…professor, Associate Dean (all from grad school) Essays: personal statement about rethinking how I approach anti-sexual violence advocacy after doing my research, diversity statement about experience as an LGBTQ person with a disability, did optional essays/interviews when offered (but only did 1/2 short prompts for…
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
50 entries matching "personal statement"
Admitted to Northwestern University…but I did work roughly 25 hours/week I wrote “why x” statements for every school that I thought would want them for someone with my numbers (Penn, UVA, NW, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Cornell) All statements followed the same formula except Penn. I am fairly unremarkable, so I spent my energy on creating a compelling…
…-> chance to display your reasoning and deducation skills Personal statement -> chance for you to bring out the person in all of these things. You want to go beyond the accomplishments and illustrate the person behind them - why did they do it? what core values do they have? What problems (business or social) do…
…the right way. Try to get a wide variety of eyes on your personal statement. I had a few revisions, but each person that helped had a different perspective of how to improve it. My optional essays similarly had a lot of effort put into them and showed different aspects of my background and interests. I found a lot…
…decisions I was proud of.- Don’t write an “aww poor me” personal statement about oppression. If you wanna write about -isms make it bigger than yourself. Write about how you volunteered at XYZ organization because alleviating the -ism in ABC community is important to you. Don’t write about how cool some family…
Go Hoos! Personal statement matters, and your interview matters. Numbers only get you to the interview. If you’re STEM, that’s a big boost wherever you go. Adcoms and employers will assume you’re intelligent and logical, so make sure to have your personality shine when you apply! Also, don’t forget to be real…
…and was denied. NYU - Applied to RTK, but used my personal statement as my RTK essay. UPenn - Wrote Core Values Essay. Applied for Toll PI Scholarship and was denied. UVA - Nothing extra. Really considered writing a Why Virginia, but ultimately didn’t. Duke - Nothing extra. UMich - Wrote optional essay on meeting a…
…but i did include a small paragraph why x at the end of my personal statement for every school except asu wrote optional essays for michigan (something about a group you have been a part of), gulc (top 10 list), and a pretty detailed fun fact for columbia (not an essay but in their app) sent diversity statement to…
…Wrote books essay; one of “up to 500” invited to do video statement for Knight Hennessy but not selected as finalist (such a tease) Harvard interview: The most one-sided of all my interviews. I immediately felt good about it (told some friends I probably had a 9/10 performance), but then I fell into a downward…
Your personal statement is your gold. Also, I highly recommend doing social work or something adjacent to it prior to law school. You learn a ton about how the law interacts with vulnerable people at systemic and individual levels, and it makes for a great narrative. I think that’s what gave me the edge in…
…practice tests and blind reviewed every single question. Personal statement was formed over 5-6 months. I started over from scratch about 4 times until I landed on my final copy. Do all optionals, prepare for interview, DONT use AI, and be authentic in your writing. Best of luck to you. And remember: God will never…
…a formal “Why X,” you should be subtly tailoring your personal statement and other supplements to reflect the school’s culture, values, and resources. The goal is to give the reader an “aha” moment where it becomes obvious that you fit naturally into their community. Penn’s materials emphasize interdisciplinarity…
…which probably hurt my scholarship offers. I think my personal statement was also not what most schools were looking for. Splitters can get good scholarships, but for the schools I admitted to, the $$$+ awards seem to go predominantly to URM or above-both-median candidates (which is fair). I truly thought being 5…
…earlier than you think you need to, particularly your main personal statement, as it was hard for me to get momentum for a while. Likewise, get a few trusted friends/family members to proof read for you, because you will inevitably miss silly things from staring at your essays for too long. My only super “unique”…
…and I think if I’d addressed that more convincingly in my personal statement I might have performed better. I could’ve used a few more sets of eyes for proofreading, too. The LSA Reddit and other internet resources were okay, but I connected with the most helpful folks through LSD chat. Unfortunately this was a bit…
Admissions is about distinguishing yourself from others. So do this in any way possible, whether that’s through a high LSAT, unusual resume, or interesting personal statement. Basically, do everything in your power to make the admissions officer remember YOU (in a good way) out of the stack of 40 files they just read.
…goals. Low-income & first-gen were also emphasized in my personal statements.
…male, born and raised in the Midwest, middle class. First person in my family to go to law school, but that isn’t very unique. KJD who graduated in three years from University of Alabama with a double major in Philosophy (with a Jurisprudence concentration) and History. Minored in English. Had a 4.11 uGPA at the…
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