美国法学院ps.docx
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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
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