How long is/was your personal statement?

shainabarber

I know that there are recommendations about length here on 7sage, and that there are vague guidelines in other places. However, I want to know how long the personal statement was that you actually submitted as part of your application? I'm having trouble getting mine down to the recommended length (~850 words), and am thinking about turning in a longer essay. Thoughts?

Pacifico

Mine was 2 pages. Ideally this is what you should shoot for because most schools that have a limit it seems to be two pages. Applying to 13 schools I only had to tweak it for two, one wanted <500 words and one has a really ridiculous PS prompt. You should easily be able to get down from 850 to 700 or so to get on to pages. You want to show how tight and concise your writing can be, not how many pages you can produce.

inactive

If you're concerned about your personal statement, you can pick up the Personal Statement Bundle! It'll be on sale for 59 cents only for a little while longer. @david.busis is almost finished with it.

Check it out here:
http://7sage.com/addons/

shainabarber

I have the PS add on and it's awesome. Just having trouble getting down to the suggested 850 words. I'm at about 1800, down from 2200. Thinking if in and get down to about 1400 I'll just submit.

Pacifico

You really need to have someone else look at it even if it's just a friend or family member. That is a ridiculously long PS and you really need to put yourself in the position of the readers going through dozens of apps in one sitting. A long PS risks not holding their attention and if you submit one over a school's limit they will stop reading at that limit. It sounds like you're too close to it and just can't let go but I guarantee it doesn't need to be longer than 700 words.

nicole.hopkins

@shainabarber disobeying school-specific guidelines for PS length can mean a ding. Obey each school's guidelines. We've all got a story to tell. We all need to follow the rules. None of us is so special that it warrants going over length. Period. Save the extra text for your post-law school memoirs if your story must be told!

Nilesh S

Yeah there are few things that annoy admissions officers as much as what you propose to do @shainabarber . Just go on TLS and you'll find the deans of top law schools rolling their eyes at EXACTLY this in their interviews... this is part of the admissions process. Law is in large part following rules (and assuming its the schools that mandate the word limit - even though they suggest around 850, its a rule - they likely mean 830 - 870 if you stretch it) and directions and if you willfully disregard rules, it is often considered malpractice. Now imagine showing a law school admissions officer a penchant for such willful disregard. Not the best way to start off a career in law. Even if schools do not suggest a word limit (in the alternative, they suggest page limits which are essentially the same thing - a limiting device)... as a rule of thumb, concise writing is always highly valued in the admissions process... barring perhaps Berkeley... and even there... you have to stick to their page limits.

shainabarber

The school to which I am applying does not give a suggested length. I was referring to guidelines I've seen on 7sage and other resources. I wouldn't directly contradict what the school specifically says to (not) do.

Nilesh S

I would then take @Pacifico 's advice and go with two pages... safe... standard... easy... no fuss.

Nilesh S

That or just call the school up... and ask how long they usually expect... they ought to be able to give you an estimate...