There is no single way to tell someone how to write a great personal statement, since everyone has a different writing style and story to tell. However, there are a few rules essay editors and law school applicants can follow that will ensure that they are at least keeping within what makes the Admissions Committee happy:

It’s not what you write, but how you write it.

Virtually any topic can be exciting if written about in the right manner. Conversely, any topic can be dull if written about poorly. The way in which the story is framed is critical to a successful essay, and many of the tips below focus on this crucial element.

In this same vein, try to work out the general essay structure before working on details such as the exact words and phrasings. Have applicants get the general ideas on paper without initial regard for perfect diction, etc. It’s like building a house—which do you do first: pick out the wallpaper, or select the basic floor plan? The essay’s outline, its blueprint, is essential to a good writing foundation.

Show, don’t tell.

In personal statements we tend to use the short story format, which means that we try to engage the reader through a narrative featuring anecdotes, story tension, et cetera. If a writer simply states everything in a matter-of-fact manner, there is no mystery or excitement, and the essay will lack vibrancy. For example, applicants shouldn’t tell their readers that they are courageous; instead, they should show them that they are courageous by relating the story of how they saved someone from a burning building.

Hook ’em up front.

Almost all essays should feature an action opening—that is, one that immediately involves the reader in a story and engages their interest.

Wrong: As a marathon runner, I show perseverance and determination on a monthly basis. I am a fierce competitor, and I always fight to the end.

Right: As I passed the twenty five mile mark, I could feel my legs begin to give out and my vision begin to blur. I had run many marathons before, but this was the first one where I lead this far into the race. Yet, right behind me I could hear the steps of another runner slowly getting closer. I took a deep breath, clenched my fists, and prayed I could summon the will to complete the last mile and win the race.

Although the above are two very rough examples, ask yourself: which essay do you want to continue reading?

Also, steer clear of giving an overview of the whole essay in the first paragraph. Instead, use the flow of the story to draw the reader through the essay and then summarize at the end (and then only if needed).

Don’t generalize—be specific.

Details are the spice of life, and they are what draw us to other people (for example, which is more interesting: “She has a job” or “She is an aerospace engineer”?). General statements typically do not convey enough information to be interesting (for example, “I will work very hard in law school” is obvious and conveys no new or useful information).

Put the “person” in the personal statement.

It is called a Personal Statement (and not the Impersonal Statement) for a reason! Applicants should use the essay to talk about themselves. Make sure to include anecdotes, examples, and details that both convey what sets the applicant apart, and truly explore who they are.

Think about the wild popularity of tabloids. Tabloids sell because they include the juicy details about people. Essays that contain personal details are inherently more interesting. Just don’t make any of the details up!

Do not make the reader ask questions or pause while reading.

Anything that stops or slows down a reader is a problem. Make sure the narrative is linear, makes sense, and does not leave the reader waiting or asking for an integral piece of information.

Don’t try to cover every base.

Some writers try to use the personal statement to address every aspect of their application or person. This is both an impossible task and makes the essay seem unfocused and disorganized. Some things must be left out, so use the statement to focus on the most important and compelling aspects of the applicant and their story.

Don’t focus on negatives.

In most cases, the personal statement should focus on positives. Any negatives should be addressed in an addendum. If a negative must be addressed, it should speak to how the applicant overcame the problem or difficulty, how they have grown as a person because of it, and how they will apply the knowledge they gleaned from the experience to better themselves and their situation.

Bring elements in from off the page.

The essay is there to fill in the picture and connect the dots. Simply repeating the applicant’s résumé, recommendation(s), or address something already discussed in another part of the application is a waste of valuable application real estate.

You do not have to tell people why you are going to law school unless you have a good reason.

Not everyone has a compelling reasoning for going to law school, so don’t fake it if the candidate falls into that category. Instead, try to reveal the characteristics the applicant possesses that would make them a desirable applicant.

Build a bridge to the reader.

Can the reader picture what the applicant is doing and what they are thinking? If so, they are more likely to be swayed by the story presented in the personal statement. If not, how can they understand who the applicant is? This point is much easier to achieve if the writer uses anecdotes as a storytelling device.

Do not make statements that lack support early in the essay.

For example, do not say, “I love analyzing the constitution,” in the first paragraph because it does not sound believable (yes, one of our applicants actually said that exact thing). Wait until the middle or end to bring up the fact that the applicant worked for a congressman known as the “lover of the constitution.” Avoiding unsupportable statements early on in the essay will also allow the writer to hook their readers from the start.

It’s more about what they want to hear and less about what you want to say.

Never forget who the target audience is, and who will be reading the essay. Focus on telling them what they need to know, rather than what you are desperate to tell them. Let them see a part of you that can’t be found anywhere else in the essay; resist the urge to tout your achievements (particularly if they are already discussed elsewhere, like your résumé).

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Treat your essay like the most important piece of writing in your application, and it will go a long way towards ensuring your acceptance.

The University of Chicago Law School (also known as UChicago Law, or Chicago Law) is today’s Law School Spotlight. From LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools:

Chicago graduates lead and innovate in government, public interest, academia, and business, as well as law. For this reason, Chicago aims not to certify lawyers, but to train well-rounded, critical, and socially conscious thinkers and doers. Three cornerstones provide the foundation for Chicago’s educational mission: the marketplace of ideas, participatory learning, and interdisciplinary inquiry.

Our students’ chief passions are ideas. They have shown this passion through their academic success, and they exhibit signs of great professional promise. Over 5,500 applicants seek approximately 190 seats in each incoming class. Chicago students come from more than 100 undergraduate institutions with degrees in nearly every discipline, and one in ten have graduate degrees. Many of our students have also had interesting and successful careers before law school.

Type of school: Private

Setting: Urban

Size: 600 (approx.)

Incoming class size: 205 (2010)

Student-to-faculty ratio: 9.1 to 1

Acceptance percentage: 15.2% (849 of 5,579 admitted)

Tuition and fees: $46,185

Cost of living (single student): $21,060

Address: Admissions Office, 1111 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: 773.702.9494
Email: admissions@law.uchicago.edu
Website: www.law.uchicago.edu
Twitter accounts: @UChicagoLaw, @UChicagoLawOCS, @UChicagoLawApps (more of the law school’s Twitter accounts listed here)
Facebook: The University of Chicago Law School
Blog: The school has numerous blogs, all of which can be accessed here.

All information (except for social networking and blog information) was gathered from the school’s profile on the Law School Admission Council’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools and the school’s website. For more information, and to see the school’s profile, click here. Please consult the school’s website and Office of Admissions with questions regarding this information.

To see other schools in the PowerScore Law School Spotlight series, click here.

To listen to a Featured Law Schools podcast on UChicago Law, featuring the Dean of the law school, Michael Schill, as well as commentary by current UChicago Law students, please check out the original post on the PowerScore LSAT and Law School Admissions Blog.

Many non-traditional applicants are often late bloomers: They partied hard during college, didn’t take it seriously, didn’t do so well, and are only now, after many years in the workforce, getting back on the path they wanted to follow after college. They are often unduly hard on themselves, and believe that their age and their college indiscretions essentially kill any chance they have of getting into law school–any law school, let alone a reputable one. And, even if they don’t have college indiscretions, they still believe that their age puts them at a disadvantage: “Why would a law school pick me when they could have their choice of any 21- or 22-year-old they want?”

Indecision plagues non-traditional applicants: How do I get recommendation letters? How do I explain how law school makes sense now? Does my GPA even matter, if it was five or more years ago? How important is the LSAT for me? Do I even have a shot?

Well, non-trads, it’s time to turn that frown upside-down. The upshot is this: Being older and having more life under your belt is actually a good thing. Here’s why:

You’re older…and wiser.

The fact that you’re older is a plus. You’ve been in the “real world,” you’ve worked a 9-to-5 (or 6, or 7, or 8…). Also, and most importantly, you have legitimate reasons for wanting to attend law school. Now, this is not to say that those who want to attend law school right out of college do not; however, older students typically have very concrete, founded reasons for attending law school, and they typically revolve around the work they are already doing. This actually makes you more attractive to law schools–they love seeing students that not only know exactly why they want to attend law school, but that are also much more likely to actually practice law once they graduate (something which is often not quite as concrete with applicants with no real-world working experience). The foundation for a non-trad’s desire to attend law school is a lot less pie-in-the-sky and a lot more this-makes-sense-as-the-next-step-in-my-career. This makes you a very attractive candidate.

College indiscretions aren’t quite so bad anymore.

If you’re 22 years old, you can’t really play the “I was young and foolish” card for your college indiscretions. Most of them probably happened within the last two years, which makes them a fairly recent indicator of character (it is still advisable, though, to address these indiscretions with addenda). However, when you’ve been out of college for 5+ years, then the dumb things you did in college start looking at lot less like personal flaws and lot more like growing pains that are no longer really relevant. You’ve lived a whole life since college–it’s that life that defines you, much more than how you did in freshman English. This doesn’t mean that everything is forgiven, but it does mean that you can make a really strong argument in the “I was young and foolish” department. Because in your case, you really were young and foolish–and chances are pretty good that you’ve grown up quite a bit since then.

Your GPA matters…but not quite as much.

Another awesome thing about being an older non-trad is that your GPA, although still important, isn’t quite as all-encompassing as it is for freshly-minted college grads. For the latter, it’s all they have to hang their hat on, besides their LSAT score. With older applicants, though, there are professional accomplishments, long-time personal hobbies, lengthy involvement in causes (and more) in addition to that. Also, your GPA is many more years in the past. It no longer defines you in the way that it does for those new BAs and BSs.

Your LSAT score really matters.

On the flip side, though, your LSAT score really, really matters (perhaps even more than for younger applicants). Your LSAT score becomes the one indicator of your current academic potential and performance. This is both good and bad. GOOD: A high LSAT really can make a low undergrad GPA a whole lot better in your case. BAD: If you have a poor LSAT score, and you also have a low GPA, things are not going to look good. And even if you have high undergrad GPA, if you have a low LSAT, it will won’t look great, because your LSAT score is going to be taken as proof of your current academic potential. Moral of the story: Focus on the LSAT, and rock it.

Your professional success takes center stage.

Whereas many straight-out-of-college applicants often struggle to find accomplishments outside of school to point to, that’s something you have in spades. Many non-trads bemoan the fact that they don’t have recent academic achievements, when they should instead be focusing on what they do have: Work, hobbies, personal accomplishments, causes. And, in many cases, they are all legitimate, long-term endeavors. Use these as the anchor for your application, rather than apologizing for not having a recent college class to talk about.

Your LORs can be from other professionals.

Another aspect that non-trads often fret about is their inability to obtain letters of recommendation (LORs) from professors and other academics. What they forget is that there are others in their life that can address the same things that law schools want to hear about: Ability to learn, adaptability, work ethic, potential for growth, leadership skills, a strong desire to succeed, integrity, and honesty. Take a look, for example, at what LSAC’s Evaluation Service asks recommenders to rank applicants on. Those are things that can be addressed by your work supervisor or your volunteer leader, among others. Although law schools prefer that recommendations come from academic sources, they do not require them to be from academic sources–and they would much rather have a lengthy, detailed, glowing letter from someone that can actually speak knowledgeably about you, than a vague letter filled with generalities from a college professor you had ten years ago and struggled to remember your name. And here are some tips on what you can do to make that LOR shine.

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The name of the game for non-traditional applicants is thinking outside the box. Law schools want you–in fact, applicants in their 30s, 40s, and beyond are accepted into even the most elite law schools every year. It’s just a matter of thinking yourself not as “someone who is old and graduated college a long time ago” and instead as “someone who has an extensive professional background and knows exactly why law school is the next logical step.” Instead of seeing your age as a detractor, harness it as a positive: It can–and will, if used correctly–enhance your application and your overall admissions chances.

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Have a question about applying to law school you’d like me to answer? Send me an email.

Check out the PowerScore Admissions Tip of the Week archives on the PowerScore LSAT and Law School Admissions blog!

Subscribe to the PowerScore Admissions Tip Of The Week via email

Note: The content of this blog post originally appeared in the PowerScore LSAT and Law School Admissions Blog.

The University of Virginia School of Law (also known as UVA Law) is today’s Law School Spotlight. From LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools:

Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is a world-renowned training ground for distinguished lawyers and public servants. Located in Charlottesville, Virginia, just two hours southwest of Washington, DC, the Law School offers students a unique environment in which to study law.

The Law School is dedicated to upholding Thomas Jefferson’s conviction that lawyers must serve the public interest. The school provides special career counseling and placement assistance, operates pro bono programs, and administers a loan forgiveness program.

At Virginia, law students share their experiences in a cooperative spirit, both in and out of the classroom, and build a network that lasts well beyond their three years here. Faculty build intellectual and personal relationships with students. They are leaders in the academic life of the community, organizing and speaking at lectures and other events, working with student organizations, volunteering for pro bono service, and building new curricular programs.

Type of school: Public

Setting: Urban

Size: 1,120 (approx.)

Incoming class size: 368 (2010)

Student-to-faculty ratio: 11.9 to 1

Acceptance percentage: 10.8% (923 of 8,560 admitted)

Tuition and fees: $42,500 (in-state), $47,500 (out-of-state)

Cost of living (single student): $19,200

Address: Office of Admissions, 580 Massie Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-1738
Phone: 434.924.7351
Email: lawadmit@virginia.edu
Website: www.law.virginia.edu
Twitter accounts: @UVALaw, @UVALawCareer
Facebook: University of Virginia School of Law
Blog: University of Virginia News Blog – Law School

All information (except for social networking and blog information) was gathered from the school’s profile on the Law School Admission Council’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools. For more information, and to see the school’s profile, click here. Please consult the school’s website and Office of Admissions with questions regarding this information.

To see other schools in the Law School Spotlight series, click here.

To listen to a Featured Law Schools podcast on UVA Law, featuring the Senior Assistant Dean of Admission for UVA Law Jason Trujillo as well as commentary by current UVA Law students, please check out the original post on the PowerScore LSAT and Law School Admissions Blog.

Yale Law School (also known as YLS) is today’s Law School Spotlight. From LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools:

Yale Law School is an extraordinary community in which to study law. Standing at the intersection of the worlds of thought and action, Yale seeks not only to promote an intellectual understanding of the law, but also to sustain the moral commitments that justice requires.

Extensive student-faculty interactions and institutional flexibility are hallmarks of the Yale Law School experience. Students enjoy countless opportunities for research and writing with professors. Our unmatched faculty-to-student ratio allows us to offer a wide range of courses and small classes, with an average class size of fewer than 20 students.

The school is also part of one of the world’s great research universities. Yale University is home to an abundance of intellectual, cultural, social, and athletic activities, all of which are accessible to Yale law students.

Type of school: Private

Setting: Urban

Size: 600 (approx.)

Incoming class size: 205 (2010)

Student-to-faculty ratio: 7.7 to 1

Acceptance percentage: 6.7% (255 of 3,797 admitted)

Tuition and fees: $50,750

Cost of living (single student): $19,700

Address: P.O. Box 208215, New Haven, CT 06520-8215
Phone: 203.432.4995
Email: admissions.law@yale.edu
Website: www.law.yale.edu
Twitter accounts: @ylsadmissions, @YaleLawSch, @yalelawlibrary
Facebook: Yale Law School, Yale Law School Admissions
Blog: (203) Admissions Blog

All information (except for social networking and blog information) was gathered from the school’s profile on the Law School Admission Council’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools. For more information, and to see the school’s profile, click here. Please consult the school’s website and Office of Admissions with questions regarding this information.

To see other schools in the Law School Spotlight series, click here.

Students can no longer do that.

As per LSAC:

We have a change in the policy related to applicants who wish to take the LSAT more than three times in two years. Applicants may not take the LSAT more than three times in any two-year period. This policy applies even if the applicant cancels their score or if the score is not otherwise reported. LSAC reserves the right to cancel the applicant’s registration, rescind their admission ticket, or take any other steps necessary to enforce this policy.  Previously, candidates could request a waiver of this policy from law schools.  That no longer will be possible.  Instead, in exceptional circumstances only, candidates can ask LSAC directly for a waiver of this policy.

If you would like to request an exception to this rule, you can do so by submitting a signed, detailed explanation addressing the circumstances that you feel make you eligible to retake the LSAT, and specifying the date that you wish to take the test. Your request must be in writing, submitted either via email (LSACinfo@LSAC.org) or fax (215.968.1277). As with accommodated testing requests, LSAC recommends that you submit your request well in advance of the date you wish to take the test on, in order to give them time to evaluate your request and render a decision. And, of course, LSAC’s decisions are final.

More information about the limitations on test taking is available on the LSAC website.

The following schools have deadlines in August:

• Ohio Norththern University (Pettit) – 8/1
• Oklahoma City University – 8/1
• Thomas M. Cooley Law School – 8/30
• Touro College (Fuchsberg) – 8/1
• University of Toledo – 8/1

Always confirm these deadlines on each school’s website, and double-check to make sure you’ve got the right dates on hand.

The regular registration deadline for the October 2011 LSAT is August 30, 2011. This is the last day you can sign up for the test and not get charged a late fee. The registration for fee for the LSAT is currently US$139 or $144 Canadian.

The late registration deadline for the October 2011 LSAT is September 9, 2011. This is the absolute last day you can sign up for this test. In addition to the regular registration fee, you will also have to pay a late fee of US$68 or $71 Canadian.

The deadline for changing your test center or test date for the October 2011 LSAT is September 11, 2011. After this date, you cannot change your test date or test center. The fee for changing the test center is US$35 (or $36 Canadian); the fee for changing the test date is US$68 (or $71 Canadian).

The deadline for withdrawing your LSAT registration (no refund available) is September 30, 2011 at midnight EST. If you are taking the Sabbath-observer administration, it is Monday, October 3, 2011 at midnight EST. In order to withdraw, you must do so through your online LSAC account.

The October 2011 LSAT is taking place on Saturday, October 1, 2011. If you are taking the Sabbath-observer administration, it will take place on Tuesday, October 4, 2011.

It is always advisable to register for the test online, rather then via snail-mail. Registering online not only allows you to create an LSAC account (which you will use later to apply to law schools through LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service), but will also give you extended deadlines in which to register and/or change your registration details, as well as let you receive your scores online. To register for the October 2011 LSAT online through the LSAC website, click here.

To see the different fees associated with taking the LSAT, click here.

The following schools have deadlines in July:

• Appalachian School of Law – 7/7
• Elon University – 7/30
• University of La Verne – 7/1
• University of Miami – 7/31
• University of North Dakota – 7/31
• University of St. Thomas – 7/1

Make sure to confirm these deadlines on each school’s website. Double-check to make sure you’ve got the right dates on hand.

The Basics of the Law School Application Process

Timeline

If you’re looking for a specific application timeline, you can check this out. However, in general, the law school application process loosely follows (or should follow) this order:

Junior year: Student decides they want to apply to law school.

June after Junior year or October of Senior year: Student takes LSAT (if you need help deciding which LSAT you should take, take a moment to read this).

• If you are taking the June LSAT, then study for it during your Junior spring semester.
• If you are taking the October LSAT, then study for it the summer between Junior and Senior year.
• If possible, take the June LSAT. This will allow you to get the LSAT done before the summer, and then devote the summer to preparing your applications.

October through January of their Senior year: Student submits applications to law schools.

• If possible, do not study for the LSAT and put together your applications at the same time. Both can be quite time-consuming, and each is best done on its own. However, if you cannot devote individual time to each, sit down and determine schedules to ensure that they can get both done effectively.
• If possible, spend the summer working on all the elements of your application (see “Elements of an application” below).
• Submit your applications as soon as possible after applications become available (typically September/October). This is because most law schools work on rolling admissions, meaning that they consider applications as they “roll in.” Applying early could potentially give you a slight advantage over later applicants–and any advantage, however minute, is a good advantage.

March through May (and potentially through the summer): Student gets decision letters from law schools.

• If you are admitted, then your work is done. Now you just have to wait for the responses from the rest of the schools you applied to, make your school selection, send in your seat deposit, and wait for September to come so you can start school. If you need to defer your start date, read this.
• If you’re waitlisted, follow the protocol noted by the school in the waitlist letter they sent you. If the school doesn’t list any specific protocol, send a letter of continued interest to the school, and keep in touch with the school regarding any significant changes to their file (new grades, awards, jobs, contact information). Read this for a more in-depth analysis of what you should (and shouldn’t) do if you’re waitlisted.
• If you are (unfortunately) rejected, you may be able to appeal the decision, although most schools don’t have this option. If you would like to appeal the decision, you need to contact the school and find out the appropriate protocol for doing so.

September/October: Students starts law school.

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The Application Process

In a very basic way, the process of applying to law school is similar to that of applying to college: All the different parts of an application are gathered, compiled, and sent in to the different institutions. However, there are a few significant changes that must be noted:

1. Law schools don’t consider applications until they are “complete.” This means that every aspect of the application has been received by the school. This is different from the college application process, where schools often consider applicants even as different parts of the application trickle in.
2. Students do not typically “snail-mail” anything in to school. Instead, almost all schools require or recommend that students apply through the Law School Admission Council’s Credential Assembly Service (CAS). Essentially, LSAC’s CAS acts as a clearinghouse of information: Students submit or upload all their information to LSAC, which is then compiled into full files and then sent directly from LSAC to each law school that a student is applying to. LSAC will not send applications to schools until all required aspects of the application have been submitted and processed.
3. LSAC handles almost every aspect of the application, from compiling the information to processing the application fees for schools. The only thing they do NOT handle is actually requesting the different parts of each application; each of those must be submitted either by the student or submitted by a third party at the student’s request (see “Elements of an application” below).

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Elements of an application

Almost all law school applications will have the following components: The application itself, a personal statement (essay), letters of recommendation, transcript(s), LSAT score(s), a Law School Report, a résumé, and additional optional essay(s). Make sure you know what you’re responsible for, and what other people need to do for you.

1. The application: This is found on the LSAC website, and is completed by the student. It asks all the typical application questions: Biographical, academic, extracurricular, and conduct information. This can be completed online directly into the LSAC website, and saved.
2. The personal statement: This is an essay required by almost all schools which is written by the student and then uploaded by the student onto the LSAC website. While it can talk about why the student wants to go to law school, it doesn’t necessarily have to do so. Sometimes, schools have specific topics they’d like the student to address; in that case, we recommend the student stick to those topics.
3. The letter(s) of recommendation: The student requests these from either professors or employers. These recommenders, after writing the letters, send them directly to LSAC, along with a cover sheet available on the LSAC website. These are then processed by LSAC and are added to the student’s file. It can take up to 2 weeks to process these letters.
4. Transcript(s): The student requests these from all undergraduate institutions s/he has attended. The institution the submits them directly to LSAC, along with a cover sheet available on the LSAC website. These are then processed by LSAC and are added to the student’s file. It can take up to two weeks to process transcripts.
5. LSAT score(s): The student does not have to submit these scores to LSAC. LSAC, as the administration of the test, already has these scores on file, and automatically links them up to the student’s record.
6. Law School Report: This is a report compiled by LSAC which includes the student’s LSAT scores, LSAT writing samples, academic summary (essentially all of the student’s undergraduate grades), copies of all transcripts (undergraduate, graduate, professional), copies of all recommendation letters. This is automatically put together by LSAC, and sent to school to which the student has applied.
7. Résumé: The student puts this together and uploads it to the LSAC website.
8. Additional optional essay(s) and addenda: These are written by the student based on the requirements of each school or your own specific circumstances, and are then uploaded to the LSAC website by the student.

And there you have it. Those are the basics of the process. Of course, there’s a lot more intricacy to it once you really get into it, but getting the basics down will ensure that you spend more time on the finer details, and less time just trying to navigate your way around what can be a very confusing process. And, if you have any questions, know that there are always people available you can ask (pre-law advisors, professors, law school admissions staffers, admissions consultants)–no one will think less of you for asking the basic questions–in fact, we wish more people would!

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Have a question about applying to law school you’d like me to answer? Send me an email.

Check out the PowerScore Admissions Tip of the Week archives on the PowerScore LSAT and Law School Admissions blog!

Subscribe to the PowerScore Admissions Tip Of The Week via email

Note: The content of this blog post originally appeared in the PowerScore LSAT and Law School Admissions Blog.