Pre-Law Advising
Personal Statement
Navigating Prompts
It is typically best to develop one comprehensive version of your personal statement and to modify it if necessary to meet specific prompts. It’s impractical for most students, applying to ten or more schools, to write different versions of the personal statement for each school, and for most prompts it’s simply not necessary.
Personal statement prompts are generally quite broad: for example, “Write a statement about yourself,” or “Tell us something about yourself and your interest in law.” Though the vagueness of the prompt can be daunting, the personal statement offers an opportunity for you to introduce yourself to admission committees on a more personal level, allowing them to learn about you beyond the information presented in other parts of your application.
A number of law school admissions deans have blogs and podcasts, and they have all covered the subject of admissions essays. Some of them are found on the law schools’ websites.
The Harvard Law School Exception
Following Students for Fair Admissions Harvard Law School modified its essay prompts. HLS now requires a “statement of purpose” and a “statement of perspective.” According to the Dean of Admissions, the Statement of Purpose is expected to be a very straightforward essay “cut and dried” were words used to describe it – about your connection to and ambition in law. The Statement of Perspective prompt looks something like a combined personal statement and diversity statement prompt; it asks you to discuss how your background, experiences and interests have shaped you and may affect your interest in law.
Brainstorming Your Personal Statement
Unless you already have a very clear idea of what you want to write about, start by NOT writing a draft personal statement. Instead, work just on generating ideas and getting used to writing about yourself. Set aside time to do unedited reflective writing, identifying things about yourself that are important, formative, or particularly characteristic, and experiences that reflect those things. Spend 20 - 30 minutes at a time, and write 500-1000 words. Some potential things to explore in writing:
- Who are my role models and what do I admire about them
- What would my friends/parents/teachers say are my key characteristics
- What do I think my key characteristics are, where do they come from and how do I embody them in my activities
- What do I like/admire/value in my friends
- What experience have stayed with me and why
- What did I learn from my (first/last/favorite) (job/class/trip)
Do a bit of this and narrow the themes down to one or two. Then start drafting.