PS Tip 51 : Don’t write to the word limit unless it benefits you

When writing a personal statement it’s natural to want to make the most of the words/characters you have available to you. Believe it or not, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean writing right up to the limit.

If you’ve covered every aspect of the job/course spec, and included relevant examples and achievements, there’s no additional benefit to be had by writing more.

One of the worst things I see applicants do when they realise they have extra space available is to write a ‘conclusion’ that simply reiterates everything they’ve already said. This is particularly damaging, because having gone to all the effort of writing a powerful and engaging statement, they’re now going to bore their reader right at the last moment. Is that really the impression you want to leave them with?

If you’ve addressed all the requirements effectively, and you’ve still got space left… exercise some restraint, and leave those extra words/characters unused.

At the same time, once you think that you have finished your statement, if you do still have lots of space it could be an indicator that perhaps you should be saying more. Please note that I just say ‘could.’

Either way, it is worth checking, and reconsidering just how good your content is (or otherwise).