How long should a personal statement be? I have heard different things on different sites - some saying 1-2 pages and others saying a max of 3. I am asking this because mine is 2 full pages right now and I feel like it may be longer with my friends' editing/comments on how I can better improve it.
Thanks!
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I started with 2.5 pages and I thought I couldn't cut a word. Then I chopped it to 2 pages and was like, "This is it!" Then I noticed my target school would only accept 500 words. After collapsing in despair, I chopped, chopped, and chopped and got to 500 words exactly. Ends up, the 500 version says exactly what I wanted the 2.5 page paper to say in a much more elegant and concise manner. I used that 500 words as the basis for every other PS and only added if a school's individual prompt required it, never going over 2 pages (one school allowed up to 3 pages but said "we value brevity" - hint hint).
Point being, a major consideration to applications (and lawyering in general I'd offer) is to say what you need to say in as few words as possible.
Thank you so much, yall! That helped a lot.
2 pages is the general good length. A few schools I’m applying to all say max of 2 pages, some give a word count and 1 or 2 schools allow in the 3-4 page range. Concise is always best, but about 2 pages is a good goal and you may need to edit it for individual schools from there.
2 pages double spaced will meet most schools’ guidelines. You’ll have to confirm for each school before submitting though.