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Tailoring personal statements: yes or no?

Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:26 pm
by 80eight
I am pretty much done with my personal statement. There are places (mostly in the conclusion) where I can mention specific law schools and clubs/clinics/courses I am interest in, but right now it can be generically applied to all schools. For schools where I can submit "why" statements, I go into further depth there.

Do you think I should I change my generic personal statement so it talks about the school? Or leave it as is? Or only tailor it for schools that I can't send "why" statements to?

Thanks for your help!

Re: Tailoring personal statements: yes or no?

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 1:41 am
by dani_burhop
Only tailor when you have something truly meaningful to say. Otherwise it's just a generic "I'm looking forward to being a productive member of class of X" and that eats up word count and adds no value.

Best, Dani

Re: Tailoring personal statements: yes or no?

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:06 am
by theadvancededit
80eight wrote:Do you think I should I change my generic personal statement so it talks about the school? Or leave it as is? Or only tailor it for schools that I can't send "why" statements to?

Thanks for your help!
It depends also on what your PS is about; if you're putting in vaguely "why x" material that doesn't coincide with your topic, then you may be better off without. It's more to your benefit to have a singular, strong topic than one "okay" one that has unrelated text interspersed within it.

Re: Tailoring personal statements: yes or no?

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:54 am
by cutecarmel
Like the others said, only add things about the school if you have something meaningful to say.

I don't know what your PS statement is about, but I would suggest leaving it as it is instead of trying to tailor it to a certain school. But say, for example, you write that you are interested in a particular type of law and the school you are applying to specializes or is well known in that field, than you should add it.