Breaking away from family expectations...? Good statement? Forum

[givemea170]

Can't really think of a good personal story. Been racking my brain since Saturday and not coming up with anything. My father was a nuclear engineer, my mother was a doctor, my brother ended up being a nuclear engineer and my sister ended up being a doctor. As the baby, I was out of the loop, chose my own path and chose law against my parents' wishes. Anything worth reading there for a personal statement or is it pretty bland?

[RamblinBoyofPleasure]

If you care about it, write about it. If not, don't. Enthusiasm from the writer is contagious, and a lack of it is impossible to hide.

[givemea170]

If you care about it, write about it. If not, don't. Enthusiasm from the writer is contagious, and a lack of it is impossible to hide.

I care about it... slightly. I can't think of any other topic though so it seems like settling.

[fashiongirl]

This has been hard for me as well. I almost wanted to settle on different topics because they may have sounded like a better story. But think about an actual event or time in your life that impacted you, changed you, or made you realize something important. Try brainstorming a lot more.

[cinephile]

But think about an actual event or time in your life that impacted you, changed you, or made you realize something important. Try brainstorming a lot more.

+1. Knowing that you're breaking away from your family's expectations only tells them about what you want from law school/why law school. It doesn't tell them why they should want you, what's special about you, what you can add, etc.

[theadvancededit]

...why they should want you, what's special about you, what you can add, etc.

Those are all factors you should include in your PS, regardless of you choose this topic or not. Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm, and make sure the topic you choose reflects this.

For more: http://theadvancededit.com/admissions/c ... ent-topic/

[Eliyahu7]

I suppose its because I come from more of a blue collar background, but your topic has the potential to come of a little shallow. I'm not saying this to attack you, but if I were reading the statement I might come away thinking "Oh this person comes from a really privileged background and wants me to believe that they faced adversity because they had to turn down family pressure for one elite profession into order to pursue another." Its Just my opinion, and I obviously don't know what your life had been like, so take it with a grain of salt. However, if you do go this route I would be very careful with how you craft it. Humor and excellent story telling are always great tools for this type of thing, and you really want to make sure you show them that you are in fact human. On the other hand, law schools are full of stuffy ivy league type folks. Anything you can do to distinguish yourself from that stereotype is going to work to your advantage with the personal statement. Likewise, something that might reinforce those notions probably won't help you out much. Of course, the extent to which your personal statement might function in either those manners is something that only you can determine.

Again, Just my opinion. Best of luck.

[Bildungsroman]

I don't think the whole "I'm doing law against my parent's wishes" theme works well for a law school PS at all. I'm sure there are exceptions, like the person whose decision to pursue law is part of a larger identity their family rejected (e.g. someone going to law school because of their past experiences in the gay rights movement) or as a part of a larger story of overcoming adversity (e.g. someone with an abusive parent who always demeaned them and told them they'd never be good enough for college/law school/a career as a lawyer). Absolutely nobody is going to find the narrative of "my parents are highly qualified professionals who disagreed with my decision to go to law school" compelling because 1. you're not overcoming anything significant, and 2. it marks you as someone who comes from a well-off family but who isn't self-aware enough to realize it.

[kingjones59]

I did a similar thing. Basically that my parents did not think I should go to college at all, let alone law school etc and how I persevered blah blah blah. Im in at UVA so oh well. Its 99% a numbers game, do not let anyone tell you anything different. Dugas even told me in the acceptance call that he really enjoyed my statement. Bottomline- if your a good writer, write about whatever you want.