Introduction of Personal Statement

Consistently, the personal statements that grabbed my attention, and in my opinion, other readers' as well, had a THEME. These personal statements had a structure that clued me in quickly as to the applicant's experience, traits, and potential. Thus, the winning statement laid a solid foundation in the first paragraph. The winning personal statement needs to build on that foundation and demonstrate that the applicant has direction in life and has the drive, ambition, and motivation to make it in law school and beyond. The personal statement is a window to the personality of the applicant and should be crafted carefully. Indeed, one should leave an impression that one is confident but not arrogant. A little modesty helps as well.

The use of themes like "overcoming adversity," "personal growth, " or "family history," as well as the use of analogies help make a personal statement stronger.

Disorganization makes a personal statement a loser. A bad personal statement forces the reader to dig into the statement to even get a faint idea as to the personality and potential of the applicant. Writing a statement that asks for effort from the reader is a nonstarter.

Another problem area is lack of enthusiasm. I liked to see a little passion from applicants as to why they want to become lawyers. I wanted to see some drive. I also wanted to see how they contributed to their community or their school. Another concern is whether the applicant appears conscious of his/her identity and accomplishments.
Another indicator of a poor personal statement is typos. I believe that everyone on the Admissions Committee sees typos as red flags. Typos show that the applicant clearly did not take the personal statement seriously.
Avoid long paragraphs and run-on sentences. Don't get too complex. Don't get too fancy either. Stay away from nontraditional formats or gimmicks--like writing your personal statement as a legal memo, printing it on legal pleading paper, or formatting it as a legal declaration/affidavit. I thought that such gimmicks were pretentious and the other committee members thought that the gimmicks discounted the content of the personal statements.

Employing different voices, s4ch as: third person, second person, first person, to describe the applicant's attributes will enhances the personal statement. Because one of the most memorable statements I read started with a third person description of the applicant, and then switched into a regular first person voice. The use of different points of view by a skilled writer can be engaging and can make an essay more revealing as to the applicant's character. On the other hand, the use of differing voices, or perspectives, can sink to the level of gimmicky writing if the writer is not skilled.

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