Hi! I am in the process of writing my personal statement for law schools this fall. I am thinking of hooking the intro with a personal anecdote from my time in Mock Trial (specifically making a joke about waking up at 4AM for a tournament, memorizing my opening statements, and laughing with my co-counsel about the silly cases) and then tying that into a broader reason for why I am interested in pursuing civil litigation.
I know many law school students have a background in mock trial/moot court, so I was wondering whether this approach would be "too common" for admissions counselors? Should I pick a more niche topic?
Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
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I just responded with the admissions perspective on a similar post (right here! https://7sage.com/discussion/61477/average-admissions-essays) but I think this is an example of what I explained as an effective personal statement. Your job on the personal statement isn't to be uncommon or be niche. It's to clearly explain why you want to go to law school and to make sense. That'll be an effective PS.
In your case, if you want to do civil litigation, your experiences on Mock Trial would make a lot of sense as far as giving me a sense of your background and interest. It makes sense!
So don't worry about trying to zig while everyone else is zagging. Most of the time, that just psychs you out! Additionally, you don't know for certain that everyone else really is zagging. Just write your own PS and don't worry about everyone else!