Impeccable. Use this as the guiding light for your apps, fellow TLS'ers, and be sure not to waste more than 17 minutes writing your statement. Don't forget the old adage, "If 18 minutes before you're done, you'll never see a JR1!"TLS Sage wrote:A P-statement is pretty much a non-factor in the admissions process. It's there for two reasons. #1. Ensure that you can at least write somewhat coherently, and #2. the rare occasion that ADCOMS will use it for students with very similar Apps.
Look at the foolishness of these peripheral admissions staffers--many of whom are running around with silly titles like "Dean"--compared to our in-house gurus:
Ann Perry (Chicago) wrote:"Personally, I don't even look at an applicant's numbers until I feel like I've gotten to know him or her. So I always like to start off a new application by reading the personal statement and reviewing the applicant's letters of recommendation... The personal statement is the first part of the application that I review."
Sarah Zearfoss (Michigan) wrote:"[The personal statement] is my favorite part in the file... You’d be surprised just how many personal statements are not [polished]. But even when they come to you in a final form you’d expect from an applicant to Michigan, I’m often amazed by how much I can learn about an applicant. I’ve read so many personal statements where I end up walking away from reading them with a really good understanding about who this person is -- and oftentimes, it’s a very negative picture... And while I can appreciate some people’s skepticism that you can’t learn that much about an applicant reading a personal statement, I’m here to tell you that you can -- and it’s not always the picture a candidate might have envisioned. Sometimes, I’m finding things that are subtle and come from ten years of having done this. Other times, though, it begins with the first sentence and carries all the way through the essay -- and I’m thinking that this is obviously a really smart person and I cannot believe they honestly think this is going to be persuasive to get them into law school."
Faye Deal (Stanford) wrote:"If your LSAT is strong but your personal statement is poorly written and there is no evidence that you’ve taken any courses where serious writing was required, your file may not get very far."
Can you believe the nonsense being spewed by these simpletons?! Staggering! Let's recap:Monica Ingram (Texas) wrote:"For example, applicants who have competitive, but not stellar, LSAT scores and GPAs, may have a personal statement that's compelling. It may be their writing style, gift with language, or individual experiences displayed within the personal statement that will tip the scale on their behalf... It goes without saying that the personal statement is the most influential aspect of the application for which you have the most control. So turning in something that's sloppy, has typos, poor grammar and structure is a serious mistake."
- Chicago says, "Screw the important stuff -- I go straight for the non-factor when reviewing an application."
- Michigan says, "The non-factor is my favorite! It's so unimportant that it's oftentimes the deciding factor in a rejection."
- Stanford says, "The personal statement is so meaningless to us that if it's poorly written, it's likely to tip the scales against numerically strong candidates. Difficult to imagine a more trivial part of an application, amirite?"
- Texas says, "The personal statement is essentially the laughing stock of the application. Seriously, there are only several circumstances in which it can be the determinative factor."
(But please, if you scored less than a 176 on the LSAT, just give up on life.)