Hi,
In the midst of studying, I take some time to draft multiple versions of personal statements so I am not rushed later when I am looking to apply and to remind me why I am doing this studying. It’s helpful!
But, I am torn on the statement vs supplement strategy. I have a very mixed background: I started college at a conservatory for musical theatre and left reimbursed due to harassment by a faculty member, which drove me to consider legal coursework at my new university. However, at my new university, I also interned in the legal field (with a Judge, at a class action nonprofit, with men re-entering public life post-incarceration, at the US Mission to UN) and took several legal studies courses at the undergraduate and graduate level (wrote papers on LGBT asylum procedure, which included an interview with an asylum grantee in the US from the Middle East, Fourth Amendment tights and their protection of Christian religious single cell terrorism in the US; the legality of securitization around drone warfare, etc.). My thesis was very legally focused (exploring how indigenous communities in Alberta might use international norms to subvert environmental degradation and displacement).
However, even with all of this passion for law, I wanted to test the aspects I loved of my studies in different settings to ensure law is the field for me, so I worked in the non profit sector (public health campaigns) and now I work in the private sector (analytics) to address two main facets of law I love (serving the public as analytical thinking and persuasion).
Now, I know I want to do law, as these career experiences have taught me that I can’t do either in isolation nor address public interest needs in as proactive or impactful a way as I desire without practicing law.
So I’m torn on where I start. I’ve written about 3 statements, ranging from very plain Jane to driven by a metaphoric concept.
Is there a strategy, given my story, that I should focus on with what goes in personal versus what goes in supplemental?
Part of me thinks I shouldn’t take up space sharing the details of my transition from musical theatre to academia given I have other more recent and relevant experience. However, I know an ad com will look at my transcript and say “what happened here/what was that semester gap”? Do I mention anything about the research work I did in while in school, or is the fact that I took a class titled "Rights of the Accused" or "International Human Rights Law" enough?
My gut is to write a very direct statement that focuses on my legal interests/studies and decision to test the other career paths I thought might address them (recognizing they did to no avail). Then, I would write a supplement that discusses how I went from musical theatre to law (this would likely have some more metaphor than the statement).
Thoughts on this strategy? Am I wrong in assuming an ad com will want to hear about what happened that early in my university career, even though I ended up with a pretty decent GPA (3.79)? Also, given that I took about 6 graduate-level courses in undergrad, is it worth listing those out in a supplement as well so that they are aware of the rigor of some of the courses I took?
Should I nix mentioning my research work I did in school and instead include something like that in a supplemental? I plan on addressing my thesis work in my resume under the "academic" portion, which might be enough.
Thanks for the help and guidance!
