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Any thoughts on this?

Never use contractions.

Yeah, you probably don't want to use them, unless they are needed for the style/voice of the piece. Even then, that would probably be a bad idea. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but you should not use contractions in formal writing.

I'm not sure I agree with this advice. Contractions are sometimes useful when writing in a conversational tone. Take this random sentence:

After ten years, I couldn't play basketball.
After ten years, I could not play basketball.

Which one sounds more natural - like something you could read out loud without sounding awkward?

samsonyte16 wrote:I'm not sure I agree with this advice. Contractions are sometimes useful when writing in a conversational tone. Take this random sentence:

After ten years, I couldn't play basketball.
After ten years, I could not play basketball.

Which one sounds more natural - like something you could read out loud without sounding awkward?

That's such an awkward sounding sentence to begin with.

A little bit. I didn't spend much time thinking about it. But I still think the version with the contraction is less awkward than the one without it.

samsonyte16 wrote:A little bit. I didn't spend much time thinking about it. But I still think the version with the contraction is less awkward than the one without it.

I think "I could no longer play basketball" sounds better than both options (although I don't know the context you meant to put the sentence in to).

samsonyte16 wrote:I'm not sure I agree with this advice. Contractions are sometimes useful when writing in a conversational tone. Take this random sentence:

After ten years, I couldn't play basketball.
After ten years, I could not play basketball.

Which one sounds more natural - like something you could read out loud without sounding awkward?

For a personal statement, I wouldn't use contractions because I don't believe it is appropriate for admissions to law schools. However, I do see your point. My concern is that by using contractions in a personal statement or diversity statement, someone in admissions would be turned off by the conversational tone of the statement and that in turn could hurt your application.

ARTfulDodger wrote:

samsonyte16 wrote:I'm not sure I agree with this advice. Contractions are sometimes useful when writing in a conversational tone. Take this random sentence:

After ten years, I couldn't play basketball.
After ten years, I could not play basketball.

Which one sounds more natural - like something you could read out loud without sounding awkward?

For a personal statement, I wouldn't use contractions because I don't believe it is appropriate for admissions to law schools. However, I do see your point. My concern is that by using contractions in a personal statement or diversity statement, someone in admissions would be turned off by the conversational tone of the statement and that in turn could hurt your application.

I think you can definitely use them if you are quoting someone.

CastleRock wrote:

ARTfulDodger wrote:

samsonyte16 wrote:I'm not sure I agree with this advice. Contractions are sometimes useful when writing in a conversational tone. Take this random sentence:

After ten years, I couldn't play basketball.
After ten years, I could not play basketball.

Which one sounds more natural - like something you could read out loud without sounding awkward?

For a personal statement, I wouldn't use contractions because I don't believe it is appropriate for admissions to law schools. However, I do see your point. My concern is that by using contractions in a personal statement or diversity statement, someone in admissions would be turned off by the conversational tone of the statement and that in turn could hurt your application.

I think you can definitely use them if you are quoting someone.

Yes, you can.

No.

You don't want to use contractions in any professional or academic writing. Period.

Whether to use them depends on the formality of the piece. The default approach is that one avoids them in formal writing. Perhaps the default approach to a law school application is that your writing would be formal. But above all other considerations, your PS should be your best writing and should follow whatever style makes you shine. If your best writing is not in a formal style, then you should use contractions whenever they fit.

Lots of people get into law school with personal statements that are not particularly formal. I just checked and found that my 4 page PS for Berkeley had more than a dozen contractions. They let me in.

Do whatever works for you.