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Is it ok to send the same general statement to every school? According to Anna Ivey, if you try to appeal to each school it seems very artificial...but according to TLS, you should NOT have identical statements....so what do you all think?

I say go for it. They are all the same. Just put the same personal thing about each school and change the name.
But to be safe, make all of them at the same time, and save each file with the name of the school. ex. Personal Statement.Cooley.doc

I only tweaked my PS with school specific info if they specifically said "tell us why you want to go to XXX Law School". Otherwise, I sent the same thing to each school. Didn't seem to matter.

Many schools ask for different or specific things. You would be ill advised to send your 3 page personal statement to a school which asks for a maximum of two pages. Follow the prompt/directions on the application.

thederangedwang wrote:Is it ok to send the same general statement to every school? According to Anna Ivey, if you try to appeal to each school it seems very artificial...but according to TLS, you should NOT have identical statements....so what do you all think?

All of my PS were the exact same. In everywhere but HYS, waitlisted HY. Even the schools that allow you to write longer / encourage a Why? essay I didn't write one for and got into those schools, so I think you'll be fine.

icecold3000 wrote:Many schools ask for different or specific things. You would be ill advised to send your 3 page personal statement to a school which asks for a maximum of two pages. Follow the prompt/directions on the application.

Obviously....my personal statement follows Harvard guidelines which are the strictest (2 pages, double spaced, 1 in margins, 11 font) so logistically speaking, it will work for every law school

thederangedwang wrote:
Obviously....my personal statement follows Harvard guidelines

I have been drinking so maybe I am missing how this is obvious, but in that case I guess you will be fine. My point is to follow the directions on the applications.

icecold3000 wrote:

thederangedwang wrote:
Obviously....my personal statement follows Harvard guidelines

I have been drinking so maybe I am missing how this is obvious, but in that case I guess you will be fine. My point is to follow the directions on the applications.

Kid's got a 4.0/173, HLS is a good target.

If there is a particular school that you want to attend for a specific and meaningful reason then you should try to incorporate that but any schools will allow a Why X essay if they really care. The one exception is Berkeley. You have 4 pages and it is a distinctive place so you might want to give some reason why you want to go there, especially if you are from the east coast.

AreJay711 wrote:If there is a particular school that you want to attend for a specific and meaningful reason then you should try to incorporate that but any schools will allow a Why X essay if they really care. The one exception is Berkeley. You have 4 pages and it is a distinctive place so you might want to give some reason why you want to go there, especially if you are from the east coast.

I don't think it's necessary for Berkeley. I didn't use the extra two pages and I didn't write a Why Berkeley? Although the PI-theme of my PS probably appealed to Berkeley in general. But it was still just 2 pages. I know a few of my classmates on TLS also just submitted the standard 2-pagers.

That said, they are pretty fickle with their admissions, so if you think there is anything that might be off-putting on your resume or in your PS, I would go ahead and pander and write the additional 2 pages as a Why Berkeley?