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Of the top 10 schools, Columbia and Penn have personal statements that suggest putting in elements of a "Why School X" essay in them. How are my fellow applicants handling these personal statements?
For reference, here are Columbia and Penn's prompts:
Columbia:
Candidates to Columbia Law School are required to submit a personal statement supplementing required application materials. We are curious about your interests, goals, and aspirations and how the J.D. program at Columbia can help you achieve these. You are encouraged to think about the contributions you hope to make to both the Columbia community and the legal profession while considering your personal, intellectual, and professional background and any relevant information that you may not have otherwise conveyed through your other application materials. Please note that the personal statement should be double-spaced and approximately two pages in length. This statement should be attached electronically.
Penn:
The Admissions Committee requires that every applicant submit an original example of written expression. The purpose of this personal statement is to provide you with as flexible an opportunity as possible to submit information that you deem important to your candidacy. You may wish to describe aspects of your background and interests--intellectual, personal or professional--and how you will uniquely contribute to the Penn Law community and/or the legal profession. Please limit your statement to two pages, double spaced and label it as "Personal Statement" with your name and LSAC account number on each page.
How's everyone handling these? Are you guys explicitly addressing why you're interested in Columbia and Penn in your personal statements? If so, how much space in your two-page allotment are you dedicating to addressing that?
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16 comments
The Penn core strengths essay is killing me idk why this feels way harder than a typical Why X. Like who I am as a person is really defined by...a value of professional development...and cross disciplinary studies...lol.
Do the personal statement prompts change significantly or at all? I am going to apply for next cycle.
@jacobseeley861 said:
@rachelhankers864 Thanks for the input. Yeah, you're probably right—so long as it's less than 2.5 pages, we're likely good. I used the same font, font size, and 1'' margins in mine. It sounds like Harvard's on your list, too! (I took their minimum font/layout guidelines for my base personal statement.)
No problem! It’s on my list, but given how October’s test felt I don’t think I’m gonna get the score I need. We’ll see...
@jacobseeley861 ah right! sorry about that.
@jkatz1488955 Columbia's prompt states "approximately two pages in length," so to me that's not a hard cut at two pages. I think of approximately as a 2 pages +/– a bit. However, Harvard gives a more clear cap, stating that the PS needs to be two pages maximum.
@rachelhankers864 @jacobseeley861
I would follow these instructors to the letter. I cut parts of my PS so that even with my Why X paragraph, the PS remained 2 pages. Seems that in the various interviews I've seen or article I've read, a common point of analysis for Adcomms is "did this candidate follow the instructions"?
@rachelhankers864 Thanks for the input. Yeah, you're probably right—so long as it's less than 2.5 pages, we're likely good. I used the same font, font size, and 1'' margins in mine. It sounds like Harvard's on your list, too! (I took their minimum font/layout guidelines for my base personal statement.)
@jacobseeley861 said:
@rachelhankers864 How long is your personal statement, both with and without the additional "Why Columbia" paragraph? Mine is two full pages without adding anything about Columbia, so I'm curious how long yours is given that Columbia states they'd like a personal statement of approximately two pages. I'm either going to have to refine it quite a bit to keep it at two pages or go to a third page.
With normal margins, size 11 Times New Roman font, double spaced my PS is just under 2 pages. With the extra Columbia paragraph it's a few lines over 2 pages. I don't think that's pushing it and seemed reasonable to me. If you're getting near half a page extra I think that might be a bit much, but I don't know for sure (just a hunch).
@rachelhankers864 How long is your personal statement, both with and without the additional "Why Columbia" paragraph? Mine is two full pages without adding anything about Columbia, so I'm curious how long yours is given that Columbia states they'd like a personal statement of approximately two pages. I'm either going to have to refine it quite a bit to keep it at two pages or go to a third page.
On a related note I can highly recommend the 7Sage editors for any personal statement work. I worked with them on mine and was very happy with the process and end result.
@rachelhankers864 said:
My only worry is that the why law and why Columbia addition will feel "copy and pasted." Do you have any tips for avoiding this?
It does just sit by itself right at the end, but as long as you make a concerted effort to write it as well as any other part of the essay I don't think it feels wrong. I'm sure AdComms know that we use one essay and tweak it for each school.
@jkatz1488955 said:
Did you make that last paragraph tie back into the overall theme/topic of your personal statement? My PS is all about learning empathy from my job and I tried to toss in a final paragraph about corporate law but it sounded super disjointed
No, not really. Mine is a sort of 'obstacle overcome' narrative and in my final paragraph I say broadly 'why law'. The Columbia paragraph connects to this only insofar as I then say 'why Columbia'.
@jacobseeley861 said:
@rachelhankers864 I'm assuming you omitted all of your previous final paragraph. Did you swap it entirely for the other one or did you leave some/all of it in and build upon it with the Columbia-focused paragraph?
I left the final paragraph exactly as it is. So I have my base essay, which includes 'why law' at the end, and I then have an extra paragraph tacked on for 'why Columbia'.
@rachelhankers864 I'm assuming you omitted all of your previous final paragraph. Did you swap it entirely for the other one or did you leave some/all of it in and build upon it with the Columbia-focused paragraph?
@rachelhankers864 said:
For Columbia I added a final paragraph to my PS. In the non-Columbia version I give reasons why law school is right for me in the final paragraph. In the extra Columbia-paragraph I pivot to why Columbia specifically suits my interests and goals. It's no more than 10 lines long, but I give very specific reasons.
Did you make that last paragraph tie back into the overall theme/topic of your personal statement? My PS is all about learning empathy from my job and I tried to toss in a final paragraph about corporate law but it sounded super disjointed
I don’t think either of those prompts are specifically asking you to describe what appeals to you about either school. Both prompts seem to be asking - what will you contribute to law school. Your personal statement overall should be saying something positive about you as a person and whatever that positive thing is is what you will be contributing.
You could do some research to make it really specific to each school ie I will contribute to the pro bono culture emphasized at X school....
@rachelhankers864 said:
For Columbia I added a final paragraph to my PS. In the non-Columbia version I give reasons why law school is right for me in the final paragraph. In the extra Columbia-paragraph I pivot to why Columbia specifically suits my interests and goals. It's no more than 10 lines long, but I give very specific reasons.
Thanks for this! My personal statement doesn't directly indicate why law or why Columbia, but I will do something like this. My only worry is that the why law and why Columbia addition will feel "copy and pasted." Do you have any tips for avoiding this?
For Columbia I added a final paragraph to my PS. In the non-Columbia version I give reasons why law school is right for me in the final paragraph. In the extra Columbia-paragraph I pivot to why Columbia specifically suits my interests and goals. It's no more than 10 lines long, but I give very specific reasons.