While there’s no getting around the fact that LSAT scores and GPA matter a great deal in law school admissions, the personal statement is the one place where law school admissions faculty get to know you and your reasons behind studying law. Below are 5 tips – based on real-life scenarios – that have successfully…
5 Things Law Schools Want to See in Applicants
What are the law school admissions committees looking for when reviewing applications? They’re looking to build a class consisting of strong students who will join together to create a solid class and an impressive crop of future lawyers. In particular, they’re looking for these 5 things when they look at your application: 1. People who…
How I Wrote a Personal Statement That Got Me Into Harvard Law School
When I was applying to law school, the advisor at my college told me to intern for a lawyer. Sound advice, and one I might give, but unfortunately my experience was miserable. I was even told by my employer that I was “not law school material.” So, how did I even get into law school,…
5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Law School Personal Statement
You have your rough draft and you’re revising. What should you watch out for? Mistake #1: You repeated your resume. Your personal statement shouldn’t be a resume-in-prose. It shouldn’t list awards or various types of praise you’ve received. That information is already in your resume and letters and doesn’t need to be repeated. Use your…
Your Law School Personal Statement…It Needs to Be, Well, Personal!
When writing your personal statement for law school, it’s a good idea to include a few school-specific sentences about why each of the schools you are applying to is interesting to you. You shouldn’t be addressing “why do I want to go to law school?” but rather “why your law school is a good fit…
5 Tips for Your Law School Personal Statement
You don’t just want your law school personal statement to be well-written, but you want to create an interesting and thought-provoking piece of writing that shows off your unique personality, talents, and skills. Below are a few tips to help you craft a unique and eye-catching personal statement. Tip #1: Choice of topic matters less than how…
Recipe for Disaster: Mistakes to Avoid When Applying to Law School
Take a few buzzwords like “pro bono,” “intellectual property,” “empower,” “clerkships,” and “diversity.” Season with legalisms like “heretofore,” “whereas,” and “therein.” Add a pinch of acronyms: DA, TRO, M&A, ADR, and IPO. Stir in generous platitudes about “forces that molded you into the person you are today” and “the top-notch faculty, diverse student body, and…
Which Extracurricular Activities Get You Into Law School?
So you’ve taken the LSAT, computed your GPA, and started working on your law school personal statement. That’s all good. But as you are filling in your application, you realize that you haven’t yet completed the section on “extracurricular activities.” You realize with a sinking feeling that since you’ve entered college, all you’ve been doing…
5 Qualities that Law Schools Want to See
As you write your personal statement, you should keep in mind some of the qualities that law schools value. Be sure to emphasize these in your personal statement through specific actions and examples. 1. Ethics. Jokes about lawyers aside, law schools and the legal profession value integrity and honesty above all else. Any type of…
5 Things Law Schools Want To See In Applicants
1. Law schools want people who are likable. Contrary to any bad lawyer jokes, law schools are looking for people who like people. They are looking for people who will contribute to classroom discussions and engage with other students in a positive way. This attribute can be shown through the personal statement as well as thoughtful…
5 Tips for Your Law School Personal Statement
Writing a law school personal statement can be daunting task. Below are a few tips to help you craft a unique and eye-catching personal statement. • Choice of topic matters less than how you write about it. Don’t feel that your essay needs to be about a particular kind of experience. There’s no one thing…
Law School Admissions Tip #8: Reasons for Choosing a School
The Top 15 Things Every Law School Applicant Should Know is a series that will teach you the ins and outs of successful law school applications. Stay tuned for the remaining elements. This week we’ll discuss reasons for choosing a school. Just as students like to be courted and wooed when they are looking for…
Law School Admissions Tip #7: The not so optional “optional” essay
The Top 15 Things Every Law School Applicant Should Know is a series that will teach you the ins and outs of successful law school applications. Stay tuned for the remaining elements. This week we’ll discuss the not so optional “optional” essay. Almost every law school will ask for a personal statement as part of…
3 Treats that Will do the Trick in Your Personal Statement or Application Essay
In my meanderings on the web, I stumbled across a short video on screen writing. The presenters are two Emmy-winning screen writers, and they know a thing or two about telling a good story. They boil the story-telling stew down to three words — actually 2 do’s and 1 don’t: The do’s: Therefore But The…
Law School Admissions: Interview about Personal Statements
The LSAT Blog interviews me today about writing a law school personal statement. I discuss how to approach three common subjects for these essays. Check out this short interview.
Your law school personal statement…it needs to be, well, personal!
When writing your personal statement for law school, it’s a good idea to include a few school specific sentences about why each of the schools to which you are applying is interesting to you. This is not “why do I want to go to law school?” but rather “this is why your law school is…
Avoid Essay Errors with Mini-Courses
Accepted has created a mini-course to help you banish the most common errors from your application essays, personal statements, and statements of purpose. Each free series is delivered in 5 succinct tips to your Inbox via email. You can sign up at College Application Essays: Five Fatal Flaws to Avoid Med School Application Essays: Five…
Personal Statement Tip: History vs. Memory
Over the weekend I went to a talk focused on the difference between history and memory. The two are clearly related, but not the same. History is what you read in an encyclopedia or newspaper timeline. It is facts, dates, statistics, and data, impersonal and frequently very dry in isolation. Memory consists of vignettes, stories,…
Writing the Law School Personal Statement
A little glib, but good advice at Bad Glacier on writing the law school personal statement. I do want to caution you about having everyone and his brother commenting on your personal statement as is suggested in some of the comments. You will inevitably get conflicting advice and bad advice and good advice. Attempting to…
