Writing a Law School Personal Statement
Personal Statement: Law School Applications: The Personal Statement
Be Yourself. Basically, a personal statement is your chance to briefly tell the admissions committee things about you that do NOT otherwise appear in the rest of your application. Primarily, it is your chance to market yourself to them by explaining what makes you unique or different; in other words, what makes you “you” such that you want to go to law school and be a lawyer. Put simply, why would YOU be a particularly good lawyer, and better than everyone else, such that the admission committee should admit YOU rather than all the other applicants. You should NOT simply re-state facts about your education, employment history, etc. that are already available on the rest of your application material. Instead, you should describe your UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT background, interests, and qualities that made you want to be a lawyer, and which will make you an exceptionally good addition to the legal profession. Again, in short: who are you, why do you want to be a lawyer, and why will you be a particularly good lawyer? For example, do you have a serious hobby or interest? Do you have unique work experience or accomplishments? Are you committed to supporting a family who loves and respects you? Have you worked extensively to build a better community? Have you overcome some particular hardship(s) or disadvantage(s) in your life? Do you have other unique life experiences that have profoundly affected you? Any of these subjects and many more can be used to frame a narrative personal statement that successfully tells a UNIQUE STORY about who you are to the Admissions Committee.
Be Brief. Your statement should ideally be BRIEF: one-page single-spaced or two pages double-spaced. Three pages double-spaced is the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM and even this amount is generally discouraged because the admission committee members have thousands of applications to review and will look negatively on you making them take extra time to read and review a lengthy personal statement. This will also reflect poorly on your writing skills because it will appear as if you are unable to state things concisely, which is an essential attribute for a lawyer.
Be Simple and Clear. Your essay should be well-organized and clearly focused, using clear, simple, and understandable language. Do NOT write using flowery language or fancy vocabulary as it makes it appear as if you are unable to express things in a simple manner (which is important for lawyers to be able to do). Using flowery or obscure vocabulary also makes it appear as if you are simply trying to impress the admissions committee. Write simply and stay on track with your story--for example, remain chronological for the most part--and stay focused on the specific message you hope to convey.
Be Concrete. Avoid clichés! For example do not JUST say you “want to help people” or “want to improve the world” or “are extra-hard-working” or “are super-motivated” or “are a high achiever” or “have overcome hardship” or “are exceptionally smart and talented.” Blah, blah, blah. Anyone can SAY those things, and law school admissions committee members read that sort of thing constantly, so simply saying it is WORTHLESS unless you back it up by describing the NUMEROUS CONCRETE EXAMPLES from your ACTUAL life experience. In other words, you must explain what you have DONE in your life that substantially DEMONSTRATES these alleged traits. Actions speaks far louder than words, so let your actions/achievements/accomplishments speak for themselves. Specifically how have you helped people? Specifically how have you changed the world? Specifically how are you extra hard-working? Specifically what demonstrates your motivation? Specifically what hardships or experiences have you overcome? Specifically what demonstrates your intelligence and talent? Etc. Whatever your reason for wanting to be a lawyer, offer SPECIFIC CONCRETE EXAMPLES that demonstrate your alleged motives, commitment, abilities, etc.. If you can’t back up your claims with solid evidence, then you’d better come up with an alternative explanation that you CAN back up with solid evidence. And generally, do not JUST say you want to be a lawyer for the money, or simply to maintain a family tradition of being a lawyer, etc. That may be part of your larger explanation, but also offer something in addition to mere tradition or a bare desire for money.
Explain deficiencies. This is also a chance for you to offer an explanation if your overall academic history does not reflect your true abilities because of illness, tragedy, personal mistakes, or some other factor that you have had to overcome. Often, however, this explanation should be included as a very brief (one paragraph) separate addendum to your application. This is a judgment call.
Answer the questions. If a particular law school wants you to answer specific questions on your personal statement, be sure you do answer them. Otherwise, that law school’s admissions committee will see that you have sent them a generic personal statement. Thus, either you are not seriously interested in applying to that particular school, or you are not very thorough and well-organized.
Proofread. Proofread, proofread, proofread! Have other people proofread your statement for style, organization, and substance and make sure you proofread it extensively so that is has ABSOLUTELY ZERO spelling or grammatical errors, etc. A failure to do this will tell the admissions committee that either you are either a bad writer or that you are not serious about applying to law school if you won’t even take the time to proofread your personal statement to eliminate errors in English usage.
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For more information and advice, enter the phrase “law school personal statement” into any internet search engine.
To get you started, here are some websites with information and examples of personal statements:
Tel. 337-482-6171; E-mail: pols@louisiana.edu