Many people find it difficult to find a topic for their personal statements. This is because they may think that the situations and experiences in their life are not exciting or extraordinary enough to mention in their essays. The truth is, many of the experiences in your life may seem routine and ordinary, but you can write about them in a manner that focuses on the extraordinary. This will help you keep the attention of the readers, while allowing you to introduce yourself in an enthusiastic manner. Here is a list of five fairly common life experiences that only seem to be routine and ordinary.
The average college graduate
Most people who need to write personal statements are those who have graduated from college and are looking to go into post-graduate studies or programs. Sometimes, these people have fairly ordinary lives and cannot find any specific experience or situation to write about. One way of turning this experience into one that is exciting is by writing about a specific mentor, teacher, lesson, book or quote that has inspired you or changed your life in any way. Expressing such an experience genuinely and passionately can be just as effective in your personal statement as other extraordinary life experiences.
The athlete
If you are an athlete and you feel that you do not have any particularly exciting topics to write about, you can focus on an experience you had in your sports life. For instance, you can talk about a game or competition that pushed you to your limits. Talk about how this experience has helped you mature and develop as a person. You can speak about the perseverance, dedication and teamwork it takes to succeed as an athlete and how being an athlete has helped in readying you for this post-graduate opportunity.
The working student
Many people have to work while they study in college. While this may seem like an ordinary and routine experience to you, you can find an aspect that can be interesting for your readers. Try to focus on particularly difficult times in your life as both student and employee. This will give you the opportunity to speak of the values it takes to stay dedicated to both your studies and your career.
The working graduate
Those who have pursued a career after graduating and decide to go into graduate school after experiencing the professional life may also find their story to be normal. One way of elevating your experience into the extraordinary is to talk about how you have changed from college student to working professional and how such a development has led you to taking graduate studies.
The average high school graduate
Many high school graduates feel that they have not yet had any experiences worth writing about. This may be because of their young years or the fact that they have only lived in one area for their whole lives. Still, there are ways of turning such an experience into something more exciting for your college personal statements. One way is to focus on your role in the family or the classroom. Try to write with enthusiasm about how you have been raised or how you have matured in the family and school setting.
Photo Credit : Cfariello
The personal statement is an essential part of your application package that can determine whether or not you will be accepted into law school. Because of this fact, it is important to try and do your best when writing your personal statement. A significant factor of doing well on your personal statement is knowing what to avoid when making your essay. In this article, you will learn about five mistakes that applicants commonly make when writing their personal statements for law school.
Mistake #1: Using gimmicks
One common mistake that people often commit when making their personal statement for law school is to make use of gimmicks to impress the readers. Whether it is writing the essay in crayons or paint, writing your statement as a poem or modeling it after a legal brief, you should avoid using gimmicks in your personal statement. Remember, this is a “personal” statement and you want to impress your audience while still respecting their expectations of you.
Mistake #2: Detachment from purpose
Another mistake that people often make in their personal statements is that they get detached from the purpose of the essay. In order to write an exceptional personal statement, you should be sure to focus on why you want to become a lawyer. Try to keep the topics, experiences and ideas that you write about relevant to your application to the law school.
Mistake #3: Ideas overshadowing actions
When writing a personal statement, it is easy to get caught up in the ideas, opinions and philosophies that you focus on. In line with staying relevant to the topic, you should also try to focus on the actions that you have taken as a result of these ideas, opinions or philosophies. In doing so, expound on how these actions and what you have learned from them will help you in your life as a student in law school and after graduation.
Mistake #4: Words, words and more words
Many people make the mistake of writing a personal statement that is too lengthy or too wordy. These are two mistakes that must be avoided at all costs. In order to avoid making your essay too lengthy, be sure to stay within the maximum word count given to you. Try to avoid wordiness in your statement. This will help you keep the essay straight-to-th-point, concise and interesting.
Mistake #5: Taking revisions for granted
Perhaps the most fatal error that is committed in personal statements are those that result from not taking the time to proof, edit and revise. Revision is one of the most important steps in the personal statement writing process. If you get tired of revising your own essay, have others take a look at it and give you their impressions. Always make sure that your final draft is final.
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I believe in a saying that goes “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. This belief can sometimes make you push you to try harder, making you excel not only over one opponent but can also make you an expert in one aspect as well. I grew up having had to measure myself against R______, the other guy who always harbored the top spot in our class back in (country of origin). The (country of origin) educational system ranked its students according to their intellect, with the smartest student getting into the top percentile while those who weren’t as bright followed next. Those who got into the top classes eventually moved on to the better known universities with scholarships and grants while those who didn’t had to rely on their family’s finances to get into a reputable college. R______ and I had a close but not hostile rivalry as he was always first and I was always second. Although I never really strived to overtake R______ in terms of class standing, it was a nice surprise that I was able to do so on one grading period. R______ bounced back to reclaim his post the next term but I harbored no ill feelings. After high school graduation, we both got into the top university of the country and pursued different interests.
College in a university considered to be the best in academic standing was not easy for me as I found myself competing with more R______s, or more students who displayed the same zeal and learning as I do. I performed rather mundanely at first but then the idea of taking up graduate studies on my chosen field of study in social work and family welfare was opened. I decided to pull myself together to be able to go the United States, where further learning in this field was notable in state universities.
Thankfully, I got into a program offered by the School of Social Service Administration at the University of ________. After arranging all the visas and paperwork necessary for my studies in the US, I was off to conquer a new world. This time I found it easier to focus on my studies, making my performance and academic records in graduate school even better than my undergraduate scores. My interest in the law and its workings were spawned during my graduate studies days when I would periodically be assigned to different locations. I became acquainted with the U.S. Law and jurisprudence system as my work required me to brush up on basic laws. Being a foreigner myself, I naturally developed an interest in the laws governing the immigration process as more and more of my countrymen are seeking better opportunities in the U.S. I chose to stay in the United States and eventually got naturalized as an American citizen as there are more opportunities for me here in my field of interest.
The U.S presents a lot of opportunities that are sadly not available to people back home. More and more of my countrymen and people of different nationalities are striving to get into this country that can hold more promises for them. Unfortunately, there are those who resort to illegal means just so they can get here faster but are then sent home once they are found out by the authorities. It is in this regard that I wish to obtain a law degree so that I can help not just my countrymen but other immigrants as well into getting an American citizenship through the right process. I believe that I can realize my dream of becoming an immigration attorney by taking on my legal studies here at ______ University so that I could show others the right path to a Green Card as I have been shown.
And R______, my ex-rival for the top spot in high school, he’s still at the top of his game and I promised him that he’d be my first client once I finish my legal studies.
“A diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor the person perfected without trials.”
–Chinese Proverb
I believe myself to be like a gemstone, weathered down by recent events and challenges as harsh as a diamond cutter, and I am thankful too for the velvet bed of familial support that awaits me at the end of each day. To say that I have led a charmed life would be off the point by only a few degrees, I had no worries as a child of modest background with a family and an environment that shaped the better part of my character. The possibility of the rug being pulled from under my feet all of a sudden never dawned on me. I had a loving family, and dark clouds on their investments never really loomed large. My parents have provided me with all that I needed to make a better future for myself.
In my adolescence, I had the chance to broaden my horizons by helping out in a family friend’s law firm. Although the practice wasn’t as prestigious as the bigger law firms were, it was there that I learned to appreciate the workings of jurisprudence from a man whom I now consider my mentor by inspiring me to look beyond what can be easily seen. He treated me not like a child sent out on an errand, but as a protege, a fledgling in the art and science of law. A childhood spent playing tennis with my father gave me the reflexes and quick thinking that helped me perform my duties satisfactorily within the law firm that I emerged from that summer with the idea of undertaking the same profession. Believing that I had the drive, the skills, and the financial and emotional support of my family, I had no qualms about setting forth in earning a law degree.
College changed and challenged me in more ways than I can imagine, as I was used to getting high grades in high school without exerting much effort. No matter how hard I tried to study and perform, I found myself floundering in a field that I used to excel in. I decided to shift from physics and took up a course in communication research. Although it was a different field of study, I found it easier to get back on track and my academic record was revitalized. I strived hard to excel in this new field and I found new areas of interests in the field of communications that encouraged me to be more than what I can. Eventually, my efforts were recognized and despite having an unimpressive first year in college, I made it to the top percentile of the class.
I sailed on through the next two years in my new course and law school was once again in my horizons. It was at this point that challenges beyond my academic scope blocked my view of the finish line. My family’s finances took a sudden turn for the worse when my father passed away due to cancer. Expensive treatments and medications left my parents’ savings almost depleted, and I had a younger sibling who was set for college on the same year. I decided to take off from school for a year to help with the finances and worked full-time to support my family and my mother who was emotionally devastated by the events. I soon got back on track and although I have been set back a year from studies, I feel ready to take on law school as soon as I graduate.
Rather than look back with regret, I see the past years as milestones in my life. I am thankful for having been able to go through those challenges and that I have come out as a better person in more ways than one. I see no shame in having had to drop out of school to work as a receptionist at a hotel, as it was the right thing to do for my family. That year of working in a hotel has been as educational and uplifting as a year in school.
I plan to follow the exploits of my former mentor who specialized in corporate law as I have adequate grounding on this field thanks to him and to my undergraduate studies in communication research and I do hope that I can pursue higher legal learning from ______ University.
Photo credits: DanieVDM
