PS Question

harperh1

Does the connection need to be VERY strong between "the experience" and "why law school"? My road to wanting to be a lawyer is long and boring/somewhat cliche. My experience living and working in San Francisco for a year and some of the things that I dealt with during that time is so much more interesting and is personal in the way that I think it should be. I have a deep connection to my PS, I cried while I was writing it, my sister cried when I read it to her, my mom cried. My goal isn't for it to be sad, they had a deeper connection with it than an admissions person would, so I don't think it's sappy. It says what I want them to know about me and describes an important time in my life, but the connection to law isn't incredibly obvious. Suggestions?
One app specifically says that they already know I want to be a lawyer, and that I really shouldn't try to convince them how serious I am about that. Others seem to want a "why law school" PS. Anybody want to read it and let me know if you can see the "why law school" connection?

studyingandrestudying

What's the story you're telling in your essay?

Paul Caint

I wrote about being a singer, but tied those experiences into "why law?"

I think you can write about anything, but the farther something is removed from the field of law the more you should try to make an explicit link between the two.

I would be careful of just writing a really sad story that just leaves the reader sad at the end. Or writing something about how you have a passion for underwater basketweaving...

At the end of the day I think you should strive to create some kind of "Ahah!" moment in the admission reader's head of why you are applying and why law is the route you want to take.

akistotle

@"Paul Caint" said:
I wrote about being a singer, but tied those experiences into "why law?"

I think you can write about anything, but the farther something is removed from the field of law the more you should try to make an explicit link between the two.

I would be careful of just writing a really sad story that just leaves the reader sad at the end. Or writing something about how you have a passion for underwater basketweaving...

At the end of the day I think you should strive to create some kind of "Ahah!" moment in the admission reader's head of why you are applying and why law is the route you want to take.

This is good advice! I think I wrote something similar.

@harperh1, if you haven't seen 7Sage's Admission Course (free trial), I recommend reading "Personal Statement" part:
https://7sage.com/admissions/syllabus-preview/