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HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:31 pm
by KibblesnBitts
How does an upper middle class jewish male who never did anything too extraordinary create a good PS?
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:34 pm
by kl10qm
I know, coming from a Jewish perspective myself, that you might be able to discuss existing in a culture that does not value your particular religious experience - and how that impacted your perception of your religion? Just a thought.
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:36 pm
by KibblesnBitts
kl10qm wrote:I know, coming from a Jewish perspective myself, that you might be able to discuss existing in a culture that does not value your particular religious experience - and how that impacted your perception of your religion? Just a thought.
Should have made that Agnostic Jew......playing up the stereotype of lawyers. Regardless, there's nothing spectacular about me aside from randomness and having weird events happen to me.
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:42 pm
by ryemanhattan
If you are boring, make sure your perceptions of the world are not. Why do you want to be a lawyer? How do current world events shape your ambitions? If you're answer to that isn't interesting, you'll have a hard time writing something compelling. If you are looking to go to law school so you can provide a comfortable upper middle class life for your family, you'll need to make something up. My theory is if you can't talk your way into a law school that is a slight reach for your stats, peripherals, you maybe shouldn't become a lawyer.
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:56 pm
by KibblesnBitts
I've wanted to be a lawyer since I was around 12. Inspiration: Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, but I feel that is very cliched and drawn out.
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:01 pm
by AntipodeanPhil
KibblesnBitts wrote:I've wanted to be a lawyer since I was around 12. Inspiration: Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, but I feel that is very cliched and drawn out.
Yeah, don't do that.
You don' need to have lived a unique, fascinating life to write a good PS. You just need one good story.
I read a great PS in Anna Ivey's book about a guy's experiences working for a landscaping company over summer. What made this seemingly boring topic interesting was the writer's attitude and perception.
Even if you're a boring person, you must have one good (and illuminating) story.
Remember, you don't need to explain why you want to study the law unless the school asks for that (most don't).
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:03 pm
by Justdoingmybest
KibblesnBitts wrote:I've wanted to be a lawyer since I was around 12. Inspiration: Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, but I feel that is very cliched and drawn out.
You can mention this but do not make this the main topic. Think of an event or events in your life where u learned, changed or accomplished something. That might help with brainstorming.
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:05 pm
by Sprite
I'm the same way.
Very vanilla life.
I've wanted to be a lawyer since I was 5 watching the OJ Simpson Trial. (I sincerely wish I was joking.)
But now that I've taken a year off after graduating undergrad and actually worked in a law firm, I feel like I have the experience to back-up a very lame reason for wanting to be a lawyer.
Truthfully...I don't want to go into it for the money, or for the reason of helping the disadvantaged. I want to go into property law. Again, very vanilla, but it's what I'm doing now as a legal assistant and I absolutely love it.
Are adcomms automatically going to think that I'm just another upper-middle class schmuck who wants to go to law school for the money?
Right now my ps is geared toward the fact that I always had trouble believing in my ability to achieve my goals. It's currently left out of the statement, but my real turning point came when a professor intentionally failed me on an assignment to light a fire under my ass. That was when I realized that I was in the wrong major & was selling myself short by not doing what I'd always wanted to do.
Dumb?
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:12 pm
by Justdoingmybest
Sprite wrote:I
Right now my ps is geared toward the fact that I always had trouble believing in my ability to achieve my goals. It's currently left out of the statement, but my real turning point came when a professor intentionally failed me on an assignment to light a fire under my ass. That was when I realized that I was in the wrong major & was selling myself short by not doing what I'd always wanted to do.
This could be great. It just depends on how you explain it in your PS
Also, I feel like a good number of white people think they are 'boring' and this holds them back. I believe everyone to some degree is different. Tell your 'normal' story from your unique perspective and you will have an interesting PS
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:53 pm
by theadvancededit
AntipodeanPhil wrote:
You don' need to have lived a unique, fascinating life to write a good PS. You just need one good story.
+1
There's a common misconception that you have to be a queer-identified, disabled, Native American who has served in the Peace Corps to write a good PS (no offense to anyone who is any or all of those things, of course).
You don't need to have done something extraordinary to have a good PS-- however, you do have to write well and sell yourself well.
For further info:
http://theadvancededit.com/admissions/c ... ent-topic/
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:17 am
by paratactical
5 and watching the OJ trial? Fuck I feel old.
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:40 am
by NiccoloA
KibblesnBitts wrote:How does an upper middle class jewish male who never did anything too extraordinary create a good PS?
It's hard. I didn't know how to make a PS either (still don't).
Especially for those not accustomed to bragging, it's difficult. Think of perspectives that you have. Why do you want to become a lawyer?
Re: HELP! I'm boring
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 6:22 pm
by LSAT Blog
Please don't use Atticus Finch.
To Kill A Mockingbird has been inspiring for generations of high school students, but this means that generations of high school students will end up using it in their personal statements. You want to stand out, not be "another one of those."
Also, you want to show that you understand what real lawyering is like, not as it's sensationalized in books and other media.