Personal Statement

I

IrishDancer

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5-Year Member
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I had just finished finely tuning my two essays for the application when I reread the instructions only to find that it's 500 words for BOTH prompts. :eek: Thankfully I didn't submit them yet so I can still fix them. But that's the problem-- both essays are around 450 words and I have no idea how I'll narrow them down to 500 total!! So I suppose I'm just looking for someone to confirm my fears and maybe give me some advice on what are the most important pieces of my essays to keep.
 
That's ok, if you were to submit it the system would have kicked it back to you saying it was too long.
My only advice is try to pull out the most important ideas from both prompts (which really are one question) and combine them also if you have said the same thing for one prompt as the other that is definitely a fast way to get rid of unnecessary words.
Good luck!
 
Part of the challenge is to see how well you can organize the most important elements of the prompts in that small amount of words. That is what the admissions board is looking for. Dont sweat it just get your ideas down. :thumb:
 
Spaces and indents count the same as letters so get rid of blank spots to maximise your word count.

To help you write this document, take a step back and put yourself in the place of the person who will be reading your essay. That person will be reading your essay along with hundreds of others. Undoubtledly they will be doing some type of rough sort say Excellent, OK, and Bad. They will spend 10-15 seconds per essay to make those initial sorts. The excellent essays will hook the readers attention and pull them in to read more.

You need to re-write your personal statement to capture the readers interest in you in the first 10-15 seconds. Your entire essay needs to be powerfull and concise. This is about you so show passion in your writing. 500 words is a lot if you use the correct words.

Suggestion write a first pass, work on it a bit and put it away for a day or so. Come back to it fresh, keep editing. Also, consult your parents or someone else that writes well. The ideas and passion have to be yours but a good editor can help you tighten up your thoughts. As a reference it took my mid 2+ weeks to get to that final 500 word essay. It kicked ass when she was done.

Best of luck!
 
Our congressman wanted 50 words or less. Son asked to clarify - sure it must have meant 500 words. No, 50 words or less to let them know why you should be chosen for USNA.
 
Minimize clutter, and be straightforward, and use syntactical effect. Luckily for me, I had completed my statement in exactly 500 words, satisfied all parts of the prompt, and utilized syntax and diction masterfully. If you had taken AP Language and Composition, you would know what I'm talking about
 
MIDNDAD has given you the answer you need.

Jump out of the pile. Think color! Be lively! Consider the common thread that everyone adheres to and AVOID IT. Be the one others want to meet, and serve with.
 
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