Many law schools allow you to submit an extra, optional essay that addresses why you would like to attend that school. For example, Duke Law School allows applicants to include the following: “You may submit an essay providing additional information about why you have chosen to apply to law school in general and Duke in particular. We are interested in the factors that have prompted your interest in a legal career and the ways in which you think Duke can further that interest.” These essays are typically called “Why X” essays. In general, writing extra essays is a good thing because it gives the admissions committee more perspective on you, and lends more depth to your application. However, they can be a trap.
If More is Good, How Can This Be Bad?
While in general it is advisable to write these essays, what you write and how you write them are critically important. Obviously, if you aren’t a skilled writer, the more essays you submit then that may become clear. And that’s a bad thing! So, if you aren’t a great writer, think twice about submitting more essays.
However, let’s assume you are a great writer. Then everything is good, right? No. There can also be danger if you submit a poorly thought-out essay. Because while most Why X essays won’t get you into a law school, if you fall into this trap, they can keep you out.
The Trap
The trap here is simple: many people don’t have a particularly good reason for wanting to attend a school, and so they manufacture a reason. Granted, at first glance these manufactured essays might look good, but they tend to fall into well-worn themes that actually have no substance. These themes include:
- I want to go to your school because it has a great ranking or well-known reputation (yes, they know this already)
- …it has a great location (no kidding, we’ve seen these before)
- …because of the great ______ law program (fill in the blank with Environmental/IP/Tax/Public Interest/etc)
- …because of your great professors, or because of Professor Y (yes, they know this already).
Now, before simply stating that every essay that uses one of the approaches above is automatically bad, let me say that there are exceptions! For example, consider a person who has a tech background and wants to go into Intellectual Property (IP) law. If a school has a specialty in IP (such as NYU or GW) or proximity to tech regions (such as Berkeley or Stanford), there would be a reasonable argument for the person to make about wanting to attend those schools (caveat: you can bet those schools get these types of essays regularly, so you better stand out). In other words, having a viable reason that overlaps with one of the themes above will in fact produce a solid base for a Why X essay.
Research Isn’t Really Your Friend
So how do people fall into the trap? Barring a compelling connection to any of the above reasons or the school itself, what happens for most people is they go to the school’s website and begin surfing for something they can use for an essay. They look at the programs offered by the school, the clinics, the journals, the professors even, and look for something they find interesting. Oh, there’s a clinic on environment law, as well as an environmental law journal—let’s use that as the basis for our Why X since that’s always been an interest of mine! From there, they craft an essay built around talking about how good those programs are and how this has been something they’ve always wanted to study.
Two problems there: first, the school already knows what it offers and many people just regurgitate what’s on the website so that it has no impact; and second, often these applicants have nothing in their history that shows any type of environmental law interest (note: if you do, then ignore this part—it’s not a trap for you). Essays like this come in constantly, and what they reveal about the candidate is profound: they really don’t have a particularly good reason to go to this school. At this point, the Why X is no longer a positive, it’s at best neutral and quite possibly a negative.
Have Real Reasons
One question I routinely ask applicants is: Tell me why you want to go to each school on your list. And I advise them I don’t want to hear the words “rankings,” “prestige” or “reputation.” If an applicant can succinctly state an interest in the school that is beyond the usual rankings/prestige complex, then we have the basis for a strong Why X essay. But if I hear them reaching or just staying silent, then I advise them to walk carefully because the Why X can be a minefield if not executed at a high level.
Questions, comments, or want to run your Why X idea by us? Please post below!
Rose M. says
Thank you so much for this! For a school that is very selective/difficult to get into, but that is not a top choice of mine and I don’t have any great reasons for applying beyond ranking/prestige, should I just skip the Why X essay? Or should I really try to come up with some genuine reasons that actually make me want to attend the school? In other words, at what point is it better to not write the essay?
Dave Killoran says
Hi Rose!
This is a great question, and in general you do want to write these essays unless it will hurt you somehow. The article is focused on helping people avoid making some of the common mistakes (and thereby hurting their apps).
My further take is that if you are applying to a school, there should be some reason you want to go other than “they are highly ranked.” So, look inside yourself and the school to find that reason or reasons, and then write about it/them. That is perhaps easier said than done, but this is a decision where you will spend three years of your life and likely tens of thousands of dollars (if not hundreds of thousands), so I feel the onus is on the applicant to right in a real and persuasive way about why they would want to make such a commitment to a given school 🙂
All the above means that if you can’t come up with something compelling, then skip the essay. But hopefully you can!
Thanks!
Claire says
Hi –
This says a LOT about what you can’t write. Is there anything left you’d recommend that you CAN use as a reason?
Dave Killoran says
Hi Claire,
I agree, although since it’s about traps to avoid, that’s why we focused on what to typically avoid in writing 🙂 On the flip side, there are many many reasons you could touch on that would serve as the basis for a good essay, for example:
• Specific programs the school has that align with your interests (the article uses IP as an example of this, but there are many other areas that would qualify depending on the school);
• How your values align with the school’s stated values;
• Connection to specific alumni who have inspired your interest;
• Your family or friends are in the area, or you want to live there for a specific reason;
• You went to undergrad there;
• Long history with the school as a fan or with other family members going there;
And there are many more possible options, about as many as the applicants themselves. It’s all about what speaks honestly about your interest, and not manufacturing a reason you think sounds good. Because the traps under discussion are instances where applicants think they are being smart about this but actually aren’t 🙂
Thanks!
Delilah says
I get that location is not a great primary reason to attend a law school, and so not a great focus of a “why X”. A school reasonably wants an applicant interested in the school itself, rather than the city.
However, I’m unclear on why location couldn’t serve as a reason at all, or why it would be inappropriate for a “why X.”
If I were in admissions and I wanted to admit people who were likely to attend if accepted, I would think that an applicant’s strong connection to the school’s location would be a point in the applicant’s favor, as a factor that inclines them to attend. If an applicant said they wanted to work in the local legal market long-term, or if they articulated specific family/personal reasons for wanting to be in a particular city, or if they gave other concrete, detailed reasons for preferring a location, why would those be frowned upon as reasons? If the reasons given are honest/credible, don’t they help the committee understand/get to know the applicant better?
Dave Killoran says
Hi Delilah,
Thanks for the message! Let me start by strongly correcting a misconception here so other readers aren’t confused: I did not say “location couldn’t serve as a reason at all,” or that it was inappropriate. What I said was that it was often used as a manufactured excuse, and that these essays tend to fall into well-worn themes that actually have no substance. And that’s true. I also noted that there are exceptions to the above and closed that segment by saying, “In other words, having a viable reason that overlaps with one of the themes above will in fact produce a solid base for a Why X essay.” So, I’m not quite sure where you got the idea I was saying it was a blanket bad idea. It’s not.
The classic example I’ve seen of this being misused is for people applying to warm climate schools who use that warm climate as the reason to go to a school like Duke or Vanderbilt (and many others). That’s not compelling at all! That also fits within the broader theme of this article, which is about how sometimes people try to generate reasons to attend a school that aren’t really viable.
In the examples you cite, that could easily turn into something good. Some of it–like family–is the type of thing that helps admissions officers understand your interest, as would be information that you are from the area and wish to stay there. This is what I mean when I say if you have viable reasons, then it makes sense. Those are viable reasons!
So, I’m terribly sorry to have to come down so hard in my reply, but it’s critically important to understand what I’m saying above and why. The trap in question here is based upon the notion that, “many people don’t have a particularly good reason for wanting to attend a school.” The scenario you describe doesn’t fit that.
I hope that helps. Thanks!
Erin says
What if a school requires the Why X as part of their personal statement? I feel my only option is to research the school to come up with something. So should I just not apply to that school if I can’t think of something that goes beyond the usual rankings prestige complex?
Dave Killoran says
Hi Erin,
When it’s a requirement, obviously you have no choice but to come up with something! But I don’t think that means you should then skip applying to the school. There has to be some reason you are applying, not that’s it’s just top-rated, right? Something must have appealed to you about the school, whether that’s the location, history, etc. That’s what you want to search for–angles of reasoning that make sense to you and the reader. Think like a lawyer here! There must be some reasons you added a school to your list (and if not, do not say it was for rankings). If research is required to find that reason, then do it. Just don’t write an essay that is bland and generic.
Thanks!