1. Tell me something I don’t know. A popular strategy – and not always bad one – for applicants seeking to demonstrate their fit with one school above any other is to study its website to understand the program’s self-determined selling points, and then profess an interest in those. The thing that essay writers don’t always consider is that while a school’s distinguishing characteristics might be the factors that set it apart from others, this is not necessarily what the admissions committee wants to read about in an applicant’s essays. The very admissions officer reading your file spends months every year pushing this marketing message out to prospective students. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t touch briefly on these key points (the schools highlight these for a reason), only to suggest that to put together a really compelling application, it’s important to push beyond high-level differentiators and immediate association and demonstrate that you’ve learned about the program on a deeper level. In making room for this level of detail within a restrictive word limit, cutting other schools out of the picture is a great starting point.  As always, we’d like to recommend the in-depth Clear Admit Law Guides to help applicants pinpoint the unique offerings of their target law schools and discuss them effectively in their applications.

2. Enough about us, let’s talk about you. It’s not uncommon for applicants to become so engrossed in explaining how their target program differs from other law schools that they neglect to really articulate how their own interests, personality and preferences fit into the picture. Very nearly every school requires that prospective students use their personal statement to explain how the law degree is necessary for them to accomplish their goals, but there’s not a single one that adds “better than any other law school.” Though schools may explicitly inquire about other target programs if an applicant advances to an interview, at this early point the adcom is much more interested in hearing about the candidate and his or her fit with the school. It’s a bit premature to assure a school that it’s your #1 when the adcom hasn’t even decided whether they’re interested. Better to use all the space at your disposal in the essays to cover your experiences and accomplishments, share your aspirations and showcase your research on the law school.

3. I bet you say that to all the girls. Seriously, though, if an applicant goes out of his way to profess that Chicago is the best school for him, is his first choice, etc., the Chicago Law School really has no assurance that this applicant hasn’t written an equally passionate love letter to regional rival Northwestern University Law School. If a strategy seems likely to work in one place, might as well use it everyplace, right? Yes, it’s generally true that schools prefer to admit students who are excited about their program and seem likely to attend, but actions speak louder than words. The details of campus visits and conversations with students and alumni are far better topics to cover in your essays. To invoke a classic essay-writing maxim, “show, don’t tell” the adcom that you care. Further, the best way to convince the adcom that you “only have eyes for their school” is to not mention any other school at all.

We hope that this offers a number of helpful “do”s to offset this big essay “don’t.” It’s true that the deadlines are looming, but there is still plenty of time to get an in-depth understanding of your target law schools and engage members of the community.

3. Know what they will value. Because relatively older applicants have been out of school for a few or more years, the adcom looks to other sections of their applications to gauge their current abilities and potential.  These applicants should not that their LSAT scores, work experience, personal statements, and recommendations carry greater value than their undergraduate academic records.  This may be good news for applicants who did not perform as well as undergraduates; however, these applicants will need a particularly strong LSAT score to demonstrate their academic abilities to the adcom.

1.  Put yourself at the center. In talking about your future goals or in elaborating on your academic, volunteer or work experience to-date, you will want to put yourself in the picture, indicating what you would like to do in the short and long term or what role you specifically played in the various projects or activities that you discuss.  Your personal statement is meant to be an opportunity to provide the adcom with greater insight into your candidacy and what sort of person you are and lawyer you will be in the future.  Thus, elaborating on what others have done or talking generally about the state of your field of interest will not appear a meaningful discussion unless you can demonstrate how the material relates to you and pertains to your goals and interests.

2.  Focus on fully realized successes. In writing about an accomplishment or involvement, it’s important that applicants’ stories and projects are ones in which a positive outcome has been accomplished or is ensured, as potential successes are not actual ones.  Talking about a project that is on-going or that is just starting to come together will not be as meaningful as one in which an applicant has already displayed leadership, initiative and creativity in accomplishing a goal.  Though ultimate impact may have not yet been observed (an example being an unknown verdict in a trial), one’s goals in the project should already have been attained (meaning, for example, that an applicant already assembled documents, prepped for the trial, etc).

3.  Keep it positive. Many law schools ask for applicants to reflect on their unique interests, background, life experiences, and perspectives, and how these components would add to the diversity of a class.  Although this is a good opportunity to discuss what you feel makes you unique, it’s important to focus on how you have grown from these experiences and the positive outcomes—law schools want to see how people are able to make the best out of bad situations and use obstacles to find further success.  Therefore in describing any disadvantages or challenges you have encountered in your life, it’s important to focus on how you are a stronger person because of your experiences and why this would make you a good addition to the law school community.

We hope these essay-writing tips are helpful for those working on their personal statements and other law school essays.  Happy writing!

Why School X: To persuasively argue that you would be a good fit for the school to which you are applying, it’s important to not only describe the appealing aspects of the school, but also why you find it exciting.  Connecting these elements to your academic interests and professional goals will help the adcom understand why you would be a good fit with their program.  In addition, it’s helpful to explain how you arrived at your conviction that the program is right for you, so feel free to briefly mention that you visited the campus, sat in on a class, spoke with student club leaders and/or alumni, etc.   Citing your sources will help the adcom see the effort you have put into learning about their program, as well as lend credibility to your expressed commitment to the program.

Career Goals: To write effectively about your professional future, it’s important to outline your short- and long-term career goals.  As much as possible, applicants should clarify their intended legal field, position within that field, and the impact they intend to have.  This holistic view shows that you have thoughtfully considered what you want to do with your law degree, indicating to the adcom your commitment to attending and succeeding in law school.  In addition to identifying goals for the adcom, it is also important that applicants explain their interest in their particular plans, as this additionally assures the adcom of your commitment to law school.

These general pointers should set applicants on the path toward crafting a strong statement of purpose essay.  Good luck writing!

1. Consider the broad range of topics available to you. The first step in choosing a subject for the personal statement is to consider all the options, such as meaningful academic, professional, extracurricular, or personal experiences.  Within each of these categories, applicants can discuss a variety of topics, including their successes, challenges, motivations, leadership experiences, and mastery of a subject or field.  In considering your full range of options, keep in mind that it’s best to choose a topic that positions you in a positive light and shows your personal growth.

2. Think about what will make you stand out. The personal statement is the perfect opportunity for applicants to illustrate in their own words what makes them unique to the admissions committee.  Therefore the story you tell should be interesting, memorable, and demonstrate more about you than what appears in the rest of your application.  This is your opportunity to showcase yourself as an individual—so make sure that your topic portrays your most admirable personal characteristics, i.e. intellect, passion, sense of humor, ability to think across disciplines.

3. Think about how you want to position yourself. Law school applicants should consider how they want to “market” themselves to law schools.  Perhaps one applicant’s personal and academic experiences consistently show that they are an effective risk-taker, whereas another applicant’s professional history and extracurriculars demonstrate his or her altruism.  Through considering how your experiences and interests reflect who you are, it will be easier for you to solidify and “sell” a cohesive image of yourself to law school admissions committees throughout your application.  Once you have determined this positioning strategy, it makes sense that your personal statement should fall in line with the image you have decided to present.

4. Don’t try to explain why you want to be a lawyer. If the admissions committee wanted to know your reasons for seeking a law degree, the application would require a Statement of Purpose rather than a Personal Statement.  The assumption in the admissions office is that you want to be a lawyer if you are applying to law school (it is a profession, after all), and admissions committee members are not usually impressed by a 0L’s knowledge of legal terms and what lawyers do.  So, it’s best to make sure that your personal statement gives the admissions committee insight into who you are, regardless of what you choose to discuss.

Good luck writing!

Is it concise?
It’s always a good idea to keep in mind that by answering an optional essay, you are creating extra work for the person reading your file. While this should not dissuade you from addressing a topic that you have deemed important based on the considerations above, it’s very important that you demonstrate good judgment by limiting your comments to the most relevant information and keeping your response as direct and concise as possible, as well as adhering to any word or page limits set by the law school.

We hope that these general guidelines have both helped to clear up some confusion and shed some light on the optional essay issue.  Good luck writing!

1.  Take time to reflect: Before diving in and beginning work on your personal statement, it’s often fruitful to think carefully about all of the stories and accomplishments at one’s disposal. These can include experiences from the professional realm, formal extracurricular activities, participation in college clubs, experiences growing up and even more casual hobbies and interests. A comprehensive, reflective approach should enable you to arrive at the essay topics that are most impressive and in line with your overall positioning.

2.  Keep it current: In considering which examples to explore in a personal statement, one should choose college and post-college experiences to elaborate on, as these experiences will appear to have the most relevance for your application and provide the greatest insight into the person you will be on the campus of the law school.  In other words, if your essays prominently feature stories from high school, you are likely making a strategic mistake.  Younger applicants may find examples from college to be their strongest, as they may not have accrued the same leadership and life experiences that older applicants who have lived outside the academic bubble have experienced.  All applicants, though, should include at least one recent story in their application, whether it’s in the personal statement or populates an addendum essay.

3.  Establish balance: It is crucial that your personal statement presents a consistent and compelling picture of who you are, what you’ve done and what you bring to the table; the adcom is looking for students who are interesting, well-rounded and likely to make a contribution to the class both in and out of the classroom. In selecting topics for your personal statement from your list of possibilities, remember that it’s ideal to have a balance of stories covering your full academic and professional career and to introduce your interests and involvements outside of work or school.

Happy writing! Stay tuned to this blog throughout the autumn for additional writing tips for your personal statement.

This marks a departure from her approach to the blog during its last two summers of existence.  Where previously (203) went un-updated between May and September, this year Dean Rangappa intends to provide advice to new applicants to make them aware of the dos and don’ts of law school admissions.  Mainly, this advice will take the form of a Personal Statement Bootcamp, in which Dean Rangappa hopes to introduce applicants to a few of the errors and unwise rhetorical decisions that she frequently encounters in the personal statements she reads each year.

In addition to the Personal Statement Bootcamp, Dean Rangappa also mentioned her interest in starting a virtual bookclub on the blog.  The bookclub, which should be of interest to all blog readers – not just applicants – would likely focus on law-related books, but Dean Rangappa hopes to cover books on other topics.

With all of the activity on the (203) Admissions Blog and other resources that are updated all year, such as the Clear Admit Law School Admissions Blog, law school applicants should have plenty of reading material to keep them entertained and educated throughout the summer as they work on their application materials!

In addition to being a forum for explaining your goals and sharing your story, the essays also serve as a test of the applicant’s ability to communicate clearly and concisely, not to mention follow directions and answer a question. Because law schools and future employers place a premium on all of these elements, adhering to word counts ultimately works to the candidate’s advantage.

The other consideration is the reader’s time. Because of high application volume and the need to give every applicant fair and thorough consideration, schools are forced to limit the amount of information in each file. If you consistently extend your answers beyond the suggested limits, you are essentially asking the reader to give you more time than they are devoting to the other applicants. In other words, if you were to ignore the word or page limits and overshoot by 30% throughout, this might imply that you consider yourself to be 20% more interesting than everyone else who applied.

Therefore if a school gives you a page limit (e.g. 2 pages), the most you should go over is approximately 2.5 pages,  without excessive margin manipulation or font size reduction.  Diversity statements and “why School X” essays should be around one page (if not indicated otherwise), and addenda should be as concise as possible.

If a school gives you a word range (e.g. 250-750 words), you should ideally stay within that range.  However, if a school gives you a simple word count (i.e. 250 words) it’s generally acceptable to exceed the word limit by 10%.

In terms of the other end of the length issue, it is likely unwise to consistently fall more than 10% below
the word limits or use less than 75% of the page limit, as this is valuable room in which to share further information about your candidacy.  Similarly, not using the full word count or page length might signal a lack of effort, experience, or accomplishments.

What are your best strategies for writing concisely?  Feel free to share your thoughts below.

1. Use your experience to your advantage. For applicants who have spent some time in the working world, it’s important to demonstrate that their professional experience has been valuable to them.  This value includes personal growth and a better understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses, which can be easily explained through professional accomplishments and challenges.  In your personal statement (and possibly interview), it’s therefore important to show that the time you have spent out of school after gaining your undergraduate degree has helped you improve and therefore better prepared you for law school and a career as a lawyer.

2. Know what to write about. As we’ve stated before, the broad prompts for the personal statement can often be a challenge for law school applicants, regardless of their current status in the academic or working world.  However, for applicants who have been out of school for quite some time, this is the perfect opportunity to explain how you’ve spent this time, and more importantly, how your work has led you to the decision that you need to gain a law degree to progress in your career.  Law schools are sometimes hesitant to accept relatively older applicants, expecting that that these people are more interested in a change than the rigors of law school and a legal career.  Therefore in your personal statement, it’s important to demonstrate that your work experience has led you to make an informed decision regarding your interest and commitment to law school and being a lawyer.

3. Know what they will value. Because relatively older applicants have been out of school for a few or more years, the adcom looks to other sections of their applications to gauge their current abilities and potential.  These applicants should not that their LSAT scores, work experience, personal statements, and recommendations carry greater value than their undergraduate academic records.  This may be good news for applicants who did not perform as well as undergraduates; however, these applicants will need a particularly strong LSAT score to demonstrate their academic abilities to the adcom.

For all of our readers who have been out of school for a few years, how have your working experiences been helpful to you thus far in the application process?  Feel free to share your comments below!