How Long Should My Statement Be?

Check the application instructions to see whether a minimum and/or maximum length is specified. If no guidelines are given, you need to balance two concerns:

• Providing your proposed program with the information sought, and
• Keeping your statement concise enough to be readable.

How long a statement is does not seem to matter nearly as much, in my experience, as how well it is written. Every day I see statements of varying lengths come in with applications. Most of them are one to two pages in length. I have also seen statemen ts that were only a few sentences long and multipage statements. In my experience there isn't a strong correlation between statement length and acceptance rate. Common sense would suggest that if you are applying to a highly competitive program, and if your statement is going to be long, you need to write it especially well so as to hold your rea ders' attention.