To the limit?

[Mountain Cow]

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My research experience essay for AMCAS is very close to the 10,000 character limit. Since this essay is somewhat liberal in space allowed is it advantageous to be more concise for the sake of those reading? Should I try to cut it down to 7 or 8,000 characters? Or should I keep the detail?
😕

 

[solitude]

My research experience essay for AMCAS is very close to the 10,000 character limit. Since this essay is somewhat liberal in space allowed is it advantageous to be more concise for the sake of those reading? Should I try to cut it down to 7 or 8,000 characters? Or should I keep the detail?
😕

FWIW, I decided to include as much detail as possible and go very close to the limit. Since you've already written it, I would just leave all of what you have.

Perhaps if you're worried that the reader is going to get lost in the details, you could include a paragraph at the top with a brief explanation of what you've done. I did this: something to the effect of "For the past x years I've worked in this lab. Introductory sentence about the field of study. My work has shown the following: a) bla; b) bla; c) bla." My PI (who is on the MSTP committee at my school) thought this was a good idea; he said that most adcom members don't read the whole essay, so it's beneficial to have a good summary up front.

 

[hateroftheyear]

quality does not equal quantity. several of my interviewers commented on the chore of reading through AMCAS applications 'packed to the gills,' although they were referring more to the compulsive urge of applicants to fill all 15 extracurricular slots. the most important thing is that your essay-reader is left with a clear idea of your research and particularly your original insights and contributions, regardless of length. with that said, i would shoot for at least 7,500 characters, as an unusually short essay might draw negative attention to itself