Mistakes to Avoid in Your Law School Personal Statement
September 29th, 2008
The deciding factor on whether or not you are worthy of a slot in law school is not always your pre-law GPA or your recommendation letters. For most admission evaluators, your fate in law school all comes down to one thing: your personal statement. Your personal statement is your final appeal for entry consideration. It is your last chance to prove your worth as a future advocate of justice. Here are some mistakes that you need to avoid when writing your personal statement for law school:
Do not tell what, do explain how.
One mistake that you should never commit when writing your personal statement for law school is to enumerate your achievements and experiences. There is nothing wrong with that really, but admission evaluators are not so much interested on what award you won or what circumstance you faced. They would rather know how you did them. How did you prepare for the contest where you won the award? How did you face the challenges presented by the circumstances? You don’t need a trophy-filled room or a movie-worthy biography to be a great lawyer.
Do not mention anything about money.
It may be true that a career in law will eventually help you afford Italian suits and German vehicles, but that should not be your motivation for getting into law school. Never mention in your personal statement that the “high salary” associated with the job is one of your reasons for pursuing law. While there is nothing wrong with aspiring for financial stability, you should never give the admission evaluators an impression that the only reason why you want to enter law school is to gain financial wealth, not to promote justice or to provide legal service in areas where it matters.
Do not write an exaggerated version of yourself.
Your personal statement is your last appeal to get into law school, but that doesn’t mean that you have to “literally improve” yourself to be impressive. Admissions evaluators have years of experience in reading personal statements and they have a knack for distinguishing honest materials from fabricated ones. Save yourself from embarrassment and stay as honest as possible. You don’t need to be perfect to get into law school and admissions evaluators would rather read about how you deal with your imperfections. Nobody’s perfect so don’t try to be.
Photo Credit : Wilson Alfonso