Personal Statement - 3 lines too long >:(

Hi all

Heres the sitrep, basically my personal statement is 3 lines too long, charachter limit is fine, but i need to shorten in by 3 lines

There are two ways i could do this, i could delete the lines inbetween paragraphs

So for example:

Example paragraph 1 of exampleness ends here. But actually continues for a bit

Example paragraph 2 of exampleness starts here

Would look more like

Example paragraph 1 of exampleness ends here. But actually continues for a bit
Example paragraph 2 of exampleness starts here

(deleting the line between paragraphs)

OR I could rewrite the whole thing to get rid of lines, which would be tricky as i think its pretty good already and would detract from it.

Would deleting the lines between paragraphs be acceptable? Silly question on the face of it but if it makes it look untidy it might affect the prospects of it?

Your thoughts? Thanks in advance...

Reply 1

BJack

19

Good bloke would tell you to shorten it and leave the line spaces in.

Reply 2

LH123

17

Shorten it, keep the lines in. Reading a huge block of text will hurt anyones eyes, and when you have to read hundreds of personal statements the easier it is to read the better.

Reply 3

ZakBrannigan

13

The last time my personal statement was too long like last year(UCAS reapplicant).I just delated some lines and fine tweaked it a bit.I also think that UCAS should give you about 50 lines instead of the standard 47 lines as when you get into it i am sure everyone on here ie TSR has gone over and had to delate lines and move things around to fit in the 47 lines requirement

Reply 4

Sarahl89

15

I didnt have any lines between paragraphs in mine, and still got 5 offers.. im sure the admissions tutors won't be analysing the deeper meaning behind whether theres lines or no lines half as much as you are... so do what you think is right.. if theres any waffley bits in the PS you could cut out without losing anything important, the do, and if not then dont :s-smilie:

...

Reply 5

bex2306

9

Rephrase some of your sentences, should make it shorter.

Reply 6

kat2pult

18

bex2306

Rephrase some of your sentences, should make it shorter.

Absolutely.

Remember though, you shouldn't need to use ALL the space to make your point obvious to the reader. Make sure you've not told the reader your whole life story, that you haven't rambled on and also avoid colloquial phrases.

Reply 7

annarchy

10

imtired

mine was only 3300 characters and just over the limit, so i condensed two paragraphs into one and managed to fit it in. if that doesn't work i'd try to make some sentences shorter by rephrasing them, not deleting whole sentences.

I think that's the best you can do, OP.
The snappier you can make it, deleting long-winded sentences, the better it will flow, too.

Reply 8

LH123

17

ZakBrannigan

The last time my personal statement was too long like last year(UCAS reapplicant).I just delated some lines and fine tweaked it a bit.I also think that UCAS should give you about 50 lines instead of the standard 47 lines as when you get into it i am sure everyone on here ie TSR has gone over and had to delate lines and move things around to fit in the 47 lines requirement

Problem with that is then people would want 53 lines, and then 56. It goes on and on.

Reply 9

cold3

OP

Thanks for all your help, guys :smile:

Reply 10

Good bloke

19

BJack

Good bloke would tell you to shorten it and leave the line spaces in.

Quite right! Shorten it and leave the blank lines in.

Reply 11

inksplodge

17

bex2306

Rephrase some of your sentences, should make it shorter.

I agree completely :yep:

you may think it's perfect, but anything can be improved :biggrin:

Reply 12

Absurd

16

bex2306

Rephrase some of your sentences, should make it shorter.

This.

Reply 13

~Ollie~

8

Pah just delete the lines! Really doesn't matter. I know there was nothing I wanted to remove from mine by the time I'd done with it, so I just deleted them. As long as the lines at the ends of paragraphs are shorter so you can see that it is the end of a paragraph, it's really not important

Reply 14

Good bloke

19

~Ollie~

Pah just delete the lines! Really doesn't matter. I know there was nothing I wanted to remove from mine by the time I'd done with it, so I just deleted them. As long as the lines at the ends of paragraphs are shorter so you can see that it is the end of a paragraph, it's really not important

There speaks a person who hasn't ploughed through several hundred personal statements.

Reply 15

~Ollie~

8

Good bloke

There speaks a person who hasn't ploughed through several hundred personal statements.

Haha I suppose. I just know that I had cut my PS down all I could without fundamentally restructuring it (something I didn't wanna do). I just can't see how, as long as the PS is good it could ever be of any real significance. But I suppose I bow to your superior insider knowledge :p:

Personal Statement - 3 lines too long >:(

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