Length of Personal Statement?

[BattlePope]

Hi guys,

 

How important is the length of the personal statement? From what I've read, most guides have said to keep it to about a page. I talked to my prospective advisor though and he mentioned that I should talk about what I have done and what I hope to do. This makes me feel that this personal statement is more of a statement of purpose, which (from what I've read) are generally longer in length. What do you guys think? I think I'll try to keep it to at most 1,000 words but was curious what you guys thought. Is that still too long for a personal statement (that actually seems more like a SOP)?

 

Thanks for the help!

[legan]

I think standard SOPs are about a page to two pages. Mine went onto the second page, but didn't fill it up all the way.

 

One of my schools had a word limit of 500, which is practically nothing. I feel that my SOP suffered as a result, because I had to abbreviate my accomplishments and limit how I expressed desire to go to that school. I worked so hard to make it EXACTLY 500 words.

[sarab]

I think 1,000 pages is a good guideline. Just make sure that the programs you're applying to don't have word limits and such.

[LittleDarlings]

Each program I applied to had a 4-5 page specification, except one that said there was no format and no length limit.  In the end my SOP was about 5 pages.  From what I have heard though that is long.  I heard the average is like 2 pages. 

Edited February 11, 2014 by CorruptedInnocence

[vityaz]

I think standard SOPs are about a page to two pages. Mine went onto the second page, but didn't fill it up all the way.

 

One of my schools had a word limit of 500, which is practically nothing. I feel that my SOP suffered as a result, because I had to abbreviate my accomplishments and limit how I expressed desire to go to that school. I worked so hard to make it EXACTLY 500 words.

 

Everyone's SOP suffers from short word limits.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Each program I applied to had a 4-5 page specification, except one that said there was no format and no length limit.  In the end my SOP was about 5 pages.  From what I have heard though that is long.  I heard the average is like 2 pages.

That's because social workers love fluff.

[the_sheath]

I think 1,000 pages is a good guideline. Just make sure that the programs you're applying to don't have word limits and such.

 

That is actually a terrible guideline. Or a terrible typo.

 

If it's the former, that's like 10 dissertations long right there.

[DeafAudi]

This thread makes me question the length of my own SOP. It was only 500-550 words, haha. 

[sarab]

That is actually a terrible guideline. Or a terrible typo.

 

If it's the former, that's like 10 dissertations long right there.

 

Obviously a typo. I meant 1,000 words.

[the_sheath]

This thread makes me question the length of my own SOP. It was only 500-550 words, haha.

Mine's on the other end of the spectrum, just over 1250 words. I'm hoping I wasn't too verbose

[AdornoGray]

When you say "went into two pages" do you mean double spaced? My programs haven't given me word limits just page limits.

 

Right now I'm not at the page limit, but I'm wondering since I didn't double space if I would be over.

[eeee1923]

Usually it's single spaced for SOPs.

[rising_star]

I would try to stay under 1200 words if at all possible. In my experience, having to cut 1200 words to 500 words helps you figure out what the most important aspects of your SOP are and which you do away with without making the statement suffer.

[cafe_au_lait]

Mine were about 1000 words (only one required me to at this amount and ended up being exactly 1000). I was somewhat concerned this was too long, but felt unable to reduce the length any further given I had several items to discuss including both research and full-time industry experience. I think they were the right length in the end, but there was a lot that I had to force myself to leave out and I wouldn't have gone any longer.

[MathCat]

My SOP was around 700 words, although it varied a bit for each school as I emphasized different things. It did still fit on one page, with 12pt font and slightly larger than 1" margins. One school restricted the SOP to 500 words, which was very tough, as I had already made it concise in the 700 word version. Another limited it to 200-300 words - practically nothing!

 

My personal history statement (only required at one school) was about 400-500. I would be wary of making this any longer, unless you actually have something to justify the length. There are some people with truly fascinating personal histories and reasons for attending grad school, but unless that's you, I wouldn't drag it out.

[drownsoda]

The average length guideline on most of my applications was 1,000 words maximum. However, one application had a 500 word limit, so I had to do bunch of pruning to get it down to their parameters but I don't feel like it lessened the strength of my statement. I'm an English major though, so while I have mastered the art of B.S., I've also been drilled by many professors on succinctness and carefully choosing your words. If you have a low word limit, the key is to make every word and sentence count— cut out the fluff.

[Guest]

Each of mine varied from 700ish-900+ words. I did not have any letters that reached the 1000s lol.