replacing already-submitted PS with new one? NEED ADVICE Forum

[cldplayts]

I applied to 13 schools with one personal statement (I tailored certain paragraphs in each to match the school it was sent to) and now after rereading my PS I have decided that it is unsatisfactory and the reason that some schools have rejected me. I wrote a new, much better PS. Would it be a good idea to send emails to those schools with the new PS, asking them to replace the old one? Some people I have asked said it could hurt, since it essentially concedes that my old PS was not good enough or that there was something wrong with it. Thoughts...

[bk1]

Are you sure your old PS was so bad that it got you rejected?

This is unlikely to be the case.

[cldplayts]

Are you sure your old PS was so bad that it got you rejected?

This is unlikely to be the case.

Yeah my dad doesn't think it could be the case. And it's probably not. But either way, I think the new PS I wrote is a huge improvement and the question is whether sending it to law schools I have already applied to will increase my chances of admission.

[bk1]

Yeah my dad doesn't think it could be the case. And it's probably not. But either way, I think the new PS I wrote is a huge improvement and the question is whether sending it to law schools I have already applied to will increase my chances of admission.

Unless you are getting dinged by places that you should have gotten in to then I'd say the risk of sending it might be worth it.

Otherwise, the risk just doesn't seem right.

[thecynic69]

Unless your old personal statement begins with a death threat to the adcom, I'd avoid shooting yourself in the foot like that. In all seriousness, here are the two sides you are balancing:
1) I cannot write well AND
2) I am unable/unwilling to differentiate my crappy writing from my good writing...I didn't care enough about the process to give my essay a read over before sending it in...etc.

It really depends how bad it is. The essay would have to be pretty bad to make option two the better one...and your second essay would have to be SIGNIFICANTLY better. Will you just end up hating your second essay too? Think long and hard about this. You can't unring the number two bell, and it isnt the best bell to have ringing as you apply to schools.

[cldplayts]

Unless your old personal statement begins with a death threat to the adcom, I'd avoid shooting yourself in the foot like that. In all seriousness, here are the two sides you are balancing:
1) I cannot write well AND
2) I am unable/unwilling to differentiate my crappy writing from my good writing...I didn't care enough about the process to give my essay a read over before sending it in...etc.

It really depends how bad it is. The essay would have to be pretty bad to make option two the better one...and your second essay would have to be SIGNIFICANTLY better. Will you just end up hating your second essay too? Think long and hard about this. You can't unring the number two bell, and it isnt the best bell to have ringing as you apply to schools.

The first one isn't terrible. I don't think I'll end up hating the second one, I feel pretty confident about it. But I do fear shooting myself in the foot by submitting a new one, so I appreciate your thoughts on it.

[thecynic69]

Unless your old personal statement begins with a death threat to the adcom, I'd avoid shooting yourself in the foot like that. In all seriousness, here are the two sides you are balancing:
1) I cannot write well AND
2) I am unable/unwilling to differentiate my crappy writing from my good writing...I didn't care enough about the process to give my essay a read over before sending it in...etc.

It really depends how bad it is. The essay would have to be pretty bad to make option two the better one...and your second essay would have to be SIGNIFICANTLY better. Will you just end up hating your second essay too? Think long and hard about this. You can't unring the number two bell, and it isnt the best bell to have ringing as you apply to schools.

The first one isn't terrible. I don't think I'll end up hating the second one, I feel pretty confident about it. But I do fear shooting myself in the foot by submitting a new one, so I appreciate your thoughts on it.

Yeah, if the first one isn't terrible, I'd stick with it. The only other variables I can think of are what schools you are applying to (some schools weight the PS more than others) and whether they are reach schools or not (the way you get into reach schools, since your numbers arent quite there, are your non-stat components, like your PS, etc.). Good luck!