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Post Your Questions about Essays
David Busis
Member Moderator
Do you have questions about personal statements, diversity statements or other law school essays? Post them here. I'm writing an F.A.Q. for the personal statement course, and I want to know what's got you confused. If someone else has already asked your question, please "like" the question, even if I've already answered it. That information will help me make the F.A.Q. more useful.
I'll do my best to answer each question within a day or two.
I'll do my best to answer each question within a day or two.
Comments
My question is should my essay focus on my academic experiences and use very creative storytelling-like prose like I see in many examples, or should I focus more on my professional development, and write in a businesslike manner? Any insight would be appreciated. If it matters, I am not applying to a T14 school, just a middle-of-the-road law school (UH.)
Thank you
As for tone, you should write clear, straightforward prose, though you DO in fact want to tell a good story, and some description is perfectly appropriate. You want to keep your readers' interest, so I wouldn't make it dry or business-like.
Aside from the obvious, can you share some specific objectives to keep in mind while writing a personal statement? How do those objectives differ from the goals of, say, a diversity statement?
Should we simply share a personal experience or is there room for a little bit of subtle self-promotion?
A diversity statement is similar, although you specifically want to show how your diversity has inculcated values or given you skills that will help you succeed in law and beyond.
I give a more in-depth answer about the goal of your PS in the personal statement bundle, which you can buy for $0.59 for the time being under "Extensions and Add-ons." I'm working on a more in-depth lesson about diversity statements.
Sometimes students find that their diversity statement is stronger than their personal statement, in which case I encourage them to make the div statement their main essay. In both, you're telling a story about who you are.
Matt- I'd advise you to write a whole new statement. After all, they presumably turned you down last time.
If they don't accept a DS, you should feel free to write about your diversity factors in the PS. After all, a PS is a story about who you are and how you got to this point. It sounds like your diversity factors are a big part of that story. Lots of people write about their diversity factors in the PS even if their schools do accept DSs, because you always want to make your PS your strongest essay.
You don’t have to explain why you want to be a lawyer unless the prompt tells you to. You do have to read the directions. Consider the University of Chicago Law School’s application.
The personal statement is an important part of every application and your opportunity to demonstrate what you will contribute to our community. In general, a personal statement with a narrow focus on a personal attribute or experience is far more helpful to the Committee than either a broad statement about the law or a restatement of your resume.
The University of Chicago makes it pretty clear that you don’t have to explain your professional goals or motivations. If you have great reasons for applying to law school, feel free to state them. If you don’t—and many people don’t—it’s better to stay silent than to say something generic or uncompelling.
Some schools ask you explicitly why you want to study law. Consider Notre Dame’s instructions:
The Admissions Committee gives considerable emphasis in the admissions evaluation to the personal statement. The statement should provide the members of the Admissions Committee with insights about you and your candidacy that are not reflected in other parts of your admission materials. The committee wants to know about you as a person and why you are interested in the study and practice of law. It is also an opportunity for the committee to evaluate your writing and reflective abilities.
If a school asks why you want to study law, your task is to tell a story about your motivation. Show the committee the whole arc of your decision. What set you on this path, and how did you arrive at this moment?
The majority of schools suggest mostly personal topics, but mention your professional motivations as one possibility. In that case, you don't have to say why you want to pursue a career in law, though you may find that explaining your motivation is a tidy way to end your essay.
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Pacifico brings up a good point when he says that you can usually find information about what a school is looking for on its admissions page. I'd have to disagree, though, with his first sentence. Many schools invite you to write about whatever you want, but many other schools want to know why you want to be a lawyer.
If you can't find information by Googling around, you can also call the school's admissions office or send them an email and explain that you want to get an early start on your PS.
In any case--no, not everyone should write one. You should write one if you are "diverse." You should definitely not write one if you don't have diversity factors.
Edit: Just saw this is in the course. However, I might like some guidance given that I'm several years out of school and am hardly "poor" as an adult. (Though parents' inability to meaningfully contribute to finances certainly sucked during/right after college ... )
So not quite everyone but it sounded like everyone should try to think of how they could write one at the very least.
My advice in a nutshell: Write a diversity statement if you are diverse, defined very broadly (not just race/ethnicity). If you are not, don't--you'll just irritate the adcom.
You're better off writing a killer personal statement alone than writing a killer personal statement and a so-so diversity statement.
Here's the test. Think of someone smart who didn't like you in high school, college or beyond. Imagine explaining your low GPA or LSAT score to that person. If that person would think your argument legitimate, go ahead and write it. If that person would be skeptical, don't write it.
Example of a valid low-GPA explanation: You had to travel home every weekend of your sophomore year to care for a sick relative. (Only works if your GPA is lower sophomore year than other years).
Example of a bad LSAT explanation: Someone's cell-phone rang during the test and you couldn't decide to cancel or not and you decided to cancel but then you forgot. (The cell-phone thing might have really thrown you off, but it may sound trivial to your reader. Forgetting to cancel your score makes you seem disorganized.)
Secondly, I feel it may be in my benefit to write a diversity statement but not sure how much to disclose in it... I'm a hispanic female, first in my immediate family to graduate from college and bisexual ( even though bisexuality amongst women almost goes unnoticed these days. Growing up in Cuban / Italian home made it a little difficult to say the least ...) and I was/am just below middle class...not sure how to go about working my quite stretching array of experiences into these two pieces of writing... any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated on the matter.
Another thing—divorce of parents is so common for our generation. For some people, it was a crushing blow they had to overcome. For others, it was just a particular kind of dysfunction they experienced.
As for your DS, I think everything you said is compelling. Try to think of one or two anecdotes that really encapsulate the adversity you faced, or the discomfort you felt in your household.
Actually, that advice applies for both stories. Start by brainstorming events and anecdotes that were meaningful to you and which speak to your identity; then figure out how to stitch them into an essay.
Whether you write about it in your DS or PS, though, you want to quickly move past your sadness and start talking about what you learned from it.
I want to write about when, as a disaster volunteer, I broke the rules and used funds from my expense account to help a victim of a major disaster. For various policy reasons we couldn't give help her otherwise. She was a single mother of 3 (2/3 autistic children) and I went to the store to buy some formula and diaper for the youngest/ and things like toothpaste, etc.
I like this story, because it's one of the only times I can remember having a major conflict between doing the right thing / following the rules - and use this to talk about law and ethics and how that's I'm interested in studying the overlap/ and non-overlap of the two.
BUT, is it a bad idea to talk about breaking the rules (at all) in a law school personal statement?
Thanks!
My gut instinct is maybe, which, I admit, is the lamest gut instinct ever. It depends on how the essay comes out. You'll have to address a sharp reader's possible objections. Were there good reasons for the policies that prevented your organization from helping the woman? If you can convince us that there weren't--if the policies were the result of an administration with misplaced priorities, say--then you might be on solid ground.