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Essay Facts
In a poll of admissions officers at the top 25 schools, a majority reported that, because of grade inflation, the essay is by far the most important part of an application.
Personal Statement for Law School
Yes, you can produce a successful Law School Personal Statement. First of all, you do not need to have law related background to apply to law school. Students with technical or science backgrounds should apply as well as students in the liberal arts. Law schools are looking to attract students from diverse backgrounds, experience and academic pursuits. Let your personal statement demonstrate that you have passion about something that matters to you. Let your statement about your passion show that you can form and sustain an argument. The topic you choose is wide open. To have impact your personal statement needs to sound uniquely personal to you.
Let's look at a case study of three hypothetical qualified "candidates" and how each might approach the personal statement and application process.
Recent College Graduate - No Full Time Work Experience
You went straight from high school into college and intend to go straight from college into law school. You need to depend heavily on your academic record and college activities and accomplishments. For recommendations, develop a relationship with at least two professors in academic areas in which you exhibited particular scholastic achievement and at least one academic professional related to the topic you want to write about. For your personal statement, look for a topic or experience from your academic career that challenged you, ignited your intellectual curiosity and motivated you to take some actions to pursue the matter. As you write about your experience, emphasize research you had to perform, adaptations in thought or actions you had to develop, or acquisition of other skill sets that stretched your abilities.
Two to Ten Years Beyond College
Identifying people to write your recommendations can be problematic. You are years away from being under the academic tutelage of professors who could vouch for your academic performance and potential. If you've been working, volunteering or in other service you will need to get someone in a supervisory or managerial position who can attest to your career. In choosing a topic for your personal statement, look for ways in which your experiences have affected you, provided a vehicle for learning and personal growth, gave you opportunities for leadership, or gave you insights that inspired your direction in life.
More than Ten Years Beyond College
If you've been out of school for a long time, you may want to describe reasons why you want to go to law school at this point in your life. In this respect whatever you choose to write about as your passion should have a nexus to the legal profession. Research the schools you most want to apply to. Read about their history and their current vision for the future of their school and for the future of law and legal education. Find an issue, program, policy statement, legal clinics and publications the school has or is known for. Find out what alumnae of the school are doing, their writings, accomplishments and other contributions. As you find out this information about the school and its graduates, look for a niche that corresponds to an interest, passion, or intellectual curiosity that you have or would like to explore. Look for a way your interest and passion could contribute to that subject area as well as be nurtured by it. For example, you might have a technical background. The legal profession and society as a whole are trying to catch up with and remain relevant to the rapidly changing world of technological advances that impact law and society. You may want to apply to a law school that has publications concerning technology, science and the law that may interest you. Research their publications, curriculum offerings and faculty's backgrounds. Discover a topic or issue that corresponds with your experience and/or future career desires. Use this nexus to develop your personal statement.
Conclusion
Applying to law school is a difficult process and writing a personal statement to make your application standout is a challenge. However, a key starting point is your passion. You need to be sufficiently interested in something to get your readers to be sufficiently interested in you. Use what you know. If you are applying right out of college, use your academic accomplishments. If you've been out of college a while and working, dig into even your mundane work experiences to discover pearls buried there. If you want to return to school after a number of years, do your research. Whether you're using your work experience or life experience, find a nexus, a way to apply your passion to issues and problems you could design your law career to address.