rinkrat19 wrote:A List of Things Your PS Should Tell Adcomms
1. This is who I am as a person.
2. This is why I want to go to law school. (optional)
3. This is why I'd be good at law school. (not as optional, but can be implicit)
4. I write really well.
5. I am capable of following instructions.
I think rinkrat19 is spot on. You explicitly address 1, 2(optional). Bonus points if your content implicitly addresses (3). Content + the way you write should address 4&5.
Ivey says there are two different types of personal statement prompts: the personal and the professional. For the personal, 2 is optional/unnecessary. For the professional, 2 is necessary. Maybe in this case 1 doesn't have to be explicitly addressed (your "why law" may implicitly address "who you are"). To know which kind the prompt you're dealing with is, closely read the prompt. For example, this is the prompt for Harvard this past cycle.
The personal statement is intended as an opportunity to give the Admissions Committee a better sense of
who you are as a person and as a potential student and graduate of Harvard Law School.
In many instances, applicants have used the personal statement to provide more context on how their experiences and strengths could make them valuable contributors to the Harvard and legal communities, to illuminate their intellectual background and interests, or to clarify or elaborate on other information in their application. Because applicants and their experiences differ,
you are the best person to determine the content of your statement.
To put it in simple terms:
1. Tell us about who you are, what you would be as a student/graduate of Harvard
2. Here are some examples: A, B, C etc.
3. You decide
In this case, I'd say it's the personal essay. The examples are just there to illustrate - they don't instruct. So the actual prompt/instruction is just 1+3:
Tell us about who you are. You decide what to talk about.
So here, I'd say you don't need to talk about why law at all. A personal, interesting essay that says something good about you and leaves an impression on the reader is probably the way to go.
I think the most important guiding principle in writing your personal statement, whether personal or professional, is that your personal statement is your commercial (except we can't be humorous like TV commercials can...). You want to attract the admissions dean. I would much rather write a powerful personal essay that the reader remembers rather than a flawless argument concluding that I would make a great law student. This is coming from a splitter though, so take it with a grain of salt. If you're 4.0 180 (or just over the 75% median for both) the latter probably works or is probably better - your numbers have done all the advertising already.