There is no magic formula to craft the perfect personal statement for your law school application. However, incorporating school-specific research is one way to strengthen your essay.
Learn as much as you can about each law school on your list. Investigate online course listings, faculty, clinics, journals, externship opportunities and student organizations.
If possible, visit schools to experience campus culture and talk with current students about why they chose to enroll. Then craft a customized paragraph within your essay to explain why such programming appeals to you.
While tailoring your personal statement requires additional effort, here are three advantages that make school-specific research worthwhile.
[Learn the[do’s and don’ts for building a law school application list.]
1. Impress the admissions committee: By tailoring your personal statement to each particular school, you demonstrate to the admissions committee not simply why you want to attend law school but also why you want to attend their school. Admissions committees are more likely to extend an acceptance offer if they believe an applicant will enroll.
Including school-specific research also helps distinguish you from other applicants, who may not have put forth this additional work. Moreover, you show the admissions committee that you are both serious about their program and know how to conduct meaningful research — a skill that will serve you well in the practice of law.
However, be sure to do more than simply insert a laundry list of programs into your personal statement. Law schools already know what they have to offer applicants generally.
Too often applicants explain the obvious. For example, ” Georgetown University‘s location in the District of Columbia puts it at the epicenter of where laws are made.” “The University of Virginia‘s Innocence Project is renowned.” “At Fordham University, I could concentrate my studies on intellectual property and information law.”
None of the above research is in-depth enough to grab the admissions committee’s attention. Integrating school-specific programming requires you go beyond stating information that is on the school’s website.
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2. Clarify your career goals: To make your school- specific research essential to your essay, explain what you hope to gain by participating in a particular program or course. In other words, connect the school to you. What are your career goals and how will this school best position you to achieve them?
For example, I had the chance to work with an applicant who was interested in fashion law. In her personal statement, she discussed how Fordham’s Fashion Law Institute would give her opportunities to build upon her degree in design as well as experiences in business that no other law school could.
After referencing a counterfeit shoes lawsuit to illustrate her desire to protect a designer’s creative innovations, she explained how courses like fashion licensing would give her legal insight into branding and marketing. She went on to identify previous events that the i nstitute hosted that inspired her to pursue this practice area.
[Assesscareer goals before becoming a law student.]
No other applicant, even one interested in fashion law, could have written about Fordham in the same way because the applicant so closely intertwined her unique experiences and objectives with the law school’s programming.
3. Identify why you are applying: Ultimately, school- specific research is inherently valuable, irrespective of your personal statement. Remember, your enrollment is a valuable investment of time and money. It is important for you to know why you are applying to law school.
What does each school have to offer you? What excites you about the prospect of attending? How will you make the most of your legal studies?
You cannot answer these questions without conducting school-specific research so that you are in a position to make an informed decision on whether to apply.
What kinds of school specific programming appeals to you? You can reach me at lawadmissionslowdown@usnews.com.
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Weave Specific Law School Details Into a Winning Personal Statement originally appeared on usnews.com
