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What are the thoughts on this? I’ve seen some people say that they’re tailoring, and others say that it’s useless and that you should stick to a generic essay for all schools.
The only ‘tailoring’ I’ve really done is making sure my essay follows formatting instructions and that it answers the prompts - though, with how broad most of the prompts are, that’s not difficult.
I guess I could try to tie them more to the school, but that feels like name-dropping that could easily backfire on me, especially if the school has a separate why x prompt that I could use to explain my interest.
Thoughts?
Hey everyone,
Before I say anything, I just want to note that I’m not selling any sort of service, so please don’t dm me. I’m just someone who works full-time in a position where I often have to critique essays, and I wanted to give some advice. Here goes:
1) Don’t write like that
One mistake I see a lot of people make is that they try to channel their inner Henry James or Tolstoy. Paragraphs upon paragraphs of flowery, ornamental prose. Please, please, please don’t do that. Few people, especially in their 20s, can write that kind of style well. If you think you can, reconsider.
Don’t get me wrong, I love those authors, but you need to write to your audience. In this case, that audience is a tired AO who’s already read 20 other applications, many of whom are probably trying to do the same thing. These essays can be tedious to read, and often make you sound pretentious. You will get far more mileage from a clear, moderately detailed style than you would from rewriting Gravity’s Rainbow.
2) Be willing to cut
I know, every part of your PS is very important, but knowing when to take Off Yeller out back is a crucial writing skill. I see so many people try to cram the sum of their entire lives into 2-3 pages, and that’s almost certainly not going to be effective. It would be much, much better to just pick a story or two and draw out the details in those. Where were you? How did you feel? What were you thinking?
3) The punchy sentence probably isn’t great
A lot of folks write a sentence that they fall in love with. They think it’s great, they thing it encapsulates their entire message. This is… usually not the case. I find that these sentences come off as dramatic, and sometimes leave me with a feeling of ‘okay, and what else?’ It might sound really noble to talk about how you want to use the power of law to protect the little guy in this grand, sweeping statement, but you’re probably better off using that space to say what you specifically want to do with your career. Do you want to work for a PI organization? Do you want to do administrative law? Mention that.
Take all my words with a grain of salt. I’m not an admissions officer, never have been, but I also wouldn’t say that I’m proposing anything revolutionary. Just remember the words of Kelly Johnson: keep it simple, stupid.
Hello,
So, this is a bit of an odd question. I had a relative that taught at one of the universities I’m applying to (not at the law school). Learning that I had this familial connection was what initially made me interested in this school, and I fell more in love as I researched. But would it be tacky to mention this connection?
I think story makes sense if it ultimately serves the question of why you want to go to law school. If you start writing a narrative about how you were doing research to write a novel about pork, and then the end of your essay is ‘I want to be an immigration lawyer,’ and there’s no connective tissue logically connecting these ideas, then yeah, that’s something you should rethink.
I think the important thing is to think about why you want to go to law school and what specific type of law you’d be interested in, then work backwards from there to create a narrative arc that makes law school seen like a logical next step.
For instance, mine talks about an event that made me realize some things about myself, tied in my work experience and a relevant anecdote from that work experience, and then establishes that I want to go to law school to gain these skills and get these jobs
I think this is perfectly fair to write a perspective statement about! The rules of thumb that I’ve generally heard are that you shouldn’t write it if it feels kind of forced, ie. writing a statement about how your great great grandparents were immigrants
Might be a stupid question, but does 7sage have a service where I can get a quick review of my resume?
I’m not sure, but I think scholarship essays are only checked after they admit you. Don’t take my word for it
@JacobBaska yeah, this makes sense. I think - and have been told by people with far more experience than me - that my PS has a very clear arc and salient why law and why now. I guess I saw some of those examples that are like ‘I’m particularly interested in this very niche housing bill’, or ‘I spent years studying the intricacies of zoning regulations’, and I felt like my PS doesn’t do that. Really though, I guess I’m overthinking it. There’s a pretty straightforward a-b-c, and c is a compelling why law, which I suppose is the most important part
The title is a bit misleading, but basically, I’m wondering how much my PS has to really reckon with law. I was told by a 7Sage writing consultant (you guys are amazing by the way) that my narrative arc, from beginning to why law, is very clear and well-executed. I’m just noticing some particularly lauded examples of personal statements seem to reckon more with legal frameworks and court cases. I just feel like if I did that in mine, it would be clunky and I’d probably end up looking foolish. Thoughts?
I think the trick is to focus less on the other person’s experience, and more on how it made you feel, if that makes sense. Like, say your dad was arrested when you were a kid. I think it’s perfectly okay to talk about that, but it should be focusing on you
A lot of schools have a why x essay for this exact reason. In a case where they let you do that, I wouldn’t.
Some schools might ask you to. Off the top of my head, Berkeley does, though they also have a slightly longer personal statement than most schools.
In general though, I’d just use best judgment. If they have a why x, don’t.
@maydayings yes, this was along the lines of what I was thinking. You can’t know everything about a school just by what’s on their website.
I shot a few emails out to orgs midway through the week, but no dice so far. I’m guessing people are busy, or maybe my approach is off, lol
Hello,
I was thinking of emailing some student groups - particularly affinity groups - at some of my top choices. Nothing crazy; just asking about offerings and opportunities in areas of law related to the group that I might not see on the website, and asking what they particularly enjoy about the school.
I know quite a people who did this for undergrad, and it seemed to go well. Just making sure it’s not considered rude in the world of law school.
Unless something significant happened, then no. Even if something significant happened, I would probably just email an updated resume/short, professional explanation