Back
to top
Personal Statement line count?
Watch
Announcements
Page 1 of 1
Go to first unread
Skip to page:
My first draft of my PS is just under the 4000 character limit, but according to most personal statement length checkers, it's got 52 lines and the max is 47. Does this mean I need to remove some parts? I've already read through it and it all seems important to keep in so I'm not sure what to remove. I'm not fully sure what counts as a 'line' either honestly
0
reply
Report
#2
(Original post by Renumi)
My first draft of my PS is just under the 4000 character limit, but according to most personal statement length checkers, it's got 52 lines and the max is 47. Does this mean I need to remove some parts? I've already read through it and it all seems important to keep in so I'm not sure what to remove.
My first draft of my PS is just under the 4000 character limit, but according to most personal statement length checkers, it's got 52 lines and the max is 47. Does this mean I need to remove some parts? I've already read through it and it all seems important to keep in so I'm not sure what to remove.
0
reply
Report
#3
Yeah so it has to be 47 or less lines - try pasting it into ucas and seeing how much over it says you are (the margins on there are slightly different to on Word), UCAS won’t let you submit it if it’s over the line limit
1
reply
Report
#4
(Original post by Renumi)
My first draft of my PS is just under the 4000 character limit, but according to most personal statement length checkers, it's got 52 lines and the max is 47. Does this mean I need to remove some parts? I've already read through it and it all seems important to keep in so I'm not sure what to remove. I'm not fully sure what counts as a 'line' either honestly
My first draft of my PS is just under the 4000 character limit, but according to most personal statement length checkers, it's got 52 lines and the max is 47. Does this mean I need to remove some parts? I've already read through it and it all seems important to keep in so I'm not sure what to remove. I'm not fully sure what counts as a 'line' either honestly
0
reply
Report
#5
(Original post by Renumi)
My first draft of my PS is just under the 4000 character limit, but according to most personal statement length checkers, it's got 52 lines and the max is 47. Does this mean I need to remove some parts? I've already read through it and it all seems important to keep in so I'm not sure what to remove. I'm not fully sure what counts as a 'line' either honestly
My first draft of my PS is just under the 4000 character limit, but according to most personal statement length checkers, it's got 52 lines and the max is 47. Does this mean I need to remove some parts? I've already read through it and it all seems important to keep in so I'm not sure what to remove. I'm not fully sure what counts as a 'line' either honestly
If you want to cut down content:
- Remove any paragraph talking about how your A level subjects “link” to your degree. Admissions staff know this and read multiple copies of it every day. It isn’t personal and doesn’t help your application.
- chop out all “furthermore”, “in addition to” and similar bumf words that add no information
- chop out non subject relevant extra curriculars. Admissions staff aren’t really bothered whether you’re a keen tennis player, a prefect or completed a DofE expedition.
If that doesn’t get you down then work through your PS sentence by sentence. Try spotting one word in each sentence that can be removed without losing the meaning (and grammar) of the sentence. It’s usually possible to strip out one or two words in each sentence which can dramatically reduce the overall length.
3
reply
Report
#6
Easiest way to check if you are over/under the word-count is to paste your PS into the appropriate panel on your UCAS application page, and save. It will tell you if you are over and by how many characters. Its much easier to edit if you can keep seeing how many more words you need to cut.
0
reply
Report
#7
(Original post by PQ)
Yes you need to edit it down further. To fit a properly formatted PS in the 47 line limit most applicants write 3,400-3,600 characters. More than that looks like a wall of text and risks important information getting missed.
If you want to cut down content:
- Remove any paragraph talking about how your A level subjects “link” to your degree. Admissions staff know this and read multiple copies of it every day. It isn’t personal and doesn’t help your application.
- chop out all “furthermore”, “in addition to” and similar bumf words that add no information
- chop out non subject relevant extra curriculars. Admissions staff aren’t really bothered whether you’re a keen tennis player, a prefect or completed a DofE expedition.
If that doesn’t get you down then work through your PS sentence by sentence. Try spotting one word in each sentence that can be removed without losing the meaning (and grammar) of the sentence. It’s usually possible to strip out one or two words in each sentence which can dramatically reduce the overall length.
Yes you need to edit it down further. To fit a properly formatted PS in the 47 line limit most applicants write 3,400-3,600 characters. More than that looks like a wall of text and risks important information getting missed.
If you want to cut down content:
- Remove any paragraph talking about how your A level subjects “link” to your degree. Admissions staff know this and read multiple copies of it every day. It isn’t personal and doesn’t help your application.
- chop out all “furthermore”, “in addition to” and similar bumf words that add no information
- chop out non subject relevant extra curriculars. Admissions staff aren’t really bothered whether you’re a keen tennis player, a prefect or completed a DofE expedition.
If that doesn’t get you down then work through your PS sentence by sentence. Try spotting one word in each sentence that can be removed without losing the meaning (and grammar) of the sentence. It’s usually possible to strip out one or two words in each sentence which can dramatically reduce the overall length.
0
reply
Report
#8
(Original post by Zunaid Rafique)
This varies from person to person. My personal statement is exact 4000 characters but was 46 lines, I just thought there was a para which will look good I break it into two, so I made it another para and now my lines-47, characters used -4000 .
This varies from person to person. My personal statement is exact 4000 characters but was 46 lines, I just thought there was a para which will look good I break it into two, so I made it another para and now my lines-47, characters used -4000 .
I’ve yet to see a PS that couldn’t be edited down to improve the readability and focus the content better.
0
reply
X
Page 1 of 1
Go to first unread
Skip to page:
Quick Reply
