Writing a Convincing Personal Statement Essay

Getting accepted into law schools may be tough, but when you write an impressive personal statement, you increase your admissions chances. A personal statement law school gives you the chance to let admission officers know what makes you different from the other candidates. Your personal statement contains information regarding your activities outside of school and gives readers an insight into your personal life, background, and inner voice that exam scores and grade point averages just can’t convey.

Give yourself enough time to write.

Don’t cram when it comes to writing your personal statement. Take the time to write down the things you want to say. You might find yourself wanting to say something more or deleting some sentences out as you go on, and this is one of the reasons why you must give yourself adequate time to write.

Think about yourself and your life.

When you sit down to write, just jot down your thoughts as they come. You can edit your personal statement later on. Think about your life and what’s happened to you so far. You have to give readers a glimpse into your academic and personal experiences, especially those that make you different from other people. Are you part of a minority? Are you an immigrant? What are your special skills and abilities? Writing about these things establishes you as a unique individual.

State your reasons for going into law school.

When you write about your life experiences, you also need to write about how these experiences led you to decide to go into law school. You should also be able to articulate what it is about the law that appeals to you as well as what you already know about law and law school. Having taken some law courses before or having work experience in a law firm or as an assistant to a lawyer or law professor may be some of the things you’ve done that can convince admission officers to accept you into the school.

Organize your thoughts and ideas.

Nothing turns away readers from a written piece than an article that just goes around in circles. Especially if you’re writing a persuasive essay, wherein the aim is for you to convince the reader to make him or her believe you or approve of your proposal, grabbing the reader’s attention at the first sentence and sustaining it until the very last sentence are critical. Write an outline of all your ideas and your points. Bear in mind that some people may contradict some of the points you will be raising. If you cannot think of any good justifications on some of these, don’t elaborate on them anymore.

Organizing your thoughts and ideas in an outline is also important because you have to make each word and sentence count. You cannot afford to add clutter to your personal statement. Some law schools usually prescribe a maximum number of words for the personal statement. So, it’s essential that you make the maximum use of your words. You can do away with useless platitudes and general statements. Doing so will result in tighter and more focused writing.

Edit and revise.

Make sure that your law school personal statement essay is clear and concise. Don’t turn it into a resume that’s written in paragraph form. Your essay should show admission officers who you are and why they should choose you. Write about your goals, dreams, and aspirations. Make your essay personal, make it uniquely yours. After you’ve written down your ideas, don’t forget to go over it again and revise. You can also ask a trusted friend or teacher to read it and give you some opinions. This way, you can get constructive criticism that can help you polish your essay to be the best it can be.

Photo Credit : ivanx

Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.