Many law schools invite applicants to share more about themselves through an optional essay. For example, the University of Pennsylvania Law School provides the following optional essay prompts: Are these essays truly optional? Technically, yes, they are; it says so right there in the name. However, the only truly optional essay here is the one…
LAW SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
Four Tips for Displaying Teamwork in Your Application Essays
Teamwork – and its close cousin leadership – are highly prized by graduate programs and universities. But if you haven’t worked in a team on any regular basis, don’t worry! You’ve probably got a number of examples of teamwork in your back pocket that you didn’t even realize were there. Consider the following four ideas…
Admissions Tip: Be Yourself!
Psst! How would you like to know the one thing that admissions committee members really want from applicants? Here it is: they wish – sometimes they even dream – that applicants would stop writing what they imagine the adcom wants to hear. Instead, they want candidates to just be themselves, presented articulately, of course. We…
Seven Tips to Get You Off the Law School Waitlist
It’s the time of year for acceptances – and waitlists. What can you do if you are waitlisted at the law school of your dreams? Here, we offer seven tips to improve your chances of getting off the waitlist and ultimately accepted. 1. Keep your expectations realistic. Getting waitlisted is positive, right? All things considered,…
Four Ways to Highlight Your Strengths in Your Application Essays
One of the most important pieces of advice you will ever learn regarding your personal statements and application essays is this: Show, don’t tell. It’s a classic writing lesson, and you’ve probably heard it before, perhaps many times. But how do you actually “show, not tell,” in your essays? Simply “telling” is ineffective, because it…
Writing an Essay Lead That Pops
How many times have you sampled the first few lines of a book and decided, “Nah, this isn’t for me”? Whether you picked the book up in a store or library, or downloaded free sample online, you probably made a pretty speedy decision about whether it would hold your interest. The human tendency to rush…
Writing Your Career Goals Essay
Check out all the blog posts in this series: Your career goals essay demands a laser-like focus. A personal statement, by contrast, allows for some flexibility in its content, though you can – and often should – discuss your career goals. But a career goals essay has a particular and packed agenda. In fact, the…
Finding a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
Check out all the blog posts in this series: All effective essays have a distinctive theme, and it can take time and careful thought to identify what yours should be. If you go back to the essays we examined in the previous post in this series, you will see that the public health program applicant…
JD-Next: A Great Option for Law School Applicants [Episode 562]
Show Summary Are you planning to take the LSAT or the GRE before you apply to law school? Are you dreading it? Well, there’s a new option that includes a course and a test, and is accepted by 25% of all law schools. The JD-Next is an eight-week online course that simulates a real law…
Starting Your Application Essay: Three Tips
If you haven’t yet read the other blog posts in this series, go ahead and check them out: Once you have reflected on the questions that helped you identify and develop your essay theme, you should have a clear path to writing an effective essay. Here are three essential steps to help you achieve that…
Revise and Polish Your Application Essays
Check out all the blog posts in this series: You’ve completed your first essay draft – this is a great milestone! Outstanding essays are not sprung into the world on the first try, however, so now it’s time to revise and edit. Here’s how to get the job done: 1. Let your essay rest for…
The Resilience Factor: How Flaws and Failures Can Strengthen Your Application
A speaker recently told a story about traveling in Asia, where he saw a stunning emerald. Enchanted by the stone’s beauty, he decided to buy it on the spot. He returned home and took the emerald to a jeweler for appraisal. The jeweler began examining the stone through his magnifier, and as he did so,…
Proving Character Traits in Your Essays
When you write an application essay or statement of purpose, you’re trying to accomplish two equally vital goals at once. First, you need to establish your worthiness for acceptance at your target school. However, as part of that task, you need to show the adcom that you have the character traits that their program values….
So You Didn’t Get into Law School…
If you didn’t get into law school this year, it’s not too early to start planning a strategy for the next application cycle. First, take some time to lick your wounds, and then use the following tips to prepare yourself to achieve better results next time. 1. Evaluate your application. Take a hard look at…
Strategy for Writing an Accomplishment Essay (with examples)
Maybe you’re familiar with macros – the nutrients your body needs to function. Achieving the proper balance of macros leads to optimal health. When it comes to writing your MBA personal statements and application essays, it might be helpful to think of your accomplishments as the carbohydrates, protein, and fat – in other words, the…
Law School Letter of Recommendation Sample and Quick Guide
At this stage of the law school admissions process, you probably have Application Season Fatigue Syndrome. You just feel done. So corralling people to write your letters of recommendation (LORs), a nagging and seemingly redundant task, might be the last thing you feel like doing. After all, haven’t you already proven your worth through your…
How to Get into the University of Chicago Law School [Episode 559]
Show Summary Ranked number three in U.S. News’ most recent rankings, the law school at the University of Chicago is a top law school famous for its intellectual rigor. In this podcast episode, Linda Abraham interviews Dean Ann Perry, Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid at the University of Chicago Law School. Dean Perry…
Get Off That Waitlist!
Landing on a school’s waitlist can be disappointing and even nerve-racking. As a result, waitlisted applicants sometimes let their anxiety or disappointment cloud their thinking, but if you’re waitlisted, try to stay calm and focused. Remember, if you’ve been waitlisted, you have not been rejected. If you play your cards right, you still have a…
Advice for Applicants: Moving from 2023 to 2024 [Episode 557]
Show Summary In this episode of Admissions Straight Talk, host Linda Abraham looks back at her predictions for the 2023/2024 application cycle and offers advice for current and future applicants. She reflects on her previous predictions, such as the increase in test options and waivers and the continued use of rankings in admissions. She also…
Three Ways Writing About Obstacles Strengthens Your Application Essays
Applicants love to write about their accomplishments, whether in a personal statement for graduate school or in a b-school essay that asks about one’s greatest achievement, challenge, or the like. And they are not shy about sharing their accomplishments, such as driving innovations that led to revenue boosts for their firm, conducting original and meaningful research…
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