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No Idea where to start

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:25 pm
by A.Taarabt7
Was contemplating about writing in the "narrative" structure but wasnt sure

topics I wanted to hit are my acct/cpa background
f500 internship reading through dense, convoluted government accounting regulations
course work that prepares me navigate through ambiguity and professional skepticism
researching and being published
work exp as a student athlete tutor and helping people as my passion
and last but not least resolving a legal dispute with my landlord over a utility bill since it wasnt explicitly stated in the contract that I would be paying for certain charges

Re: No Idea where to start

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 4:27 pm
by rinkrat19
Sounds like a great recipe for a boring, resume-regurgitating essay checking off every point in your academic and work history.

It does not sound like a compelling PERSONAL statement.

Re: No Idea where to start

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:12 pm
by A.Taarabt7
well then any advice?

ive read through the guides here, was a good overall introduction and was helpful seeing samples. so are you saying all of the potential topics i listed would be bad choices for a personal statement for me to write about?im on a gap year so the counselor really isnt helping me much at my alma mater. i may get help from a tutor i had in the past for writing this

Re: No Idea where to start

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:16 pm
by rinkrat19
A.Taarabt7 wrote:well then any advice?

ive read through the guides here, was a good overall introduction and was helpful seeing samples. so are you saying all of the potential topics i listed would be bad choices for a personal statement for me to write about?im on a gap year so the counselor really isnt helping me much at my alma mater. i may get help from a tutor i had in the past for writing this
You listed about 10 topics. If you cram them all in, your PS will be a list. You already have a list in your app package: your resume. This needs to be something different that tells the reader about YOU as a person.

You could pick ONE of those topics and expand upon it, with descriptions and emotion. One example would be to tell a work-related anecdote about one specific incident or experience. It should show your personality a bit and illustrate qualities that you have that allowed you to learn something/succeed at something/fix something/etc. These qualities would also be, of course, things that would help you succeed in law school/lawyering.