The most important part of writing a personal statement is, funnily enough, sitting down and actually writing it. However, the second most important part is not writing. Yup, you heard right: As important as writing your personal statement is, the one thing you can do to make your writing stronger is taking a step back […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 7: Edit
Once you’ve written your first draft and you’ve had a chance to step away from it for at least day, it’s time to edit. Typically, you will follow this write-step away-edit process a few times through a few drafts until you’re fully satisfied with your essay and the way you’ve told your story. Now, saying you’re […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 8: Involve Others
If you’re anything like me, the last thing you want to do when you’re writing something (be it an essay, a short story, a novel, or a grocery list) is show it to someone else and have them critique it. After all, you’ve put a little bit of yourself into this piece of writing (well, […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 9: Proof
Once you’ve self-edited and had others read and give feedback on your essay, you’re pretty much on the home stretch. If your essay has made it this far, then you’re approximately 95% done and only one thing remains to be done before you can close the book on writing it and get ready to submit […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 1: Take Your Time
Although all components of a law school application are important, I believe that the most important one is the personal statement. To that end, I’ve decided to write a series explaining some of the pivotal points you should keep in mind as you prepare to write your law school application personal statement. We’ll start off with […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 2: Plan It Out
Howdy! Welcome to the second installment in a ten-part series on writing your law school application personal statement. Last week we started off by talking about the importance of giving yourself as much as time as possible when writing your essay. Today, we’ll discuss the second most important thing you should do: Planning out your […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 3: Get Personal
In a previous post, I mentioned the importance of putting the person in the personal statement. Although I didn’t go into great detail about it then, I’d like to do so now. Although scheduling the time to write and carefully planning your personal statement are both very important to the success of the essay as […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 4: Get Specific
A personal statement is only as powerful as the story it tells, and the story is only as powerful as the details that comprise it. In this installment of “Writing Your Personal Statement,” I’ll talk about something that’s just as important as getting personal: Getting specific. Once again, I’ll call your attention to what a […]
Writing Your Personal Statement, Part 5: Embrace Variety
Variety is the spice of life–and, as it turns out, it’s the spice of personal statements, too. Variety in how you write and approach your personal statement is just as important as the topic you write about. There are six key ways in which variety should make its way into your personal statement: Vocabulary Many […]
Which Law Schools Are Splitter-Friendly? Which Ones Aren’t?
When you discuss law school applications, the question of which schools are “splitter-friendly” comes up pretty often, and it’s not really an easy question to answer. Are we looking for schools to which a high percentage of splitters are admitted relative to non-splitter applicants? Schools that seem to value an applicant’s LSAT score much more […]