Personal Statement Word Count Forum
- scottybared
- Posts: 150
- Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 11:15 am
Personal Statement Word Count
My generic personal statement (2 pages double-spaced, 12 inch font, 1 inch margins) is 716 words long. The University of Washington is the first schools I've applied to that has a word limit (700). Should I really worry about 16 words? My essay is such that cutting 16 words would probably be a difficult and would negatively affect the flow. Should I really worry about it?
- rinkrat19
- Posts: 13922
- Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:35 am
Re: Personal Statement Word Count
I'm the queen of 'FOLLOW THE DAMN INSTRUCTIONS' but even I would feel ok submitting 716 words for a PS. Especially since you say it fits on 2 pages.
For a memo in class, not so much.
For a memo in class, not so much.

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- Posts: 99
- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:41 pm
Re: Personal Statement Word Count
I say follow the instructions....
- No13baby
- Posts: 440
- Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:42 am
Re: Personal Statement Word Count
Get your statement in under the word limit. I feel your pain - I am also applying to UW and became very frustrated trying to pare my PS down.
- Flash
- Posts: 433
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:24 pm
Re: Personal Statement Word Count
Edit it down. You don't need 700 words for a PS. A good PS can be 500-600 words.
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- Redclh
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:14 am
Re: Personal Statement Word Count
730 words here, and I just turned it in like that. Probably should have pared it down more, but I really didn't feel like editing it again when it was so hard to get it to two pages and had already tailored it for other schools.
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- Posts: 142
- Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:00 pm
Re: Personal Statement Word Count
Do everything you can to cut your PS to follow the instructions. You're so close, there's no reason not to make this final effort. I'm sure that you'll be able to find a way to cut sixteen words without significantly impacting the flow of your PS. Consider posting it here for some input.
- theadvancededit
- Posts: 315
- Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:31 pm
Re: Personal Statement Word Count
+1Seneca wrote:Do everything you can to cut your PS to follow the instructions. You're so close, there's no reason not to make this final effort. I'm sure that you'll be able to find a way to cut sixteen words without significantly impacting the flow of your PS. Consider posting it here for some input.
16 words is really, at most, two sentences. Removing superfluous words -- "that" is a good place to start-- may be the only thing you need to do.