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I would like to write a conservative personal statement. I'm not looking to write something that would make me standout or something that would bring adcomms to tears; I probably wouldn't even if I wanted to. Any advice on how I should approach this (other than repeating my resume)?

I would like to clarify that "conservative" isn't meant in the political sense. It's meant as how to play it safe and not wanting the PS to make me stand out. I realize that some great essay can become bad depending on who's reading it. I don't wish to take that kind of risk. Also, let's please leave politics out of this.

icpb wrote:I would like to write a conservative personal statement. I'm not looking to write something that would make me standout or something that would bring adcomms to tears; I probably wouldn't even if I wanted to. Any advice on how I should approach this (other than repeating my resume)?

As in you want to be boring or you want to highlight your fascist leanings?

d34dluk3 wrote:

icpb wrote:I would like to write a conservative personal statement. I'm not looking to write something that would make me standout or something that would bring adcomms to tears; I probably wouldn't even if I wanted to. Any advice on how I should approach this (other than repeating my resume)?

As in you want to be boring or you want to highlight your fascist leanings?

This is a more blunt version of what I wanted to ask. It even took me a moment. I was like "wait... which kind of 'conservative' are we talking about here?"

You don't have to knock it out of the park. But your PS should demonstrate that you are capable of introspection and mature judgment. It should highlight some of your key strengths (even if you are a total snoozer of a human being, you have some qualities that stand out) and portray you as a decent and caring person. You need to think about your life, your dreams, the events and people that have shaped you and find something that you feel strongly about. If you don't have any passion for your topic, the result will not be anything worth reading.

Be careful. There's nothing wrong with discussing how your political activities have impacted your life, but stating a desire to overturn Roe v. Wade, for example, is probably a bad idea.

You should include a paragraph apologizing to Arizona for killing their congresswoman.

Dunno what you all are learning in school, but "conservative" and "fascist" represent pretty different political ideologies.

I would like to clarify that "conservative" isn't meant in the political sense. It's meant as how to play it safe and not wanting the PS to make me stand out.

icpb wrote:I would like to clarify that "conservative" isn't meant in the political sense. It's meant as how to play it safe and not wanting the PS to make me stand out.

lolwut!!!

icpb wrote:I would like to clarify that "conservative" isn't meant in the political sense. It's meant as how to play it safe and not wanting the PS to make me stand out.

This is the wrong approach. If you want to be successful in a competitive field like law, you need to be able to sell yourself. Figure out what makes you a good candidate, and demonstrate that in your PS.

d34dluk3 wrote:

icpb wrote:I would like to clarify that "conservative" isn't meant in the political sense. It's meant as how to play it safe and not wanting the PS to make me stand out.

This is the wrong approach. If you want to be successful in a competitive field like law, you need to be able to sell yourself. Figure out what makes you a good candidate, and demonstrate that in your PS.

This.

The whole point of the PS is to help yourself stand out in a sea of numbers...

krad wrote:

d34dluk3 wrote:

icpb wrote:I would like to clarify that "conservative" isn't meant in the political sense. It's meant as how to play it safe and not wanting the PS to make me stand out.

This is the wrong approach. If you want to be successful in a competitive field like law, you need to be able to sell yourself. Figure out what makes you a good candidate, and demonstrate that in your PS.

This.

The whole point of the PS is to help yourself stand out in a sea of numbers...

Yeah, if you don't want to sell yourself, then law is really, really the wrong field for you. It only gets worse once law school starts.

Write about what makes you 'you.' What are the first things your friends would identify you with? You can connect almost any hobby or interest or family tradition to 'why I want to go to law school' if you really try. My PS was about playing ice hockey, snowboarding, my UG major, and growing up with granola hippie parents (who mellowed as they got older), and it got me into NU with 'consider' numbers. It wasn't risky or edgy in any way, and I haven't had any huge tragedies or adversity to overcome in my whitebread suburban life. It was just a decently-written, coherent piece about things I love.

I think OP meant to say that he does not want his PS to harm him. OP probably has numbers that can get him in to his desired school, but does not want to ruin his chances with his PS.

MrPapagiorgio wrote:I think OP meant to say that he does not want his PS to harm him. OP probably has numbers that can get him in to his desired school, but does not want to ruin his chances with his PS.

Coming off as bland and devoid of personality will hurt your chances, IMO. When everyone else is highlighting their strongest attributes, you need to follow suit just to keep up.

d34dluk3 wrote:

MrPapagiorgio wrote:I think OP meant to say that he does not want his PS to harm him. OP probably has numbers that can get him in to his desired school, but does not want to ruin his chances with his PS.

Coming off as bland and devoid of personality will hurt your chances, IMO. When everyone else is highlighting their strongest attributes, you need to follow suit just to keep up.

Unless the school he/she is aiming for is a reach, I don't think this advice is accurate. Given many of the personal statements I've read on this forum, the OP could do a lot worse than writing a relatively generic but well-written personal statement. The manic rush to "stand out" has resulted in quite a few personal statements that give a better sense of why someone would not make a successful novelist than they do of highlighting why he or she would make a good lawyer.

OP, if you want to play it safe, then use the old "why I want to go to law school theme"--just make sure you do it well. Write down your reasons to attend (even the boring/common ones). Then write down a couple of your character strengths. Finally, look over your resume and see if you can’t find an anecdote related to some of your stated reasons, your character strengths, and one of the more impressive accomplishments listed (or interesting entrees). It shouldn't be too hard to link that up in two well-structured pages. And of course, make sure that the writing is top notch. I think a lot of people on TLS misunderestimate (is this word in the OED yet?) the power of a clear and concise statement of purpose. Good luck to you.