I’ve been editing a lot of medical school, residency, and fellowship essays over the last few months, and I want to give a shout out to the importance of brevity. I focus on a word count of 750 or fewer for my advisees for a few reasons:
First, I’ve found that that number is just the right balance of content and streamlining: Over 750 words for an admissions essay lends itself to meandering writing.
Second, your reader is likely stuck reviewing tens or even scores of applications in a short period of time. S/he is looking to spend as little time as possible on your written materials, while still getting a good flavor for your candidacy. Don’t burden your reader with verbiage.
Having trouble being brief? Here’s a helpful trick: Imagine AMCAS or ERAS is charging you $10 per word. How would you keep costs down?
