Personal Statement ?

Q: I am preparing the documents for the law school. Do you have suggestions how to produce the knockout personal statement and what is it all about?

A:There isn't any such animal, and besides unless it is illiterate, and written on jelly-smeared wrapping paper it doesn't matter anyway. Although you have to do it, don't loose any sleep over it. Almost all admissions decisions are made based on your u/g GPA and your L-Sat score. Only in a rare handful of cases is the personal statement even examined. The Deans of Rejection are too busy to bother with that sort of individual attention. As a matter of fact, most law schools prohibit any kind of personal contact between the applicant and any of the admissions personnel! I would disagree with some of what Henry said... whatever you do don't ignore the personal statement. I am in my 2nd month of law school and the application process is close behind me. I know they read my personal statement at the school I decided to go to because I got a hand-written note from the dean (after I got accepted) talking about my music background. I only mentioned that in my personal statement. A couple of things for you: If you haven't already, take an LSAT class before you take the test. (But not a Kaplan or something, if you can avoid it... try a local tutor or your local public university.) I did pretty well on the LSAT and that landed me some big scholarships. What Henry said about the numbers definitely holds when it comes to scholarships. As far as the personal statement itself, try to make yourself as unique as possible. 3 years as a paralegal and a lifelong desire to be a lawyer sounds like the same old slop, and it has nothing to with whether or not you're going to be a good law student.

Your LSAT says if you have the baseline ability, if your admissions process gets down to the ps, they're going to want to know how you are going to contribute to the student body as a person. What unique experiences have you had, what was the most important thing you did in your life. Get to know the culture of the school a little and throw something in about that. Do they have a special focus on ethics, are they a religious institution, are they esoteric and philosophical? Then pander somewhat shamelessly,though not obviously... a gratuitous compliment or a grandious "Attending Assbite Law School is the most important thing I could do in my life" won't help.