This is a continuing series of blogs from our team of Admissions Consultants here at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions, showcasing various facets of a candidate’s law school application. Click here for more information on Admissions Consulting from Kaplan, including our Personal Statement Review package.

What should you write about in your Personal Statement? Many admissions committees consider this the most important part of the law school application, so the pressure is on to pick an impressive topic. But what? Add to the mix that it can only be 2 ½ -3 pages, has to be well written and organized, may take the place of a face-to-face interview, needs to mention the school you are applying to, should show you to be uniquely qualified -but not be a replay of your Resume, and you’ve got fertile ground for writer’s block before you’ve even written your first word.

For over 15 years, I’ve been helping applicants with this question. Many had less than stellar numbers yet were accepted to great schools, most to the number one school of their choice, and I’m convinced it’s because of the impression they made with their essay. Here’s what I suggest to my clients:

- Remember, it’s a “Personal” Statement. The reader genuinely wants to know about you, things they can’t see from your numbers or Resume. This can be tricky because we’re raised to be humble, not brag about ourselves.

- Choose a topic/topics you can write about in very specific detail. By doing this, your own unique voice will shine through, your passion and enthusiasm will be “shown” and not “told”, a theme will intrinsically emerge.

- Emphasize your reactions/the impact the topic you are writing about made on you, rather than detailed descriptions of the event(s). Admissions committees are turned off by an essay that is simply your Resume minus the bullet marks.

- Even the most fascinating topic is lost in sloppy organization and writing. Take the time to go through several drafts and make it flow logically and succinctly.

Here’s what I mean. A former client was struggling with her Personal Statement. She’d written about relevant undergrad academic experiences, but the essay fell flat. She wrote about her recent internship for a Senator in Washington, DC, but didn’t like it. I asked her what had made the biggest impression on her, what could she write about in the most detail. Her reply, “Well, I was in Future Farmers of America when I was in high school.”

And so she wrote about keeping records as she raised and birthed pigs, how she showed the pigs at fairs, chaired committees, represented her chapter of FFA in large conventions. Her essay revealed law related skills such as, attention to detail, leadership, public speaking, responsibility, all while revolving around the theme of being a hard worker.

Not only was she accepted to several schools including her first choice, but one acceptance letter said, “We’d love to have you join our student body, but we don’t have any pigs here.”

Now, that’s the unique impression you want your Personal Statement topic to make.

This is a continuing series of blogs from our team of Admissions Consultants here at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions, showcasing various facets of a candidate’s law school application. Click here for more information on Admissions Consulting from Kaplan, including our Personal Statement Review package.

The personal statement is your chance to show the law school why you are the best applicant for them. You want to shine – in the stories you tell, in your reasons for wanting to go to law school, and in your writing skills. The reality is that if you have a straight-A grade point average and a perfect LSAT score, you don’t have to spend a lot of time worrying about your personal statement. On the other hand, if you know you’re in the borderline area, that’s where the personal statement becomes very, very important.

Most law schools are looking for an open-ended statement in which you can talk about any topic which you think will help the reader understand who you are and what you will bring to their law school. Some schools, however, have precise questions that they want you to address and it is important that you fully address them.

Concentrate on your opening paragraph - it is here that you grab the reader’s attention or lose it. This paragraph becomes the framework for the rest of the statement. Start with a story that shows unique characteristics that you possess or events that had a major impact on you. The middle part of the essay should be on how that story affected you, changed you, or inspired you. All of this will ideally lead to why you want to study law.

Keep in mind that although the law schools want to know why you want to go to law school, they do not expect you to have your law career planned out. The large majority of law school applicants are not clear as to what type of law they want to practice and will only figure it out after being in law school a couple of years. Do not force this part of the essay if you fall within that category. Instead, talk about a few different ways that you could see yourself in the law profession or write in a more general tone about the aspects of law that appeal to you.

TOP 12 RULES OF THE PERSONAL STATEMENT

1. DO strive for depth rather than breadth; narrow your focus to one or two themes, ideas, or experiences.

2. DO write well and correctly; proofread your essay and be meticulous. Adhere to stated word limits.

3. DON’T submit an expository resume; avoid merely repeating information that you’ve provided elsewhere in your application.

4. DO provide the reader with insight into what drives you–what makes you “tick.”

5. DO be yourself rather than pretending to be the ideal applicant.

6. DON’T complain or whine about “the system” or about your circumstances in life.

7. DO get creative and imaginative, particularly in your opening remarks.

8. DO address the particular school’s unique features that attract you.

9. DON’T get on a soapbox and preach to the reader; while expressing your values and opinions are fine, avoid coming across as fanatical or extreme.

10. DO focus on the affirmative in the personal statement itself; consider using an addendum to explain deficiencies or blemishes.

11. DO evaluate your experiences rather than merely recounting them.

12. DON’T use a gimmicky style or format.

Follow these simple rules and your personal statement will shine.

The law school application process is certainly not easy to navigate. After the LSAT, applicants are often most challenged while tackling their personal statement. Last month, our team of Admissions Consultants here at Kaplan share their insights on what makes for the best personal statements in our March series – “The Best Personal Statement I’ve Ever Read.” This month, we turn our attention to… well… less than the best in a series we call “The Worst Personal Statement I’ve Ever Read”. Want the team to help you with yours? Check out our personal statement review package and get unlimited access to any of our top consultants.

In my years as a law school admissions consultant I have to say I cannot single out one Personal Statement as “The Worst.” There have, however, been many essays that improved greatly after my client and I worked on them over several drafts. There do seem to be certain issues in an essay that routinely need to be addressed so that an applicant makes the very best impression. These are the “fatal flaws” I think it is most important to look out for:

1) Wait until the last minute – Take 1

No matter how true you may think it is, you really don’t do your best work “under pressure”. There have been more instances than I can name where in a conversation over the third or fourth draft, some specific item came out that either changed the entire direction of the essay, or revealed the one detail that turned the application from being paperwork to being personal.

2) Wait until the last minute – Take 2

When you send your essay out at the last minute, it is more likely there will be errors in it. A well intended friend or family member may find a typo, spelling or punctuation mistake. But it’s less likely they’ll realize the school you’ve named in your essay, is not the same school your essay was actually written for. It takes several drafts with a professional who knows what an admissions committee is impressed by, will encourage your essay to be organized yet personal, and will keep your unique information and writing voice consistent throughout.

3) Try to impress the admissions committee with your legal prowess

Remember, you’re applying for the privilege of being educated, not trying to prove how much you already know. Turning your Personal Statement into a legal brief eliminates the personal information and unique impression the committee is really looking for.

4) Taking the focus away from you

The essay is your “Personal” Statement. The admission reader is only interested in knowing what made an impact on you, your decision to pursue a legal education and career, shows you possess the types of skills and characteristics that will allow you to succeed in law. If too much of your essay takes the focus away from this, you are missing out on an opportunity to make the impression that will allow the committee to see you as a unique individual. And, a unique individual is much harder to reject than an objective thesis paper.

The law school application process is certainly not easy to navigate. After the LSAT, applicants are often most challenged while tackling their personal statement. Last month, our team of Admissions Consultants here at Kaplan share their insights on what makes for the best personal statements in our March series – “The Best Personal Statement I’ve Ever Read.” This month, we turn our attention to… well… less than the best in a series we call “The Worst Personal Statement I’ve Ever Read”. Want the team to help you with yours? Check out our personal statement review package and get unlimited access to any of our top consultants.

“I have wanted to be a lawyer since the age of two.”

“I have watched every episode of Law and Order.”

“I want to be a lawyer just like my Dad.”

There are some first draft opening lines that are so bad I know it is going to take everything I have just to stay focused through the entire essay. Any one of the above lines falls into that category so if you are thinking of starting your essay that way, think again and keep reading.

In my eleven years of reading personal statements, “I have always wanted to be a lawyer” and its similar versions have appeared before my eyes too many times to count which is exactly why it is such a poor choice – because anyone can and has written it before.

Admission counselors spend their days reading over applications and personal statements. One of the quickest ways to lose their interest is by writing something that has already been done. There are several reasons why the above opening lines and topics are the worst. The first is that it usually a very broad essay that teaches the reader nothing specific about you. By writing about your dad – the amazing lawyer – I learn about him but not about you. By writing about how you love Law and Order and have never missed an episode, I learn that you watch too much television, you most likely have done nothing actually worth writing about as you are choosing to write about watching a great deal of TV, and you have an unrealistic expectation of a law career. By writing that you have wanted to be a lawyer since you were two years old but do not back it up with meaningful experiences, you demonstrate that you have taken no initiative on something that is seemingly so important to you.

If you are frustrated because you planned an opening sentence just like one of the above, I do have good news. Each and every time that a client sent me their first draft that opened this way, they ended up submitting a strong essay that resulted with acceptances. It just took brainstorming, work, commitment and a little creativity.

Many times it is just a matter of cutting out that first paragraph or opening sentence. We are taught from high school the idea of the 5 paragraph essay – opening, support, support, support, closing. Because of this, we feel we must have an introductory paragraph but in most cases this opening is boring and not essential. It is the second paragraph that opens with a bang and gets to the point quicker.

There is nothing wrong with showing the admission representatives that your interest in a law career has been brewing for a long time. The key is to show them that you have actual experience and exposure to law. If you start with how you have always had an interest in law and write how you acquired an internship during high school, took courses in law or political science, and followed up with a law related summer job or full time job after college, you have shown the administrators how you took the initiative and found law to be the right field for you as you are now applying to law school.