Hey all. I've seen some guidance online (including on here) that says writing a Why NYU essay carries little benefit. Is that true? If so, would you all recommend only submitting a personal statement? I don't have a statement of perspective I think is essential to my narrative. But there's something that feels intuitively wrong about applying to a school with only a personal statement...
Thanks!
7
3 comments
I've always read NYU's optional statement as being a broad prompt that could be a diversity statement / statement of perspective. Some people use it as an addenda. I wouldn't recommend using it as a Why NYU unless that information is really mission critical to you!
This also brings up a larger topic - when does a Why School X carry benefit? The answer is: Only if you have something of substance to say. If you don't, that's alright! Plenty of people will be admitted without providing that information. So if you have some Why NYU Law, maybe it can get woven into the PS, maybe you can give that info in the optional statement. But if you have a PS and DS that you love and if you're clearly a good fit for what NYU Law has to offer, don't feel like you have to do anything big here.
@JacobBaska Thank you! For someone not in love with their SOP, do you recommend not submitting an addenda at all? Or finding a different essay to include?
@StressedLSAT I'll go back to "only say something if you have something to say." If you don't like your statement of perspective, that's an entirely separate issue (ie, my opinion is that those statements should either be fun to write because you're writing about something you love, or they're therapeutic to write because it's something personal, but it should be a statement that feels good to give to someone because it speaks to who you are).