Tips on Writing Your Law School Personal Statement

In addition to your GPA and LSAT score, your personal statement plays a very important role in the admissions process. This is your opportunity to let the law school know who you are are, what your strengths are, what you have to contribute to their law school community, and why you want to go to law school.

Content

• Topics most often addressed in the personal statement are: work experience, personal obstacles you have overcome, family background, academic accomplishments, motivation for the study of law, educational background, or significant life experiences that have impacted you and made you a stronger person. The range of topics is endless, but it is important that what you write about in your statement sets you apart from other applicants.

• Anecdotal information often makes statements more personal and interesting. Consider telling a story or finding a theme for your personal statement.

• Focus on one significant experience, or a maximum 2 or 3 issues. An effective personal statement is one that shows you have analyzed and carefully considered a few of your major life experiences and how they relate to your preparation for legal studies. Don’t just submit a chronological list of your experiences.

• Explain any breaks in your education.

• Write about your involvement outside of school.

• Consider addressing when you became interested in the legal field and what you have learned about it that supports your perception that you are well-suited for this area of study.

• Discuss your skills (i.e. leadership, communicative) and personal characteristics (i.e. integrity, compassion, persistence, commitment).

• Attach a resume if you have more extracurricular activities than you can address in your personal statement. If you worked during the school year, be sure to include the number of hours that you spent at your job each week.

• Provide explanations where necessary, but avoid making excuses! If you feel the need to explain, for example, a pattern of low grades at the beginning of your college career, or a change in your major, consider creating an addendum to your application to address this topic briefly and separately from the body of your personal statement.

• The subject matter of your personal statement is YOU. Avoid the temptation to discuss your opinion or philosophical perspective on the legal system.

• Take care when discussing accomplishments so that you don’t come across as arrogant.
  
  

Form and Style

• Use clear and direct language. Avoid using complicated, obscure words as well as legal jargon.

• In general, your personal statement should be brief, about 2-3 typed pages, double spaced.

• Proofread, Proofread, Proofread. Remember, this is the only example of your writing that the admissions committee will see and you want it to be of the very highest quality.

• Write in the first person. Use active verbs
  (i.e. “Jane bought the book;” as opposed to “The book was bought by Jane.”)

• Be specific, but at the same time, try to not overwhelm the reader with too much detail.

• Avoid cliches. Don’t start your statement with a quote from a famous person, the committee wants to read what you have to say.

• There is a fine line between being too cautious with your personal statement and being too risky. Avoid making your statement too gimmicky or too cutesy. The conventional wisdom is that the admissions committees find such things unappealing.

• In general, leave out information about your high school experience and accomplishments. Focus on what you have done in college and after.

There are many excellent resources for getting additional help with your personal statement. The Resource Room at the Advising Center (Room 114 South Hall) has books on writing personal statements for professional schools. Many contain examples of successful personal statements.

A workshops on writing your personal statement is offered every Fall and Spring quarter. Be sure to sign up on the Pre-Law-Advisor List Serv to you receive e-mail on all of the pre-law activities. Finally, the Pre-Law advisors are available to review your personal statements. To have your personal statement critiqued by a Pre-Law Advisor, bring it to Room 111 South Hall and set up an appointment.