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Hello all, I am starting on my personal statement and honestly have no idea what I should say to make myself stand out. I have been toying with one idea/topic, but I would like your opinion first.

Just to keep it simple, I have been considering the topic of how I was going through college and pretty much had no direction in life. I did not know what I was going to do afterwards and really did not care. During my third year of college, however, I was out partying and had too much to drink. Long story short, I blacked out and ended up in someones car trying to steal their stuff. I dropped everything and tried to run, but was caught anyway. I spent the night in jail just reevaluating my life and what I should do. That summer, I got a job at a law firm and law WAS something that I had considered a long time ago, but I had wanted to try my hand in the medical field first, which obviously didn't work out. So after working there and shadowing the attorneys, I became really interested in going to law school.

I know it needs a lot of tweaking, but first off, is this something that I could use as my personal statement? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Anonymous User wrote:Hello all, I am starting on my personal statement and honestly have no idea what I should say to make myself stand out. I have been toying with one idea/topic, but I would like your opinion first.

Just to keep it simple, I have been considering the topic of how I was going through college and pretty much had no direction in life. I did not know what I was going to do afterwards and really did not care. During my third year of college, however, I was out partying and had too much to drink. Long story short, I blacked out and ended up in someones car trying to steal their stuff. I dropped everything and tried to run, but was caught anyway. I spent the night in jail just reevaluating my life and what I should do. That summer, I got a job at a law firm and law WAS something that I had considered a long time ago, but I had wanted to try my hand in the medical field first, which obviously didn't work out. So after working there and shadowing the attorneys, I became really interested in going to law school.

I know it needs a lot of tweaking, but first off, is this something that I could use as my personal statement? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

This may be a little much for them to handle. It's a pretty heavy topic and does speak about some of the more negative aspects of your life, even if it does culminate in your becoming a better person and finding direction. This is risky enough that I might shy away from it.

Maybe discuss something that puts you into a better light. The easiest method is to look at your resume, find something you want to expand on, or a pattern you'd like to point out, and write about that, although there are tons of ways to find a topic.

I'm not saying your current topic is inherently bad, I just feel it's pretty risky.

I'd avoid the jail and theft portion of the story, but mentioning your lack of direction and then finding it after your work at the law firm might work.

Agree with both posters--either find something new or cut out the jail details...You'll probably have to include those in an addendum anyway, so why waste your personal statement by highlighting that negative even more?

You might want to just focus on your time working at the law firm. It's less risky, and I know a lot of deans like to see people who have legal experience.