About Personal Statements

Since most top law schools do not interview applicants, your personal statement offers the first, and often the only, opportunity to distinguish your application. Analogous to an interview, a law school personal statement should introduce the attributes and accomplishments that make you an individual. Do not write a summary of your resume or transcript, but instead utilize this opportunity to expand upon what is unique about you, your life experiences, and your goals.

Writing Your Personal Statement “To Do’s”
  • Have a clear idea of what you want to convey before writing. Before starting your law school personal statement, use an outline to determine the best order of presentation. Have a central theme or thesis that is used throughout your personal statement.
  • Start with a strong introduction. Examples include a remarkable or a life-changing experience, an anecdote, or a question that will be answered by your law school personal statement.
  • Show continuity. Conclude your personal statement by referring back to the introductory paragraph and restate your main thesis in a slightly different way.
  • Use your personal statement as a means to market yourself. Most top law schools receive thousands of applications. Admissions committees seek to weave together a class composed of unique individuals whose diverse views symbiotically complement each other. Consequently, admissions decisions are based upon subjective determinations, such as the personal statement, in addition to objective measurements such as one’s GPA and LSAT score. Use this opportunity to show the admissions committee that you are more than a standardized test score and a cluster of grades; showcase your peerless and intriguing personality.
  • Be “personal” in the personal statement. Be genuinely honest and try to focus on your most favorable characteristics. This will allow your personal statement to stand apart from the multitude of generic statements that merely reiterate a transcript or generally describe how law school will benefit the applicant’s life.
  • Write clearly and to the point. Effectively utilize the limited words allowed to convey what is unique about yourself as well as why you are a suitable fit for law school or that particular program.
  • Adhere to the page or word limitations. Most well written personal statements should be no longer than two to three pages.
  • Consider tailoring your personal statement to reflect the law schools to which you are applying. Making specific references to a particular law school or specialty will demonstrate your knowledge and commitment to a particular law school.
  • Edit your personal statement. Proofread your personal statement several times, including at least once orally, for substance, style, and grammatical and spelling errors. Have others edit your law school personal statement as well. Ideally, ask an academic advisor, professor, or someone familiar with the law school application process.
  • The best professional service for editing or helping you create your law school personal statement is at EssayEdge. Harvard educated editors polish your essay to perfection and this small investment pays off in law school admissions.
Writing Your Personal Statement “Not To Dos”:
  • Do not focus upon your weaknesses! Almost every applicant has some aspect of their application, such as a low LSAT score or GPA, which they view as a flaw. However, discussing this weakness will only highlight it. Instead, write about the traits and characteristics that define you as an individual and what you will bring to that law school. Your tone should be confident and positive.
  • Do not “write like a lawyer.” Lawyers are fond of “legalese,” or using long and often redundant words. The best law school personal statements display clear and succinct writing that is well within the specified word limitations.
  • Do not solely discuss why you want to be a lawyer. The fact that you are going through the admissions process evidences your interest in the law. This topic is trite and will not leave a lasting impression upon the admissions committee. Instead, again, try to discuss what experiences led to your choice and what unique attributes you will bring to law school and the legal field.
  • Avoid a boring introduction that loses the reader’s attention. Admissions committees read thousands of law school personal statements, and a boring introduction will result in the reader skimming over rather than fully considering your personal statement.
  • Do not use clichés, slang, or contractions. The tone of the essay should convey the seriousness of the topic and the writer.
  • Avoid controversial issues. Steer away from topics such as religion, political doctrines, or contentious issues. While you may be an outspoken critic of affirmative action or organized religion, the admissions committee may be offended by your views.
  • Do not reiterate your academic accomplishments, unless they are not evident from your transcripts and test scores. As an example, a major family crisis or personal catharsis resulting in a drastic change in your grades is worth discussing whereas your being on the Honor Roll most semesters is not if already illustrated on your transcripts.
  • Do not solely rely on spellchecker. It will not correct words that are improperly used such as “form” instead of “from” and “none” versus “one.”
  • Avoid using the passive voice. Extensive use of the passive voice will rob your personal statement of clarity, brevity and impact. Sentences written in the active voice are more powerful and succinct than those written in the passive voice. The passive voice occurs when the subject receives the action of the verb and is acted upon by someone/something. Generally, passive voice uses a verb form of “to be.” An example of passive voice would be, “The fire is seen by Joe.” When using the active voice, the subject performs the action of the verb. An example would be, “Joe sees the fire.”
Top 10 Personal Statement Mistakes

This list, culled from discussions with admissions directors, lists the ten biggest mistakes applicants often make on their law school personal statements. Most of these were discussed above.

  1. Spelling and grammatical errors.
  2. Sending a personal statement to school B meant for School A. Harvard Law School does not want to read about your desire to attend Yale Law School.
  3. Merely summarizing your resume in essay form.
  4. Staying too detached in your writing style and not getting “personal” in your personal statement.
  5. Focusing upon your weaknesses versus your strengths.
  6. Using too many big words or “legalese.”
  7. Spending just a few hours on your personal statement and submitting your first draft.
  8. Exceeding the specified page or word limitations.
  9. Stating that once admitted you will save the world.
  10. Gimmicks such as writing in crayon, modeling your personal statement as a legal brief, or writing it as a poem.
Recommended Books:

I have culled through the many books offering personal statement tips and found that the two following books offer the best advice.

Essays That Worked for Law Schools

Considered to be the best or one of the best books out there for crafting your law school personal statement, this highly recommended text was just updated and includes personal statement samples and advice on writing an excellent law school personal statement. Also discussed are the relative weights various top law schools give to the personal statement.

How to Write a Winning Personal Statement

In addition to personal statement samples and tips, this book offers advice from law school admissions directors at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, UCLA Law School, University of Michigan Law School and several other top law schools. The book’s one negative is that part of the book is dedicated to medical, business, and graduate school rather than law school. However, this is a good overall guide to writing your law school personal statement and is recommended.

Conclusion

Many applicants are initially intimidated by writing their law school personal statements. However, you should embrace this opportunity to discuss yourself, goals, experiences and values that have led you to seek a legal education. There are no universals to follow in writing your law school personal statement; instead your personal statement should convey your unique essence and attributes.

Dennis Shields of Duke offers the following advice on personal statements:

  • Introduce yourself – The personal statement is an opportunity for students to introduce themselves in a meaningful way to the file reader. It replaces the interview. Students should pick some experience they have had and why write about (a) what they were thinking about when they decided to do it; (b) what happened; and (c) reflect back – how has the experience changed them; impact on them.
  • Tell the committee how they are different & why the law school should care – one goal of law schools is to admit a diverse class (racially, ethnically, and in other ways). Students should try to tell the file reader how they are different from the whole host of other candidates & why the laws school should care about that difference. For example, “I am different because I grew up on a farm.” Well, so what? Tell the committee how that makes one look at the world differently. IF a student is NOT different don’t talk about this.
  • Think clearly: write in a sophisticated manner. This does NOT mean using big words. The file reader will use the personal statement, in part, to judge how well the candidate writes and thinks.
  • Overall – the law schools are looking at the students’ insights about themselves and the world around them.
  • Don’t use the personal statement to make excuses. Instead, add addendum to explain quirks in one’s transcript or anything else that needs explaining.