Acknowledging Your Audience Forum

(Personal Statement Examples, Advice, Critique, . . . )
Post Reply
AKenter

New
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:17 pm

Acknowledging Your Audience

Post by AKenter » Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:29 pm

Hello all. I am new here. I am curious as to whether or not it is wise to, in any way, acknowledge your audience (the admissions committee) in your personal statement. For example, explaining why you chose to write about a particular topic and/or saying something like "...yet that should not leave you to believe that..." I ask this question because as I read example statement after example statement I find that they all follow a similar pattern. Start with a dive into a personal event of some significance, explain its impact, connect it to law school. Done. Anyway, my first draft followed that theme closely and I am not happy with it. I would rather not blend in if it can be avoided. So then I am thinking about taking a more direct and conversational approach; treating the statement more like an interview and less like a narrative.

If anyone would like to comment on this strategy it would be greatly appreciated.

User avatar
glitched

Silver
Posts: 1263
Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 9:50 am

Re: Acknowledging Your Audience

Post by glitched » Sat Dec 04, 2010 11:08 pm

A personal statement probably won't boost you but it can easily ding you. Don't do anything "cute" like writing in a different form like an interview. It is muuuch better to distinguish yourself with good writing. You know why all the formats look the same? because when you do it right, that model will produce a well written statement. Thats the way people were writing before all the coaching and all the help books and it eventually trickled down to people that write poorly, making the model seem crappy. Its just all about writing well.

AKenter

New
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 9:17 pm

Re: Acknowledging Your Audience

Post by AKenter » Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:24 pm

Thanks for the comment. I did not mean by using an interview style that I would try anything cute. What I had in mind was a more direct format of answering the question "why do I want to go to law school" rather than telling a story and so forth. However, your main point, that the most important aspect of the personal statement is that it is well written, is taken.

JJDancer

Gold
Posts: 1564
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 7:41 pm

Re: Acknowledging Your Audience

Post by JJDancer » Sun Dec 05, 2010 4:47 pm

AKenter wrote:Thanks for the comment. I did not mean by using an interview style that I would try anything cute. What I had in mind was a more direct format of answering the question "why do I want to go to law school" rather than telling a story and so forth. However, your main point, that the most important aspect of the personal statement is that it is well written, is taken.
Don't say "you" in the PS. It is still formal writing.

edubs003

Bronze
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:42 pm

Re: Acknowledging Your Audience

Post by edubs003 » Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:22 pm

AKenter wrote:Thanks for the comment. I did not mean by using an interview style that I would try anything cute. What I had in mind was a more direct format of answering the question "why do I want to go to law school" rather than telling a story and so forth. However, your main point, that the most important aspect of the personal statement is that it is well written, is taken.
It should be about something personal. I tied why I want to go to law school into it, which was quite easy. However, I made a second statement that said nothing about law school. It was more about perseverance and overcoming obstacles. The Why Law School? question really doesn't have to be answered. I hate seeing statements that are good statements and then somebody throws a random law school paragraph in at the end. Hopefully you're not doing that. It does help if it's well written.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


Post Reply

Return to “Law School Personal Statements”