美国法学院ps.docx

美国法学院ps.docx

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美国法学院ps

8.ToDo’s

1.Usefirst-person“I.”

2.Readthroughthirtypersonalstatementsamples.Youwillquicklyseehowtheyallstarttosoundthesame.Nowimagineyouraudiencereadingthroughthousandsoflawschoolpersonalstatements.Trytofindawaytomakeyourwritingstyleandcontentstandoutfromthecrowd.

3.Haveaclearideaofwhatyouwanttoconveybeforewriting.Beforestartingyourlawschoolpersonalstatement,useanoutlinetodeterminethestructureofyourstatement.Haveacentralthemeorthesisthatisusedthroughoutyourpersonalstatement.Notethatyoucanbrainstormandfreewritetogeneratetopicsforyourpersonalstatement,butbeforeyoubeginwritinganythingclosetoyourfinaldraftyoushouldhaveaclearandconciseideaofwhatyouareconveyinginyourpersonalstatement.

4.Showcontinuity.Concludeyourpersonalstatementbyreferringbacktotheintroductoryparagraphandrestateyourmainthesisinaslightlydifferentway.

5.Useyourlawschoolpersonalstatementasameanstomarketyourself.Mosttoplawschoolsreceivethousandsofapplications.Admissionscommitteesseektoweavetogetheraclasscomposedofuniqueindividualswhosediverseviewssymbioticallycomplementeachother.Consequently,admissionsdecisionsarebaseduponsubjectivedeterminations,suchasthepersonalstatement,inadditiontoobjectivemeasurementssuchasone’sGPAandLSATscore.Usethisopportunitytoshowtheadmissionscommitteethatyouaremorethanastandardizedtestscoreandaclusterofgrades;showcaseyourpeerlessandintriguingpersonality.

6.Be“personal”inthelawschoolpersonalstatement.Cultivateapositiveethos.Begenuinelyhonestandtrytofocusonyourmostfavorablecharacteristics.Thiswillallowyourpersonalstatementtostandapartfromthemultitudeofgenericlawschoolpersonalstatementsthatmerelyreiterateatranscriptorgenerallydescribehowlawschoolwillbenefittheapplicant’slife.

7.Writeclearlyandtothepoint.Effectivelyutilizethelimitedwordsallowedtoconveywhatisuniqueaboutyourselfaswellaswhyyouareasuitablefitforlawschoolorthatparticularprogram.Makesureeverysentenceisclear.Ifyouaren’tsurewhatyousaid,nooneelsecanguess.

8.Adheretothepageorwordlimitations.Respectthepageslimits!

Mostwell-writtenpersonalstatementsshouldbenolongerthantwotothreepagesdouble-spaced.Lengthdoesnotcorrelatewithquality.Don’tmakemarginslessthan1”around.Use12-pointfont.Ifyouabsolutelymust,youcanuse11-pointfontinTimes.

9.Considertailoringyourpersonalstatementtoreflectthelawschoolstowhichyouareapplying.Makingspecificreferencestoaparticularlawschoolorspecialtywilldemonstrateyourknowledgeandcommitmenttoaparticularlawschool.Checkifprofessorshaveretiredorchangedinstitutions.

10.Takeyourstatementthroughseveraldrafts.Showyourstatementtoprofessorsandlawyers,andlistentotheiradvice.

11.Edityourlawschoolpersonalstatement.Proofreadthefinaldraftofyourpersonalstatementseveraltimes,includingatleastonceorally,forsubstance,style,andgrammaticalandspellingerrors.Haveothersedityourlawschoolpersonalstatementaswell.Ideally,askanacademicadvisor,professor,orsomeonefamiliarwiththelawschoolapplicationprocesstoedityourstatement.Payattentiontodetail.Twosentencesjoinedbytheconjunction“and”requiresacommabeforethe“and.”Leavingoutthecommaiscalledacommasplice.Acommaspliceortwowillsendyourfiletotherejectpile.

12.Dousespecificdetails.Ifit’sadullgenerality,orsayssomethinglike,“Thisexperiencewasveryvaluable,”cutit.Ifyoucanexchangethenameoftheschoolforothers,takeoutthatsentenceorrewriteitwithadetailspecifictothelawschool.

13.Writeaboutthingsthatmakeyougenuinelyexcitedandenthusiastic.Readersofyourstatementcantellwhenyourenthusiasmtakesover.Beoptimistic.

9.NotToDos:

1.Donotfocusuponyourweaknesses!

Almosteveryapplicanthassomeaspectoftheirapplication,suchasalowLSATscoreorGPA,whichtheyviewasaflaw.Discussingthisweaknesswillonlyhighlightit.Instead,writeaboutthetraitsandcharacteristicsthatdefineyouasanindividualandshowcasewhatyouwillbringtothatlawschool.Yourtoneshouldbeconfidentandpositive.Ifyoudohaveaweaknesstoaddress,suchasasevereillnessresultinginpoorgradesforasemesteroradocumentedhistoryofdoingpoorlyonstandardizedtestswiththeirnottrulyreflectingyourpotential,writeaboutthisinanaddendum.

2.Donot“writelikealawyer.”Lawyersarefondof“legalese,”orusinglongandoftenredundantwords.Thebestlawschoolpersonalstatementsdisplayclearandsuccinctwritingthatiswellwithinthespecifiedwordlimitations.

3.Donotsolelydiscusswhyyouwanttobealawyer.Thefactthatyouaregoingthroughtheadmissionsprocessevidencesyourinterestinthelaw.Thistopicistriteandwillnotleavealastingimpressionupontheadmissionscommittee.Instead,again,trytodiscusswhatexperiencesledtoyourchoiceandwhatuniqueattributesyouwillbringtolawschoolandthelegalfield.

4.Avoidaboringintroductionthatlosesthereader’sattention.Admissionscommitteesreadthousandsoflawschoolpersonalstatements,andaboringintroductionwillresultinthereaderskimmingoverratherthanfullyconsideringyourpersonalstatement.

5.Donotuseclichés,slang,orcontractions.Thetoneoftheessayshouldconveytheseriousnessofthetopicandthewriter.Don’tbevague.

6.Avoidcontroversialissues.Steerawayfromtopicssuchasreligion,politicaldoctrines,orcontentiousissues.Whileyoumaybeanoutspokencriticofaffirmativeactionororganizedreligion,theadmissionscommitteemaybeoffendedbyyourviews.Don’tbeinappropriate.

7.Donotreiterateyouracademicaccomplishments,unlesstheyarenotevidentfromyourtranscriptsandtestscores.Asanexample,amajorfamilycrisisorpersonalcatharsisresultinginadrasticchangeinyourgradesisworthdiscussing,whereasyourbeingontheHonorRollmostsemestersisnot.Furthermore,yourgradesarealreadydocumentedonyourtranscript,andyoushouldtakethisopportunitytogivethecommitteeinformationtheycannotfindinotherpartsofyourapplication.

8.Donotsolelyrelyonthespellchecker.Itwillnotcorrectwordsthatareimproperlyusedsuchas“form”insteadof“from”and“none”versus“one.”

9.Avoidusingthepassivevoice.Extensiveuseofthepassivevoicewillrobyourpersonalstatementofclarity,brevityandimpact.Sentenceswrittenintheactivevoicearemorepowerfulandsuccinctthanthosewritteninthepassivevoice.Thepassivevoiceoccurswhenthesubjectreceivestheactionoftheverbandisacteduponbysomeoneorsomething.Generally,passivevoiceusesaverbformof“tobe.”Anexampleofpassivevoicewouldbe,“ThefireisseenbyJoe.”Whenusingtheactivevoice,thesubjectperformstheactionoftheverb:

“Joeseesthefire.”Triallawyersmayusepassivevoiceasarhetoricaldevicetoavoidattributingactionstoasubject.However,thepersonalstatementisnottheplaceforpassivevoice.

10.Donotwriteaboutaromance.Thisisanexampleofaninappropriatetopic.

11.Donotbetooinfluencedbyonepersonoridea.Showyoucansynthesizeideasandchooseyourownway.

12.Donotsoundarrogant.Thiswillscoreyouzeropointsforpositiveethos.

13.Donotusethewords,“AndatthatmomentIknew…”.

10.Top10PersonalStatementMistakes

Thislist,culledfromdiscussionswithadmissionsdirectors,liststhetenbiggestmistakesapplicantsoftenmakeontheirlawschoolpersonalstatements.Mostofthesewerediscussedabove.

1.Spellingandgrammaticalerrors.

2.SendingapersonalstatementtoschoolBmeantforSchoolA.HarvardLawSchooldoesnotwanttoreadaboutyourdesiretoattendYaleLawSchool.

3.Merelysummarizingyourresumeinessayform.

4.Stayingtoodetachedinyourwritingstyleandnotlettingyourpersonalitycomethroughinyour“personal”statement.

5.Focusinguponyourweaknessesandnotyourstrengths.

6.Usingtoomanybigwordsor“legalese.”

7.Spendingjustafewhoursonyourpersonalstatementandsubmittingyourfirstdraft.

8.Exceedingthespecifiedpageorwordlimitations.

9.Statingthatonceadmittedyouwillsavetheworld.

10.Usinggimmickssuchaswritingincrayon,modelingyourpersonalstatementasalegalbrief,orwritingitasapoem.

Formorepersonalstatementsampleessaysgotoorourarticle PersonalStatementExamples.

Law School PersonalStatementSamples

Note–thisapplicanthada3.7,a172LSATandwasacceptedatseveraltoplawschoolsincludingNYU（whichhechoosetoattend）,Columbia,Chicago,andothers.

Eighteenmonthsago,Iwassittingatmycomputer,wedgedbetweenadrippingcoffeemakertomyleftandthecompany’sCFOfivefeettomyright.Everykeystrokeshooktheflimsyfold-outcardtablethatservedasmydesk,onloantothecompanyfromanotheremployee’sgarage.Wewerepackedinthelargestofthreeroomsina2,500squarefootspacebakingintheheatgeneratedbytenco-workersinclosequarters,fifteenrunningcomputers,andanabnormallywarmsummer.Ontheglassdoorwaywasetchedtheghostlyletteringoftheformercompanyoccupyingthespace,servingasagrimreminderoftheever-presentpossibilityoffailure.

Twoweeksearlier,Ihadbeeninmycompany’ssmallconferenceroomsittingatthetablesurroundedbyfamiliarfacesfrommylastemployer.SiliconValleyisincestuous:

teamsmigratefromonecompanytothenext,soIwasnotsurprisedtofindmyselfrecruitedtojoinmyold