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My cousin is applying to LS, and he's really into rap. He even gets into underground stuff that, I'm sure, not a single adcomm member has ever heard of. He was thinking about styling his personal statement in def poetry, or some lyrical format.

This is who he is. It's a major part of his life.

Should he stop being himself for the purpose of applying to law school?

magicman554 wrote:My cousin is applying to LS, and he's really into rap. He even gets into underground stuff that, I'm sure, not a single adcomm member has ever heard of. He was thinking about styling his personal statement in def poetry, or some lyrical format.

This is who he is. It's a major part of his life.

Should he stop being himself for the purpose of applying to law school?

Can't he be himself without doing something that will clearly hurt his chances? Is he going to have to rap his memos and pleadings to be himself? Not to be a jerk at all - its just a bad idea - if you read the dean's interviews on here many say specifically, "dont send us a poem as your personal statement" - I think that includes raps. On the other hand his love of hip hop could make a good ps if it says something about who he is and his personal and professional goals.

Basically, it's too unique if it isn't narrative prose. Maybe it's worth a shot with an extreme reach that he has near zero chance at anyway, but definitely not anywhere else.

Maybe it'd be alright if he's autoadmit for the schools he's applying to anyway.

No. Unless he has a 4.0 178 plus. He could write about his passion for rap music, but don't send them a poem.

magicman554 wrote:Should he stop being himself for the purpose of applying to law school?

Yes. He should adapt to the environment he wants to be in. Since I'm an American should I walk around in a bikini in Jeddah? that's a silly question

He could write a PS about what rap music means to him, how it inspires him, or how it got him through a difficult period in his life. He could also use rap as a metaphor of sorts to explain his interest in the law (creativity, substance, structure, quick thinking, etc).

He should definitely "refrain" from rapping, however. (Anyone see what I did there?)

magicman554 wrote: Should he stop being himself for the purpose of applying to law school?

This is not a correct summation of what it would mean to write his PS in a conventional format.

Your "cousin" huh?

mala2 wrote:

magicman554 wrote:Should he stop being himself for the purpose of applying to law school?

Yes. He should adapt to the environment he wants to be in. Since I'm an American should I walk around in a bikini in Jeddah? that's a silly question

Wasn't that the plot of Sex in the City 2?

jtemp320 wrote:

magicman554 wrote:My cousin is applying to LS, and he's really into rap. He even gets into underground stuff that, I'm sure, not a single adcomm member has ever heard of. He was thinking about styling his personal statement in def poetry, or some lyrical format.

This is who he is. It's a major part of his life.

Should he stop being himself for the purpose of applying to law school?

Can't he be himself without doing something that will clearly hurt his chances? Is he going to have to rap his memos and pleadings to be himself? Not to be a jerk at all - its just a bad idea - if you read the dean's interviews on here many say specifically, "dont send us a poem as your personal statement" - I think that includes raps. On the other hand his love of hip hop could make a good ps if it says something about who he is and his personal and professional goals.

TITCR

You want to be unique in what story you tell, not how you tell it. Popular narrative strategies are popular for a reason.