Did you ever wonder why it’s called personal “statement” instead of just application essay? Well, this is because your application essay should have the same elements of a compelling speech. If you’re geared toward becoming a lawyer, then you should put more effort into your personal statement. Why? Because writing is second nature to legal professionals. Lawyers make legal correspondences and have to explain their arguments in details, especially when engaging in legal battles. If you can’t make a persuasive law school personal statement now or convey your message clearly, can you defend other people’s rights or convince the jurY in the near future?
Here are three simple tips that are sure to create a great impact on your personal statement. With these in mind, good essays can turn into golden tickets to law school admission.
Always be positive
Nobody wants to hear what cannot be done. So instead of dwelling on the negative, focus on solutions or propose something that should be done. This is especially helpful when presenting your views or position on certain issues, be it personal or political topics. When you express yourself using a positive language, you come off as enthusiastic, objective, and reasonable. Even if you express your own convictions, you won’t sound too arrogant or offensive.
Using a positive voice will also encourage readers to act on your behalf or at least hear out what you have to say.
Avoid qualifiers
An outline will help you get started the right way. You’ll then know what to write about and what to focus on. With a clear thought on things you want to convey, you won’t make the mistake of sounding too unsure. For this reason, you should avoid words like “rather,” “possibly,” “quite,” and “probably.” How can you convince your readers if you lack confidence in what you’re saying? Didn’t you give your ideas much thought? This will be the impression the admissions panel will get from your personal statement when you use qualifiers.
Vary your sentences
Even with great ideas or stories to tell, if lines flow the same, the admissions officer will easily get bored and may refuse to go over the whole thing. Although your law school personal statement is a serious matter, it doesn’t mean that you can no longer be creative. Express yourself better by improving the flow of your thoughts. Varied sentence structure can add more life to your essay. Use simple, compound, and complex sentences. Also use transitions to give readers warning signs to where your paragraphs or sentences are heading.
Grab a sample law school personal statement to serve as your guide. You have to see for yourself what makes a compelling speech or persuasive writing piece.
So you’ve already passed the entrance exam and have submitted letters of recommendation. You’re also done browsing through countless sample law school personal statement essays that helped you come up with a well-crafted personal statement essay. But the admissions process for law schools does not end there. You’ll still have to strap yourself up for the personal interview that the admissions committee will conduct. Here are a few tips to help you gear up for the interview:
Confirm, inquire, and prepare
Once you receive the invitation for an interview, confirm your attendance as well as the details by calling the school. Inquire about the details of the interview; the time and venue, who the interviewer will be (if they’re allowed to disclose that information), and if you have to bring any personal documents. Take note of specific instructions. Sometimes this can also be used a test of your keenness and attention to detail. One way of preparing for the actual interview is by doing your research on the interviewer.
You can do this by visiting websites of school forums. Ask people if your interviewer has certain pet peeves that you should avoid. But more than the interviewer, you should spend considerable amount of time reading up on the law school’s history and the current developments and issues in the institution.
Do an ocular and review your personal statement
If you’re not at all familiar with the school’s grounds and the town where it’s located, you might want to do an ocular inspection prior to the interview. Familiarize yourself with the campus, as well as the building and area where your interview will be held. Then, you should review the documents you submitted, especially your personal statement essay. As you know, admission interviews will be based on what you’ve written in your essay. You will be asked to expound on the details of your transcript as well the bits of information you wrote in your essay.
Check out sample law school personal statement websites which provide tips and tricks on how the things you say in your interview can complement or contradict the stuff you’ve written in your essay. If you’ve lost the copy of your essay, and accidentally deleted the file in your computer, don’t worry. You can read sample law school personal statement essays to help you remember the things you’ve written about yourself in your personal statement.
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