How long was your personal statement? VOTE

[bulldog]

I'm wondering what was the length of people's eras personal statement. Please vote in this poll.

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[phillyfornia]

i was curious about this too. i was thinking about only doing about a page in word. like 600 words or so.

 

[UVa2005]

Just remember - these are busy attendings and residents reading these statements so don't drone on and on just to fill space. The more concise you can be while still telling the reader about yourself the better.

 

[chicamedica]

The first thing to keep in mind is that different specialties have varying degrees of stringency as to the length. Some medicine and surg programs, for example, might be more strict about 1 page or less (meaning if it's longer it doesn't get read). Anesthesiology is less strict that way. . .I know this because mine was longer (1.5 pages) and it got read. So you should ask people who are familiar with what the underlying culture is in your particular specialty. The results you get in this poll may not reflect accurate data for your own personal decision making.

I second what someone said about not droning on. Cut out all the wordiness and the unnecessary info. If every word and sentence in your essay is essential, and it's a bit longer than 1 pg, i think most programs will be ok with it (again with the exception of possibly some surg or medicine programs--based on rumor).

 

[Chandler]

Just finished my personal statement and it ended up at 747 pages. According to some people less than 850 is almost guaranteed to be less than one page on ERAS. However, when I used a 10 font courier new, I ended up with a page and a half.

Do I have to be below 600 words to fit it in one page for ERAS? Can anyone with ERAS experience explain this.

 

[bulldog]

Just finished my personal statement and it ended up at 747 pages.

wow...u've got quite a long personal autobiography.

hey, mine's around 600ish and it fits perfectly one one page when u click print ps link in eras. in ms word, having courier 10 single spaced creates a document that's about 1 paragraph short of being an entire page.

 

[Pox in a box]

Just finished my personal statement and it ended up at 747 pages. According to some people less than 850 is almost guaranteed to be less than one page on ERAS. However, when I used a 10 font courier new, I ended up with a page and a half.

Do I have to be below 600 words to fit it in one page for ERAS? Can anyone with ERAS experience explain this.

I don't think you can fit 747 PAGES into ERAS. Good luck with your extremely long interviews if it works. Mine was 561 words.

 

[p53]

What a dumb poll. Who's the chance someone's PS is exactly 500, 600, 700 etc.

 

[Induc(junc)tion]

When you guys say it should be about 1 page, is that in 10 point font and single spaced?

 

[mig26x]

mine ended up being one page long in 10 pt letter and new courier. Single space.

 

[Long Dong]

Okay so I did mine in word and it was under one page with 12 point font. Then when I cut and paste it into ERAS, saved, corrected for all the red question marks and went to print PS I found I had more room to fill a page. My question is as long as it fits on one page on print PS of ERAS is it cool, even if it is 1.25 pages on word?

 

[3dtp]

I don't think you can fit 747 PAGES into ERAS. Good luck with your extremely long interviews if it works. Mine was 561 words.

Mine was 40 days and 40 nights.

After that, on paper it was 1 page, no more, no less.

 

[Induc(junc)tion]

The first thing to keep in mind is that different specialties have varying degrees of stringency as to the length. Some medicine and surg programs, for example, might be more strict about 1 page or less (meaning if it's longer it doesn't get read). Anesthesiology is less strict that way. . .I know this because mine was longer (1.5 pages) and it got read. So you should ask people who are familiar with what the underlying culture is in your particular specialty. The results you get in this poll may not reflect accurate data for your own personal decision making.

I second what someone said about not droning on. Cut out all the wordiness and the unnecessary info. If every word and sentence in your essay is essential, and it's a bit longer than 1 pg, i think most programs will be ok with it (again with the exception of possibly some surg or medicine programs--based on rumor).

Chica. Applying to anesthesia as well. Mine is almost 1200 words. In 10 point font it is a bit less than 1.5 pages. Should I cut it donw some, or not worry too much? No one ever gave you a hard time for length?

 

[chicamedica]

Chica. Applying to anesthesia as well. Mine is almost 1200 words. In 10 point font it is a bit less than 1.5 pages. Should I cut it donw some, or not worry too much? No one ever gave you a hard time for length?

Just make sure every word and every thought is essential. If so, I think it should be fine. mine was exactly that length, and I only got positive comments about my essay, so the length didn't seem to be an issue. That said, if i cut out more stuff, the essay would have been incomplete (it had actually been even longer before a rigorous attempt at cutting it down). Good luck inducjunction!

And best of luck to all the SDNers applying this year!

 

[DreamLover]

665 words...no more no less and it was not even a full page on ERAS in the 10pt courier font

 

[Bounty]

Do we know if it will look like how it prints out for us? They use super small margins when we print out our app. If that is how they print it out, it makes a big difference.

 

[carrigallen]

Just finished my personal statement and it ended up at 747 pages.

Mine is 1 page.

Seriously though, I agree that in some fields, such as psychiatry, and perhaps also family med and pediatrics, the personal statement should be slightly longer and emphasize your personal experiences.

 

[gardilimo]

yeah i am going into psychiatry and i had a hard time shortening my statement to one and a half pages. Luckily it ended up that way when i was finished editing it. I had a bunch of people (doc's) read it and they all said it was great and did not feel that it was too long at all because it kept them interested...i still hear from my colleagues tho that it should only be 1 page. oh well...its submitted now

 

[Wahoo]

How can you tell how many pages your personal statement will be when the programs print it out?

When I click "Print PS" and print it, it's just over 1 page but that's including the ERAS logo and menus up at the top of the screen. Is there a way to figure out what the formatting will look like when the program directors see it?