Time spent on Personal Statement?

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I actually started writing mine close to the beginning of college. Just completed, it is written as a reflective passage throughout my college experience. My pre-professional adviser recommended that I take less of an outlook of why I want to be a dentist, and go into more detail about my past tribulations. Everyone who has read it loves it.
 
i started mine november when I asked my profs for LOR, so
1. 7 months
2. 30 drafts? (corrections)
4. tons, dr toothache was super helpful, my english profs were also helpful, my career center editor was cool too. My dentist looked at it, and her dental assistant (I am really cool with her) also looked at mine. I also had about 10 of my friends look at mine afterwards for grammar/spelling mistakes.
 
mine has taken me about three weeks and four drafts. i sent it out to some friends and family members to look it over. hopefully i'll put the finishing touches on it tonight or tomorrow.
 
1. one hour
2. one
3. zero

my PS was brutal. i discovered SDN after e-submitting and thought the PS statement part was just a formality. in any event, i was offered 5 interviews.
 
I don't know exactly how long it took for mine. I had a rough draft for a year and I let it collect dust. It was revised multiple times within the last two months before I applied. I don't know exactly how many drafts I went through. Fortunately I had somebody who helped me out a lot on proof reading. I spent more time in editing the content of the statement.
 
Wow. Some of these replies make it sound more like a Master's thesis than a 4500 character personal statement. 4 years, 20+ drafts, and 10+ peer reviews? I'm impressed.

I started getting ideas of what I inteded to say a few months before. I had about 5 drafts and 4 peer reviews. It took me about two weeks.
 
Took me about 5 days of sitting down for 10 minutes at a time, then getting up, watching TV, playing video games for a few hours, sitting back down to write, getting up again, rinse, repeat. Writing is like torture for me so I tend to do it in short bursts, like a paragraph at a time. Wrote 1 draft which I proofread like 497 times and had my family read it too.
 
You really have to make sure it is the best statement that you can put out. It is well worth it even if you have to revise it about a zillion times. 👍
 
MissionDental said:
Hi All,

How much time did you spend on you personal statement?
1) How many days?
2) How many drafts?
3) How many peer edits?


Thanks!
Click to expand...

1. 6 weeks
2. 6
3. 2 professors, 2 students, my parents, my advisor

I started by making an outline. Then I did some free writing. Piece it together and took out irrelevant parts and expanded on some of my key points. Going over it with my advisor helped alot and talking to other pre-dents helped also.
 
I wrote a draft, had my english professor read it; she just had mostly a few grammar mistakes. Then I went to the writing center; he gave me a few revision ideas for a few sentences. Overall, my first draft is pretty similar to my final draft.
 
1. about a month (writing a night here and there)
2. 3
3. sister (journalist), sisters friend, father (dentist), random guy who was getting a gold crown (turned out to be a lawyer), and a bio-professor.

I focused mainly on what I have done to become a more competitive applicant after having to re-apply, and how my "life changing" experience was choosing dentistry as a career, because the things I've done (EC's, work, volunteering, studying) basically my whole life for the past few years has all dealt with getting into dental school.
 
2 months
I did mine somewhat unconventionally I wrote a paragraph and then revised it the whole time I was writing the rest of them. Took me a month and a half to write that way, but worked for me.
Sent it to everyone that I know (like 30 people) and ended up changing one word.
 
1. about 3 months
2. 5 draphts
3. One friend, brother and an aunt
 
I used the Thoreau quote in my personal statement - i hope you didn't too. lol. jk.
 
1-2 weeks, 5 or so drafts. I had my fam and dentist read it. Never bothered to get friends or the career center to read it, because the only ppl that truely critique it are people who care. The career center usually okays crap.
 
MissionDental said:
Hi All,

How much time did you spend on you personal statement?
1) How many days?
2) How many drafts?
3) How many peer edits?


Thanks!
Click to expand...

1) A week for the entire process (took awhile to get edits back from editors), first draft in about an hour or two.

2) 3 or 4 revisions of first draft, but no major changes.

3) My school's writing center, my parents, and my brother.
 
litldime said:
1. 6 weeks
2. 6
3. 2 professors, 2 students, my parents, my advisor

I started by making an outline. Then I did some free writing. Piece it together and took out irrelevant parts and expanded on some of my key points. Going over it with my advisor helped alot and talking to other pre-dents helped also.
Click to expand...

1. spent about a month on it - wrote in October (for LORs)- submitted in May
2. 3 or 4?
3. 2 - my husband who is a writer and my advisor.
 
how long are personal statements allowed to be? limited by characters? pages? unlimited?

thanks!
 
amalgamgrillz said:
how long are personal statements allowed to be? limited by characters? pages? unlimited?

thanks!
Click to expand...

4500 characters with spaces (like 1 single spaced page)
 
Pre-med, but for the PS, its all the same, right?

I spent about 3-4 days on it and had two people review it. No idea if its a hit or miss. :laugh:
 
ak47 said:
4500 characters with spaces (like 1 single spaced page)
Click to expand...

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?! wow..this is gonna suck. i'm gonna have to do alot of cutting down lol.

thanks
 
MissionDental said:
Hi All,

How much time did you spend on you personal statement?
1) How many days?
2) How many drafts?
3) How many peer edits?


Thanks!
Click to expand...


1) 4 hours..
2) 3 drafts (including final)
3) 3 different peer edits. (a dentist, my wife, & my mother-in-law, who works for a dentist)

I understand how some people have a lot of pressure riding on this, but when you have a lot to say, the hardest part is knowing when to stop.
 
1 week
3 -- it was too long at first so I had cut some stuff out, re-word some things
2 professors, parents
 
I took about a month writing/revising my first draft.
I guess i had a couple drafts.
I had several people read over it for grammatical errors and then I submitted it.

Hope this helps
 
1. Month and half (during finals, here and there)
2. A few drafts, heavily modified.
3. English professor, friend, parent
 
1. One week
2. Three drafts (basically to cut it down in size)
3. I edited it along with my dad and a family friend who is an english teacher/lawyer.
 
1. 4 Months (there are moments I'm just staring at it + I had hard time with introduction/thesis statement)
2. Several Drafts 15-20 (for content, grammar, stronger wordings)
3. I went to my school english center, 3 english tutors with 3 different opinions ...drove me crazy. My husband was my best editor since he knows me so well. Final Draft, my pre-health advisor.
 
you guys all make me feel bad... 🙁

I spent 2 days... 1 draft.... 1 peer edit.
 
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