heart, to be honest. I know the flow isn't real smooth yet, but I like it so far as a first draft. 👍

Yay!

I dreaded rewriting my PS too, but I'm really glad the way mine turned out. I initially wrote some drafts that weren't quite from the heart, but I feel that this new one is. Hopefully adcoms can tell how sincere and excited I am when they read it.

Good luck!!