Law School Personal Statement
A well-written law school personal statement is essential when trying to pursue a legal education. In some cases, a law school personal statement can mean the difference between being admitted to a prestigious law school or not. Since there's always tight competition when applying for a spot in prestigious law schools, you should be able to set yourself apart from the thousands of applicants who might be saying the same things on their personal statements. A law school personal statement should therefore contain orginal content and not cliches. (1)
The person who will read your law school personal statement may have read thousands of essays so be a little creative when writing the opening sentence or paragraph of your application statement. To jazz up your essay or your law school personal statement without sacrificing its quality and readability, try to think of a unique story about your life and personal experiences with regards to being a law student. Avoid including personal stories or achievements you had when you were in grade school or high school since most law schools look into experiences you had during your undergraduate years. Moreover, your personal statement can also include reasons why you want to pursue a legal education. As much as possible, avoid using generic reasons and claims such as "helping other people" or "to make the legal world a better place" because these generic statements don't say a thing about your personality and sense of originality. (2)
If writing your personal statement requires you to answer specific questions, answer these questions directly. Avoid inserting bits of information that are not really related to the essay question. But if you are given the chance to write a personal statement without specific essay questions, you can have the freedom to tell your tale in a creative and truthful manner. (3)
The main purpose of a personal statement is to help you "sell" yourself to law schools. It can also serve as a personal communication tool between you and the admissions people. When trying to sell yourself through a personal statement, an essay that is creatively and truthfully written without being too pretentious can certainly increase your chances of getting admitted into a law school. (4)
Literary Citations & Article References:
(1) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
(2) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
(3) http://gradschool.about.com/od/essaywriting/a/questps.htm
(4) http://gradschool.about.com/od/essaywriting/f/essaypurp.htm