Self-study
Hey all,
I did my writing sample a few months ago, but I found myself thinking about it again these past few weeks. I’m just curious how important it actually is in this process? It just feels like there’s a wide range of opinions, ranging from it essentially being a captcha that makes sure you have basic literacy to it being so significant that a single grammar mistake while ruin your chance of a top law school.
I’m honestly of a more middle ground perspective - that it’s something admissions officers will see, and you certainly don’t want to blow it off, but it’s also a rough piece of writing you produce in 35 minutes, and few people are probably expecting it to be a genuine testament of your full writing ability. But I was curious what other perspectives this board might offer, especially from those who are more versed in the admissions process.
For reference, I don’t think my writing sample was bad. I took a clear position, argued it with the given perspectives and some real world examples, did a counter argument to address any rebuttals, and did so in an organized way - essentially the classic 5 paragraph essay. I just think that my piece was a bit clunky and repetitive, like very bluntly repeating my main idea at the end of each paragraph.
Thanks all.
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5 comments
@TRenato - As long as you made a solid argument and wrote in semi-lucid English, you're fine!
For some historical context, the previous writing section wasn't consistently reviewed by admissions officers. I personally would skim it over but not much more than that. My rationale was 1) it doesn't really tell me much about the candidate and why they want to go to law school, 2) if I have any questions about their writing abilities, I have the entire app to refer to AND a college transcript, 3) the old format of the writing section was so cookie cutter (Here is a person/organization who needs to make a decision; they can do A or B; here are the pros and cons of A and B; what do you think they should do?) that it wasn't even a very intellectual exercise. The greatest utility was for applicants whose first language isn't English because this would at least give you a sense of the applicant's English writing ability in a timed/controlled environment. But I had colleagues who would give it more than a skim over just to ensure that the candidate took the writing section seriously. But even with that, I was never in an admissions committee meeting where someone said "Well, what REALLY sold me was their LSAT writing section."
I'll acknowledge that the new writing section is at least a more advanced intellectual exercise because it's asking you to construct an argument out of evidentiary samples. That requires some sort of analytical and synthetic abilities! But, 1) it still doesn't tell me anything about why you want to go to law school, and 2) I would still defer to the rest of the app and the transcript to give me a better sense of your writing abilities. Additionally, we have a new #3 - the new writing section was introduced before the 2024-25 admissions cycle, a cycle that saw a drastic increase in apps, an increase that has continued through this cycle. Apps are through the roof everywhere! So if I'm an admissions officer who has the same amount of time to do significantly more work and has to find a place or two to shave off a few minutes on each review, the first place I'm skipping is the writing sample. The lone exception would be the folks I mentioned before (non-native English speakers).
So here's what I advise: understand what the assignment is (ie, constructing an analytical argument), trust your instincts that you've done this kind of thing before in liberal arts classes, do your best, and - as long as you don't blackout and type utter gibberish - forget about it afterwards.
The writing sample is a marketing strategy by LSAC. They're probably going to start scoring it, to try to compete with the GRE. When they do, just like the GRE's writing sample, schools will probably ignore it. They certainly ignore it now. As you've said, schools understand the context under which it was written. It's 35 minutes to respond to a topic that they certainly didn't pick. It's a highly artificial environment unlikely to reveal anything important about the applicant.
If a school wants to assess your writing ability, they have many other ways to do so. Maybe if AI gets so good that people can't distinguish it from actual writing, the assessment will take on a new importance. But right now it's just a hurdle. Take it. Do your best. Don't sweat it.
@ITTutoring Thank you for the insightful feedback. A lot of the content here pertains to American schools - would you be able to tell whether the approach you outlined applies in Canada as well?
@Pspspsps I don't think there's much difference between the US and Canada in this regard.
@ITTutoring thank you! 🙏