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You are here: Home / Pre-Physician Assistant / CASPA Application / You Have 625 Words and 2.5 Minutes to Get Into PA School: Use Them Wisely

You Have 625 Words and 2.5 Minutes to Get Into PA School: Use Them Wisely

BY Stephen Pasquini PA-C Leave a Comment

You have 625 words and 2.5 Minutes to Get Into PA School So Use Them WiselyThe average person’s reading speed is about 250 words per minute.

The CASPA personal statement allows a 5,000-character count (about 625 words).

Therefore, a full-length statement would take an average of 2.5 minutes to read.

If a PA program received 1,000 applications meeting or exceeding minimum screening qualifications, reading all of these personal statements would consume 41.67 hours per reviewer.

Or, to put it simply, a full week of eight hour days doing nothing but reading personal statements.

What do you think?

Does your personal statement stand a chance?

What should you write about?

When researchers from the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) did a retrospective analysis of 100's of PA personal statements, they identified eight major themes (from most common to least common)

  1. experience
  2. altruism and the desire to help people
  3. role models
  4. challenges and hardships
  5. personal characteristics
  6. positive perception of PA career attributes
  7. key accomplishments
  8. a religious or spiritual quest

They then tried to see if there was a link between the PA school essay theme and one's chances of matriculation (i.e., getting into PA school).

And what was most surprising?

The only major personal statement theme increasing the odds of matriculation was role models, especially exposure to a PA role model.Click To Tweet

In other words, having a PA mentor and addressing this in your personal statement, resulted in a somewhat better chance of you getting into PA school.

Not surprisingly, grade-point average far exceeded all other variables (including the personal essay) influencing the odds of matriculation.

Despite these findings, after completion of the study, the researchers concluded that "the personal statement is an unreliable tool for predicting successful PA program matriculation."

But, don't confuse the word unreliable for "unimportant" because the personal statement is a VERY important tool for PA school administrators.

Let me tell you why.

Why the Personal Statement is Important

Most PA programs (93%) use the personal statement in the applicant review process, and almost two-thirds indicate that the statement is useful or very useful. Three-fourths (76%) use the personal essay for the selection of candidates for interviews.

So, yes, your PA school essay IS important.

Years ago, I compared applying to PA school to Olympic ice skating: Lots of preparation time for what is often a huge, life-changing, over-in-a-second event.

The short program of figure skating is the first of two segments of competitions, skated before the free skating (long) program. It lasts exactly 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

It must be meticulously crafted to meet seven required elements.

Every Lutz, loop, flip, turn, etc. must be carefully considered to maximize one's score in the provided time. The skaters are then scored on both technical merit and artistic interpretation.

Does this sound familiar?

And just like your PA school application, the data shows that strong technical merit (i.e., overall and science GPA) matters more than artistic performance but put the two together, and you have a guaranteed recipe for success.

Bonus Reading: 

Who is the Ideal PA School Candidate? Lessons From Olympic Ice Skating

Choose Your Words Wisely

Just like an Olympic figure skater must carefully consider each element of their 2.5-minute short program, you must be sure that every word, paragraph, adjective, aspect of grammar (like how to correctly write physician assistant), and choice of punctuation is meticulously measured and perfectly crafted so that you can achieve the highest score in your allotted 2.5 minutes.

It starts with writing and outlining; it ends with editing and revising.

The most overused words  in PA school personal statements

Analysis of over 600+ PA school applicant essays showed these were the most common words included in PA school personal statement:

  1. Have
  2. Assistant
  3. Care
  4. Medical
  5. Physician
  6. Patients
  7. From
  8. Work
  9. Patient
  10. Medicine
  11. More
  12. One
  13. Life
  14. Experience
  15. Been
  16. Can
  17. Career
  18. Become
  19. Had
  20. Would
  21. Years
  22. About
  23. Also

The most overused songs in Olympic figure skating

  • Carmen (instrumental medley), Georges Bizet: used by more than 50 different skaters over the years
  • Swan Lake, Pyotr Tchaikovsky
  • Romeo and Juliet, Pyotr Tchaikovsky
  • Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven
  • Scheherazade, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
  • The Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Tosca (instrumental medley), Giacomo Puccini

It may seem that the best approach is to choose a theme that is time tested and admissions committed approved. Carmen, by Georges Bizet, has been used by more than 50 different skaters over the years, so it must be a hero, right?

Wrong!

Rejoice in You Being You

Unless you have a particularly compelling perspective on an increasingly overused topic, it's best to express your originality by drawing from experiences that are unique to you.

Avoid overly familiar themes (and words) while satisfying the required technical elements. In other words, even though you are obligated to include a triple Axel, and we have all seen 100's of triple Axel's, make sure you A. don't fall (point to you for technical merit), and B. make it your own.

Consider using our essay editing service to polish your essay. While we think family and friends are fabulous, they tend not to be objective enough to provide the right type of feedback on your personal statement. If you miss a jump, they may still give you an eight because "mom knows how hard you tried."

You need a team of judges willing to throw down a score of two when you deserve one even if it hurts.

Read more about our service here. We offer free and straightforward critiques in the comments section, as well as a variety of services to meet all budgets.

Thanks for reading!

- Stephen Pasquini PA-C

The Physician Assistant Essay and Personal Statement Collaborative

View all posts in this series
  • How to Write the Perfect Physician Assistant School Application Essay
  • The Physician Assistant Essay and Personal Statement Collaborative
  • Do You Recognize These 7 Common Mistakes in Your Personal Statement?
  • 7 Essays in 7 Days: PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 1, “A PA Changed My Life”
  • PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 2, “I Want to Move Towards the Forefront of Patient Care”
  • PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 3, “She Smiled, Said “Gracias!” and Gave me a Big Hug”
  • PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 4, “I Have Gained so Much Experience by Working With Patients”
  • PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 5, “Then Reach, my Son, and Lift Your People up With You”
  • PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 6, “That First Day in Surgery was the First Day of the Rest of my Life”
  • PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 7, “I Want to Take People From Dying to Living, I Want to Get Them Down From the Cliff.”
  • Physician Assistant Personal Statement Workshop: “To say I was an accident-prone child is an understatement”
  • 9 Simple Steps to Avoid Silly Spelling and Grammar Goofs in Your PA School Personel Statement
  • 5 Tips to Get you Started on Your Personal Essay (and why you should do it now)
  • How to Write Your Physician Assistant Personal Statement The Book!
  • How to Write “Physician Assistant” The Definitive PA Grammar Guide
  • 101 PA School Admissions Essays: The Book!
  • 5 Things I’ve Learned Going Into My Fourth Physician Assistant Application Cycle
  • 7 Tips for Addressing Shortcomings in Your PA School Personal Statement
  • The #1 Mistake PRE-PAs Make on Their Personal Statement
  • The Ultimate PA School Personal Statement Starter Kit
  • The Ultimate Guide to CASPA Character and Space Limits
  • 10 Questions Every PA School Personal Statement Must Answer
  • 5 PA School Essays That Got These Pre-PAs Accepted Into PA School
  • 7 Questions to Ask Yourself While Writing Your PA School Personal Statement
  • 101 PA School Applicants Answer: What’s Your Greatest Strength?
  • 12 Secrets to Writing an Irresistible PA School Personal Statement
  • 7 Rules You Must Follow While Writing Your PA School Essay
  • You Have 625 Words and 2.5 Minutes to Get Into PA School: Use Them Wisely
  • What’s Your #1 Personal Statement Struggle?
  • 31 (NEW) CASPA PA School Personal Statement Examples
  • How to Prepare for Your PA School Interview Day Essay
  • Should You Write Physician Associate or Physician Assistant on Your PA School Essay?
  • Meet the World’s Sexiest PA School Applicants
  • PA School Reapplicants: How to Rewrite Your PA School Essay for Guaranteed Success
  • How to Write a Personal Statement Intro that Readers Want to Read
  • PA School Reapplicant Personal Statement Checklist
  • How to Deal with Bad News in Your Personal Statement
  • Inside Out: How to use Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling to Improve your PA Personal Statement
  • Ratatouille: A Pixar Recipe for PA School Personal Statement Success
  • Personal Statement Panel Review (Replay)
  • Mind Mapping: A Tool for Personal Statements, Supplemental Essays, and Interviews

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About Stephen Pasquini PA-C

A PA since 2004 and creator of The PA Life and Smarty PANCE Board Review websites. A National Health Service Corps Scholar and a graduate of The University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ (Rutgers) PA Program and the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Stephen's goal is to provide one-of-a-kind online resources for those interested in or practicing in the PA profession, to promote better access to healthcare for all and foster universal recognition/awareness of the PA profession. Read more about Stephen.

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31 Personal Statement Examples

31 Physician Assistant School Essay Examples and Samples

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How to write the perfect PA school personal statement

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Well worth the money. I consider myself a decent writer but found I was stuck on a few key points of my personal statement. After a few edits on my own and with a few people I trust, I decided to submit my essay for editing through ThePALife to make sure I was really on the right track. I am supremely satisfied. The essay I wrote turned out to be a solid base, but Sarah went to work, and every change and suggestion had a logical place. She polished it up and made it shine. Thank you so much!
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Thank you so much for editing my essay and for your kind words. Your edits have definitely made it a stronger PS and I am proud to have it as a part of my application. Thank you for alleviating my stress on arguably the most nerve-wracking part of the CASPA app. You are incredibly talented and well-spoken, and any person that has you edit their essays is incredibly lucky! I will let you know if I have any questions, but I think each one of your edits are meaningful and super clear. I appreciate you shortening it and making it flow better. Thank you again!!!
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