So I'm brainstorming what to write about my PS, and mostly I've stuck on a theme of ambiguity, navigating gray areas, etc.

I think I have a chance at a T-14 school (169 diagnostic, 3.88 overall GPA), but I'm concerned about my personal statement. I want to talk about ambiguity, paradox, and how that relates to my attitude toward the law. I also want to talk about being an immigrant and wanting to do international law (human rights and business sound equally interesting to me). But I'm not sure how hot admissions committee will feel about the SJ work I've done (in popular education and economic justice, respectively--and in a community organizing, not a non-profit sort of way) and my gender identity stuff.

Do I get any diversity points for lgbtq stuff? Is writing about my time spent with radical organizers (actually key to developing my desire to go to law school) likely to hurt my chances? Or come up in the long run, if I decide that I want to work for the government? I don't want to write a vanilla essay, but at what point does it get too, uh, spicy?

I guess I ask because most of the law school applicants I've been reading have seemed either politically moderate or politically conservative, and I'd really love to know. Thanks!

It isn't a net positive or a net negative either way. just make it well written and make it genuine. The LGBTQ stuff won't necessarily help your app but it definitely won't hurt. There are a ton of people who write PS's about their political views so it isn't really a unique topic. However edgy and original you think your experience is in that area someone has done more of it for longer. The key to personal statement is to make it genuine and real. Ad comms can see though BS.

If I were you I would focus more of my time on the LSAT, the personal statement actually counts for very little.

Thanks for the reply. I just took another practice test today and got a 174. We'll see how the real thing goes!

jfc.