Some advice on PS topic Forum

[gthopeful]

Hello..just some background i am an AA URM...i got some advice a while back about writing my ps on certain leadership projects i undertook and that i was passionate about.

I one thing that strongly comes to mind is when i was in undergrad i was apart and leader of this organization that hosts and puts on diversity workshops of various themes and topics..basically the organization was designed to help foster an open environment for people to talk about diversity topics and to teach people certain aspects of diversity that were previously unkown I was thinking this would be a good topic for my ps because it would showcase my leadership and also tie back into why my passion for attending law school increased greatly

Here is my dilemma being an AA URM i was also going to write a diversity statement...my DS would be more geared to my personal upbrining and the trials that I faced outside and way before I started this organization in undergrad...however I fear that having both my DS and my PS geared toward diversity topics would not give adcomms a good representation...

SO does anyone have any advice...should I change my PS topic or should I stop worrying and just write both of them passionately and make them sound different...

ANY advice is welcomed...Thanks..

[rinkrat19]

They're not the exact same topic, so they're fine.

There really is no such thing as a bad PS topic, just a badly-written one.

[gthopeful]

Thanks for the reply ...it makes me feel a lot better know

Also..one more question...do adcomms want to personal statements with flowing words and phrases that make them feel like they are reading a great novel or do they just want the facts???

[JoeMo]

Personally, I think you should switch them around. Make your PS the one about your upbringing and make your DS the one about the leadership role you took in the organization geared towards diversity.

[JoeMo]

Personally, I think you should switch them around. Make your PS the one about your upbringing and make your DS the one about the leadership role you took in the organization geared towards diversity.

FYI, this is sort of the same approach that I took. I wrote my PS about my upbringing and my DS about similar leadership experience within an organization that had to do with diversity.

Also, I don't think adcoms mind either approach. Creative writing or technical writing. Whichever you choose just has to be executed flawlessly.

[rinkrat19]

Thanks for the reply ...it makes me feel a lot better know

Also..one more question...do adcomms want to personal statements with flowing words and phrases that make them feel like they are reading a great novel or do they just want the facts???

They want something well-written. Flowery language is a lot harder to pull off without sounding like word vomit, and thus is riskier. Most of the flowery PSes we see on TLS aren't effective because the writers just aren't good enough.

[gthopeful]

Again thanks for the replies...JoeMo: do feel like doing the DS and your PS in the order you suggested helped you have the results you wanted on your apps.

[JoeMo]

Again thanks for the replies...JoeMo: do feel like doing the DS and your PS in the order you suggested helped you have the results you wanted on your apps.

Yes... I mean, I think your PS should be personal... (which your life story is)

whereas your DS should talk about how your diversity has helped to shape you into the person you are today or how it will make you successful in LS (which the leadership experience will do)

Also, there could be a difference in length. My PS was 2 pages, my DS 1. Much easier to write about your life in 2 than 1.

and you should think about the fact that adcoms will probably place a bit more emphasis on the PS, at least initially.

[kublaikahn]

Is a statement about setting up diversity workshops really a diversity statement? You are an AA applicant. That is the very definition of law school diversity. Can you write about what it means to your family to see you get a law degree? To your community? How do employers and others respond when you tell them your plan? Can you describe the energy behind you and the burden you feel to succeed because of who you are? The subject is pregnant with possibility.

I think you can write about the undergrad leadership role, but that can also go in your resume and on your application. Either way, make your PS and DS insightful. And hopefully, the adcoms will get some insight into who you are.

FWIW, I also think the leadership piece is way overplayed. Titles don't show leadership and people with real world experience know that. You would need to describe how you led, not simply give a list of "we did this, and we did that..." On the other hand, law schools really want people who are involved. If you do use the leadership theme, you should emphasize how you had many balls in the air at the same time, and showed leadership by taking responsibility for critical work despite being stretched. Just one man's opinion.

[JoeMo]

Is a statement about setting up diversity workshops really a diversity statement? You are an AA applicant. That is the very definition of law school diversity. Can you write about what it means to your family to see you get a law degree? To your community? How do employers and others respond when you tell them your plan? Can you describe the energy behind you and the burden you feel to succeed because of who you are? The subject is pregnant with possibility.

I think you can write about the undergrad leadership role, but that can also go in your resume and on your application. Either way, make your PS and DS insightful. And hopefully, the adcoms will get some insight into who you are.

FWIW, I also think the leadership piece is way overplayed. Titles don't show leadership and people with real world experience know that. You would need to describe how you led, not simply give a list of "we did this, and we did that..." On the other hand, law schools really want people who are involved. If you do use the leadership theme, you should emphasize how you had many balls in the air at the same time, and showed leadership by taking responsibility for critical work despite being stretched. Just one man's opinion.

I agree with this opinion. My advice was simply based on OP being dead set on writing about those two topics. I feel like either approach could work if done correctly. The problem is them being done correctly as too often people get caught up in what they think the adcoms want to see and lose focus.

[gthopeful]

Thanks for all the helpful replies...i thought alot about it over the holiday and really like the ideas


I wrote a very similar topic for my undergrad essay about and tied in things like my family was one of the first in its neigborhood in the 60s bused in to all white schools and also I have a second cousin who is a partner in a major global law firm and he broke color barriers by being the first AA partner in his region in major law firms so I think I can tie all that in to either a DS or a PS and then have the other be about the leadership role but like suggested make tie everything in and not just give a surface level description...the leadership role will also tie back into one of my rec letters from a professor

so thanks again it really helped

[JoeMo]

Thanks for all the helpful replies...i thought alot about it over the holiday and really like the ideas


I wrote a very similar topic for my undergrad essay about and tied in things like my family was one of the first in its neigborhood in the 60s bused in to all white schools and also I have a second cousin who is a partner in a major global law firm and he broke color barriers by being the first AA partner in his region in major law firms so I think I can tie all that in to either a DS or a PS and then have the other be about the leadership role but like suggested make tie everything in and not just give a surface level description...the leadership role will also tie back into one of my rec letters from a professor

so thanks again it really helped

Just a word of caution: Those are the accomplishments and struggles of your family, not your own. Unless they were really formative to who you are, don't talk about them.

[gthopeful]

ok i see what you are saying ...both these events is what made me at a young age sit down and determine that I needed to accomplish and strive for greatness...and talking with my cousin is when I knew for a fact that I wanted to practice law