Re-Using Essays

SF City DuSF City Du Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 84 karma

Hi All,

To quickly summarize:

I applied to law schools last year with a162 LSAT score, and a strong resume of federal government and political work. I got into most schools I applied to, receiving 50% - 70% scholarships from every school I got into.

I decided to decline all of my acceptances. I work as a political consultant for progressive candidates and campaigns around the country, and I felt that I needed to stay working in the campaign world for one more year. When I told my company I was leaving for law school, they gave me a huge promotion, which included allowing me to oversee all of the national political projects and campaigns that our company was working on. I was/am in a unique position to help candidates I support get elected, and causes I care about get brought to the national conversation. I'm glad I stayed. It's been the right decision.

That being said, I am reapplying because I want to keep my options open, and my doors open, just in case.

Clearly I feel that my applications and essays were very strong, as they resulted in me getting solid scholarships to the schools I wanted to go to.

My question is this: do you guys think I can re-use my personal statement and/or optional essays? How much do you I need to change? They personal statement was very strong and it worked out for me very well. I'd prefer not to have to change it, but I could see why that may look bad to an admissions committee.

Would REALLY value your thoughts here!

Thanks!

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Comments

  • xenonhexafluoroxenonhexafluoro Alum Member
    428 karma

    I'm in the same position and the general advice I've heard is that you can keep your essays for the most part, but should tweak and update them, at least a little.

  • bugvi_00bugvi_00 Alum Member
    25 karma

    I would say you can mostly keep it the same, as you said it worked out well for you and I dont see why you would need to re-invent the wheel. Ultimately, I imagine your motivations for wanting to go to law school are still the same. Although I would suggest adding anything that you feel significantly adds to your application from the last year, as you said, you made the right choice in staying and if there's anything significant from the past year that has been a factor in pushing you to further pursue law school, I would incorporate that.

  • zacharytsmith26-1zacharytsmith26-1 Alum Member
    849 karma

    "When I told my company I was leaving for law school, they gave me a huge promotion, which included allowing me to oversee all of the national political projects and campaigns that our company was working on. I was/am in a unique position to help candidates I support get elected, and causes I care about get brought to the national conversation. I'm glad I stayed. It's been the right decision"

    It doesn't sound like you want to but that right there is the story I would tell for a new personal statement, if it were me.

  • duribakhan98duribakhan98 Member
    14 karma

    you can keep the same materials but update them if you did anything significant in the meantime.

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