Law School Personal Statement
Other than your LSAT/GPA combination (admissions index), there
is no other part of your application that carries as much weight
with admissions committees as your law school personal
statement. This is your opportunity to separate you from a slew
of candidates that, on paper, did just as well as you. Think of
the personal statement as the face of your law school
application.
Because of the value of the law school personal statement, you
should budget 4 to 6 weeks to write it. During this time you
will brainstorm, write, edit, and get feedback from other
people. At the end of this process you will hopefully have a
great personal statement that will get you offers that you can
be proud of.
Goals of the Law School Personal Statement
One key tip for succeeding at anything is to begin with the end
in mind. So, what exactly are you looking for on your personal
statement? Well, aside from being a personal glimpse into what
you have to offer the law school, great law school personal
statements accomplish three tasks:
- Gain the reader's attention;
- Get the reader to believe that you should be admitted to their law school; and
- Clear away any concerns the reader might have about you.
You should understand that your law school personal statement
will be read by the members of that school’s admissions
committee—usually a collection of professional admissions
officers, professors, and law students. These people will read
hundreds of personal statements, many of which have been
professionally edited. Your job is to stand out from this
crowd—a tall task.
Choosing Your Law School Personal Statement Topic
The first step to writing a killer law school personal statement
is to find your topic. When doing this, you should think of this
search as one for a personal statement theme rather than a
topic. The topic of your personal statement will be YOU.
Here is a list of some potential themes:
- Why I Want To Be a Lawyer – Avoid conclusory statements like
“I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since…” Instead tell a story that
illustrates your call to law school. This is a very common
topic and will often come across as cliché.
- Why I am Qualified – Do not repeat your resume. Tell stories
that highlight your skills and only allude to your
accomplishments.
- Why I am Exceptional – There is an art to persuasively
highlighting the fact that you bring diversity to the law
school. Tie your diversity to your motivations or
qualifications. If you can’t do that, do not make you diversity
a central theme, rather mention it in passing.
- Highlight Your Passion – Great issue-based essays are written by
those with a strong tie to their topic. If there is an issue
that dominates your thoughts, studies, or activities, strongly
consider it for your theme. Show why the cause is important to
you and what you have done to further it. Spend some time
analyzing all sides of the issue even if you disagree with the
opponents. This can be a very strong theme if you are able to
convince the admissions committee that you plan to use your law
degree to further your passion.
- This Event or Person Changed My Life – If you use this, just
make sure the statement is sincere. This theme can often be
cliché. One good use of this theme is to give an example of a
time that you put yourself into an environment out of your
comfort zone and excelled.
- How I Overcame an Adversity – Discuss how you have grown from
this experience and how the experience has armed you with the
skills you need to be a good lawyer.
Don't Submit the Same Personal Statements to Different
Schools
You may think that you can save time by submitting the same (or
very similar) personal statements to all of your potential law
schools. Do not fall into this trap. If you are creative, you
will be able to use your themes in most of the personal
statements. Law school committees are like a person you are
courting. If you have sentences in your personal statement that
look like their school could be swapped with any school, you
will come across as lazy and insincere. And, you should take
note of the subtle differences between each specific law
school’s instructions for the personal statement along with any
guidance they give.
Compare Harvard with the University of Texas:
Harvard –
Please submit a brief personal statement.
The personal statement is intended as an opportunity to give the
Admissions Committee a better sense of who you are as a person
and as a potential student and graduate of Harvard Law School.
In many instances, applicants have used the personal statement
to provide more context on how their experiences and strengths
could make them valuable contributors to the Harvard and legal
communities, to illuminate their intellectual background and
interests, or to clarify or elaborate on other information in
their application. Because applicants and their experiences
differ, you are the best person to determine the content of your
statement.
Additionally, the Committee makes every effort to understand
your achievements in the context of your background and to build
a diverse student body. If applicable, you have the option, and
are encouraged, to submit an additional statement to elaborate
on how you could contribute to the diversity of the Harvard Law
School community.
University of Texas –
UT Law takes no shortcuts and uses no computer program to assess
each candidate.
We provide a full-file review of all completed
applications, in order to:
- Identify students who exhibit demonstrated commitment to public
service, leadership, and other qualities valuable to the legal
profession;
- Identify students whose background, experience, and other
qualities are likely to be of value in the classroom and the Law
School; and
- Provide a service to the state of Texas by educating its
citizens from underrepresented regions of the state and
disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
[…] Moreover, specific attention is given to an applicant's
socioeconomic background. While some information related to
socioeconomic background can be found in an applicant's
responses to the application form and the Law School Report, the
Law School's application for the entering class includes
specific requests for socioeconomic information.
Applicants are
encouraged to include information concerning their socioeconomic
background or any other information related to the factors
listed by the Legislature, in their personal statements and/or
in the optional statement on economic, social or personal
disadvantage. Such disadvantage might take a number of different
forms, e.g., an applicant who is a first-generation college
graduate; an applicant’s struggle with a serious physical or
mental disability; an applicant’s encounter with discrimination
based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or
national origin; or an applicant's limited educational
opportunities due to geographical or other restrictions.
While an applicant at either school could submit essentially the
same personal statement, the schools are looking for different
things. Harvard values examples of intellectual interests,
achievements, and what you will add to the Harvard community in
their law school personal statements. And, it encourages
applicants to write a second statement concerning the diversity
they will add to Harvard. By implication, Harvard does not want
your personal statement to be themed on the diversity you bring
to the table—they give you a separate essay option for that.
Contrast that with the University of Texas who is specifically
looking for evidence of diversity in the law school personal
statement.
You should include specific details about the law school you are
applying to and why you feel like you are a good match for the
school.
What Are the Components of a Good Law School Personal
Statement?
A Good Law School Personal
Statement is Personal
Above all, an excellent personal statement gives the admissions
committee a glimpse into your personality that could not be
envisioned from the rest of your application. Law schools want
to admit students who demonstrate that they will be successful.
The better your personal statement does this, the more likely it
is that you will be admitted. Be genuinely honest and focus on
your most favorable characteristics.
This is your opportunity to sell yourself. Try to highlight as
many of the qualities of successful law students as you can.
Examples of your intellectual or analytical ability,
imagination, and maturity woven into the theme of your statement
go a long way. Admissions committees are also looking for
examples of public service, leadership, teamwork, motivation,
and career potential. Make your motivation and drive clear to
the reader. The admissions committee wants to be convinced that
you are extremely interested in the legal profession and
motivated to enter law school.
A Good Law School Personal
Statement is Well Written
Start with a sound structure. Your law school personal statement
should have a readily identifiable structure. To ensure that
this happens, it is highly important to construct your personal
statement from an outline. An outline should make sense by
itself; the ideas should follow logically in the order that you
list them. Your body paragraphs should consist of events,
experiences, and specific examples that support and move along
the theme.
A well-written personal statement incorporates many different
elements. A great law school personal statement has a strong
introduction and a strong conclusion. A great law school personal
statement uses the active voice and the first person “I.” It is
also creative, using metaphors and analogies. And, finally, a
well
written law school personal statement is clear and to the
point. Every sentence flows and advances a purpose.
One grammatical mistake in your personal statement could mean
the difference between acceptance and rejection. Proofread,
proofread, proofread. Lawyers are professional writers. The
admissions committee will immediately spot the good writers,
with polished ideas, a nice structure, and no errors.
Get help with the editing process. Begin by reading your
personal statement out loud to a friend or family member. Next,
have a trained professional look at your law school personal
statement. Utilize your school’s pre-law advisor, or a professor
who is willing to help. People who have gone to law school are
probably a better choice for this review than those with no
legal background. If you are unable to find someone who can give
you good advice, consider hiring an admissions consultant to
review it.
A Good Law School Personal
Statement Avoids Common Mistakes
Finally, your personal statement must avoid the common mistakes
that other prospective students are bound to make. Here is a
list of common mistakes made on law school personal statements:
- Summarizing your resume
- Focusing on weaknesses
- Spelling and grammatical errors
- Using big words or "legalese"
- Exceeding the page, format, or word limitations
- Using gimmicks like writing the personal statement as a
legal brief
- Trying to include sarcasm or humor
- using contractions and slang
- Writing about inappropriate or controversial topics
For more tips, be sure to check out the Law School Coach
Guide to Law School Admissions.