Can I resubmit my personal statement from last year's cycle?

Tim Hortons

Hey y'all -- thought I'd shoot this out out to the community because I need sage advice.

I applied to 8 Canadian law schools last cycle and was rejected by all of them. Ouch, I know. This was before I started my 7Sage journey. I wrote my first and only LSAT exam in December 2017, and went into it with all of my applications submitted and a vaulting sense of over-confidence (the ego bruises still hurt, friends). I scored a 143, didn't cancel my score because I was a rookie, and then watched as the rejections flew in one-by-one. LSAT score notwithstanding, I wholeheartedly believe that my applications (complete with my transcripts, letters of recommendation, and personal statements) were strong. With my second write taking place this November, I'm once again preparing my applications for each school (yes, I'm a shameless creature).

This brings me to my question: would you recommend that I reuse my same personal statement from last year for each of my applications this year? I'd like to keep the majority of it the same and make some minor adjustments, yet don't know if it'll reflect badly on my application...

For your consideration:
Things that have changed since I wrote my personal statement last year:
- I started an intensive LSAT study schedule with 7Sage (heeeey).
- I've (finally) learned to prioritize my mental and physical health/wellbeing through various new steps (mindful and balanced eating, implementing a daily running regimen). This is a huge part of my daily life and has had an enormous impact on my outlook and general health.
- I'm now officially a year out of undergrad, whereas when I wrote my personal statement before, I had just graduated and wrote from that perspective.
Things that have not changed since I wrote my personal statement (and are included in my statement already):
- I still work as an executive assistant for a local environmental firm (only now more hours)
- I'm still a regular volunteer at the plethora of places I'm involved with (the list is too long to type out here, friends)
- My professional goals and aspirations are steadfast

All advice is welcome -- I'm all ears!

keets993

Yes mainly keep it the same and make minor adjustments. That's what I'm planning on doing since not a lot has changed sincr last time. Furthermore, Canadian applications are different than US (in my experience) so I don't think that story aspect of it will change. You need to give an interesting sunmary/story of your life and how relates to law. Does that make sense?

Tim Hortons

@keets993 Makes perfect sense, thank you!

MissChanandler

@keets993 summed it up perfectly. Keep everything you like and just tweak things/polish it up so that it doesn't seem like you didn't bother to put more effort into it.

keets993

Plus, committees see so many applications I highly doubt they'd specifically remember yours. There would have to be at least one person that was there for both years and your statement would have to be so unique that they'd be like 'oh THIS guy'. Plus, a lot of people reapply.

Tim Hortons

@MissChanandler @keets993 Thanks for your help; much appreciated!

GermanLSATtaker

How about letter of letter of recommendation?

MissChanandler

@GermanLSATtaker it's definitely okay to reuse letters of recommendation

GermanLSATtaker

Thank you! Do you have to change the date or you just leave it? I am thinking about using these for next year in case my LSAT score is not perfect...

Bamboosprout

I've seen many people say to change it completely, because otherwise, it shows that you've had no growth over the year. Personally, I am writing a completely different statement. Seeing that you've made changes since last year, I would definitely recommend focusing your PS on the changes you've made. Most schools have access to your previous application anyway, so there's no advantage if you just apply with the same PS. That's just my opinion though, and I'm biased. I'm a big advocate of change and growth.

akistotle

@Bamboosprout said:
I've seen many people say to change it completely, because otherwise, it shows that you've had no growth over the year. Personally, I am writing a completely different statement. Seeing that you've made changes since last year, I would definitely recommend focusing your PS on the changes you've made. Most schools have access to your previous application anyway, so there's no advantage if you just apply with the same PS. That's just my opinion though, and I'm biased. I'm a big advocate of change and growth.

I think that advice is for American schools. From what I read, Canadian law schools want applicants to focus on experiences relevant to the study of law and/or why they want to go to law school. (More like "statement of purpose" for grad schools?)

So I think minor adjustments might be fine for Canadian schools unless something drastic happened to your life last year.

Tim Hortons

@akistotle, we've read the same things then: Canadian law schools want to know the formative experiences (personal, professional, and academic) that makes an applicant particularly well-suited for studying law. No school I've applied to has asked for creative-statements or "stories" per se, so yeah, I think I'll just brush up what I have and resubmit an updated version of my PS.

Thank you, everyone!

Bamboosprout

@akistotle said:

@Bamboosprout said:
I've seen many people say to change it completely, because otherwise, it shows that you've had no growth over the year. Personally, I am writing a completely different statement. Seeing that you've made changes since last year, I would definitely recommend focusing your PS on the changes you've made. Most schools have access to your previous application anyway, so there's no advantage if you just apply with the same PS. That's just my opinion though, and I'm biased. I'm a big advocate of change and growth.

I think that advice is for American schools. From what I read, Canadian law schools want applicants to focus on experiences relevant to the study of law and/or why they want to go to law school. (More like "statement of purpose" for grad schools?)

So I think minor adjustments might be fine for Canadian schools unless something drastic happened to your life last year.

Ahhh, I see. Thanks for the good insight there. Didn't know there was such a difference.

keets993

Ahhh, I see. Thanks for the good insight there. Didn't know there was such a difference.

Just wanted to add that, in my experience, Canadian law schools don't save applications like how LSAC/CAS saves it for US law schools. So you have to reupload all documents and rerequest letters of reference. There isn't also a period of time when you can apply, there's just one due date for schools so you better have applied by then.