Nevermind Forum

[rupret1]

Nothing to see here, folks.

[lcw]

This is a well written personal statement. The statement is both engaging and coherent and I feel like I have a good understanding of your interest in law.

A few suggestions. First, you could combine your 3rd and 4th paragraphs since they're both relatively sparse and deal with the same topic. Not that you have to edit them together, just smush them together into one. Second, I would reconsider saying that you are not applying to law school with the desire to become a lawyer. There may be different opinions on this, but I would be worried that an admissions reviewer who is taking the school's post-graduate career statistics into consideration my count your disinterest in practicing law against you. Perhaps you could say something about how a JD would help you in your career as a controller.

A very good start though, overall.

[lostjake]

Is this too long? How long ideally are these things? Do I need to be more specific? Less specific?

One to two pages. More specific would help.

"As a wife and mother of three young children my decision to pursue a longtime dream of attending law school is not one which I have entered into carelessly. I have a successful career as controller of a multi-million dollar contracting firm. I am actively involved in several local charities which provide food, clothing, and other aid to under-privileged families in my community. Before marriage and children I spent my summers volunteering in orphanage camps in eastern Ukraine; now I financially support those who are able to go in my stead. I am one of the founding members of an organization aimed at improving education in our local public schools.

^-This belongs on a resume, not in a PS.

I could easily continue coasting through my current life, but I want more.

^-This should be left out. Why would a school want to accept a slacker?

My interest in the law began in a high school government class. Each student was assigned a Supreme Court case with instructions to write a report detailing the arguments and decision. Being in a Dallas suburb, our teacher advised us to visit the Underwood Law Library at SMU’s Dedman School of Law to help complete the assignment.

When I entered the door to the library it was as if I had been awakened. Something felt right. It was on this trip that I was first introduced to Lexis Nexis by one of the law students I met. Since that day I have spent countless hours in Lexis Nexis reading cases and decisions; more than once I have taking my children to story hour at the library solely for the free access.

Reading the decision of the case I was assigned, what interested me more than the decision itself was the complex history of prior appealed decisions of the case, as well as the myriad of cases which were referenced in both the concurring and dissenting decisions. I was then, and am continually amazed by the way in which two judges can reach opposite decisions citing the same legal precedence, while two others can come to the same decision citing different legal precedence.

^-I didn't catch your age in your OP, but you should reference something thats not from high school in your PS. Also, PS aren't really a why I'm interested in the Law statement, they're personal statements. You should try to write about a life experience. The other PS in the pile are going to have meaningful life changing experiences, and yours is going to have something that you did in high school 10 years ago.


It is that legal precedence that then attracted and now still draws me to the law. I have continued to follow the decisions of the Supreme Court. When I run across a case or legal question in the news that interests me I jot it down and then look them up as time allows. I am not content with someone else's description of a court decision. I prefer to read and decide for myself what I think of the interpretation of the law. Even now what I most look forward to as I begin reading a new case is not so much the case itself, but the journey which the cited legal precedence takes me on.

^-Same...

In college I studied accounting as an undergrad, and then tax accounting as a graduate student predominately because of my interest in the tax law. During those years I first began to notice how the law is written to shape and affect the behavior of the population, as well as how the behavior of the population shapes and affects the law. Between the law and society there exists a symbiotic relationship without which neither would survive.

Three years ago while reading the Mississippi Code I discovered that my state did not allow any exemption from vaccination for school entry. As a delayed vaccinator this meant my children would not be allowed into any school, public or private, unless I fully vaccinated them on schedule or unless the law was changed. Year after year I trekked across the state to our capitol, meeting and forming relationships with legislators, helping to draft legislation which made it a little further each year. This grassroots lobbying effort was exciting and newly awakened in me a desire to elevate my interest in the law above the status of hobby.

^-This could have some merit, if you actually did something and learned something, rather than holding up a sign. Although grassroots lobbying would suggest that you want a career in politics rather than in law. They are closely related, but not the same.

For years I had said I’d like to go to law school one day in the same way one says they’d like to travel to Europe but never buys a plane ticket or even a passport. It was a wish. A dream. But not a reality. My life had taken me on a different path, and one with which I was content for a time. I had Lexis Nexis and some law texts at the library to feed my hunger. However, as I studied on my own it became increasingly evident that I would never know law the way I desired solely by my own efforts.

So with that conclusion I have taken this step into the unknown, in an attempt to quench this desire within me. I am not applying to law school with the desire of becoming a lawyer, although I do consider that an end of game bonus. Rather, I am applying out of an academic interest in the law. Because of that, I’m not content to attend just any law school. I want to learn the law, and I want to learn it from those who know it the best. I cannot in good conscience tell my children to follow their dreams if I have not followed mine. The next three years of my life are going to pass by whether I am pursuing my aspiration or not. I can look back in three years and say I wish I had taken this step then, or I can do it now and know that I did all that I could to make this desire a reality.

I would never say that I wasn't going to school to become a lawyer, they're going to give the spot to someone who does want to be a lawyer, unless you have the numbers for Yale. If you really want to go somewhere to just learn about the law, you can go to your local TTT, coast through classes and not worrying about having to find a job afterwards. After reading your PS I came away with that you probably lost your job, and you are trying to go to law school, and the last part was a little bit of BS. You kind of came off as flakey. I would scrap it and start over. Find an experience that you learned something from and write about it. You don't really need to tie it into being interested in law, but you can. You PS seemed like a really contrived attempt to say why you're interested in law. HTH.

[rupret1]

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[lostjake]

I'm sure you can find an experience that you learned from, maybe something that your children taught you and then you can reflect on the fact that someone younger than you taught you something. A large part of the PS is writing well and being persuasive, not just about you as a person. HTH

[rupret1]

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