Essay: Important to write professional?

[bmoore46]

Im applying in this PT application cycle and am working on my essay. I have two detail questions,

1. What do you think about shortening the words "physical therapist" to "PT" in the essay? It helps sentences flow better and helps to decrease character count, but is it unprofessional to write in an essay? For example, "I got to observe a home-health PT"
2. Contraction: also helps decrease word count, but is this unprofessional too? For example, using "can't" instead of cannot, "doesn't" instead of does not...

In college I was always discouraged from writing this way in essays...but it would help me so much with character count as I am having trouble staying under the limit! What are you guys doing?

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[KorbinL]

I remember when I was applying that I tried to keep my word use as professional as possible. I expanded contractions (don't to does not) however, I did shorten Physical Therapy to PT. This came after using the phrase "Physical Therapy" once and then shortening it thereafter. To be honest though, you'd have to have a very nitpicky reader to really care about something as minute as that. I will say too that after being around PT students and professors for so long, I've learned that none of us are English majors. As long as there are no blatant grammatical errors and the reader can understand the flow of your paper, you're on the right track.

 

[kdubz7w7]

Im applying in this PT application cycle and am working on my essay. I have two detail questions,

1. What do you think about shortening the words "physical therapist" to "PT" in the essay? It helps sentences flow better and helps to decrease character count, but is it unprofessional to write in an essay? For example, "I got to observe a home-health PT"
2. Contraction: also helps decrease word count, but is this unprofessional too? For example, using "can't" instead of cannot, "doesn't" instead of does not...

In college I was always discouraged from writing this way in essays...but it would help me so much with character count as I am having trouble staying under the limit! What are you guys doing?

You can say "physical therapy (PT)" and thereafter refer to it as PT.

No contractions. That is just a good habit in general to get into.

Make sure you are not using super flowery language with lots of unnecessary adjectives. I used to be a college prof and I found the harder someone was trying to sound smart the more wordy they became. Try to be efficient with your words and you should be okay. Good luck!

 

[prePTprep]

Im applying in this PT application cycle and am working on my essay. I have two detail questions,

1. What do you think about shortening the words "physical therapist" to "PT" in the essay? It helps sentences flow better and helps to decrease character count, but is it unprofessional to write in an essay? For example, "I got to observe a home-health PT"
2. Contraction: also helps decrease word count, but is this unprofessional too? For example, using "can't" instead of cannot, "doesn't" instead of does not...

In college I was always discouraged from writing this way in essays...but it would help me so much with character count as I am having trouble staying under the limit! What are you guys doing?

I agree with @kdubz7w7 . Type the whole word out the first time and then the abbreviation in parenthesis. Then afterwards you can just use the abbreviation.

I would not use contractions - seems informal and unprofessional.

Also, more words (or the longer the essay) doesn't necessarily mean it's better. Content is key!