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How long is the AMCAS personal statement?
The AMCAS personal comments essay allows 5,300 characters including spaces, which is roughly 815 to 963 words of English, or about a page and three quarters single-spaced.
Work it out
pages, single-spaced, Arial 12 pt, about 500 words a page
- Handwritten pages
- 3.5
- Reading time
- 3 min 43 sec
- Speaking time
- 5 min 53 sec–6 min 48 sec
- Typing time
- 22 min
- Paragraphs
- 4–9
- Sentences
- 44–59
- Characters with spaces
- about 5,298
Write it in the word counter with a limit of 5,300 characters.
Open the word counterAMCAS personal statement in pages and minutes
| Length | Single-spaced | Double-spaced | Reading time | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 800 words | 1.6 | 3.2 | 3 min 22 sec | 5 min 20 sec–6 min 9 sec |
| 950 words | 1.9 | 3.8 | 3 min 59 sec | 6 min 20 sec–7 min 18 sec |
Estimates for US Letter or A4 with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins and ordinary paragraphs; reading at 238 words a minute, speaking at 130 to 150.
The limit
AMCAS, the application service of the Association of American Medical Colleges, gives one essay prompt: explain why you want to go to medical school. The box takes 5,300 characters including spaces, and formatting is limited, so write plain paragraphs.
Other services set their own limits: AACOMAS, for osteopathic schools, also uses 5,300 characters at the time of writing, while TMDSAS (Texas) is shorter. Check the current instructions for the service you use.
Planning 5,300 characters
- Two or three experiences, told in depth: clinical work, research, service, a turning point. Show what you did and what it taught you about medicine.
- Avoid listing your activities. The Work and Activities section does that.
- Count characters, not words. Use the character counter with your own limit set to 5,300; leave 50 or so for safety, since some characters such as curly quotes can be counted differently after pasting.
Questions and answers
How many words is 5,300 characters?
About 815 to 963 words, depending on how long your words are.
Do spaces count?
Yes, the 5,300 characters include spaces.
How many paragraphs?
Commonly five to seven.