First PS draft, would appreciate criticism. Forum

[Camgator1]

Throughout my entire life I have trying to prove to people what I am. I’ve been telling everyone who would listen how I am smart, compassionate, and occasionally funny. I’ve been lecturing the world that being the son of an Iranian immigrant makes me unique; it gives me character and substance. But recently all of that has changed. As I move forward in life through law school I do not want to be defined by what I am, but rather what I am not. In layman’s terms, I have begun the process of proving to the world that I am not a “one-trick pony.”
As I reviewed my undergraduate career I began to realize that my path to law school had not taken a uniform route. I’ve had work in Congress, Presidential elections, sports writing, and even the student investment club at my University, none of which scream “future law school student.” But then I applied that knowledge to my personal story, how I’ve grown up my entire life being different from everyone else as the son of an Iranian man and a white woman from rural Texas. How when everyone else was going to parties and sleeping in I was taking enough credits to graduate a full year early and attending workshops. How in a world of conflict and anger I’ve kept my faith in both humanity and religion and tried to see the good in everyone. Once I remembered how different of a person I am from my peers, I understood that it would only make sense for my experiences to differ as well.
My entire college experience has been amazing. I’ve met the best friends I could ask for, I’ve gone to the best football games in the country, and I’ve matured far greater than my twenty years of life would suggest. But through all of that my dream of going to law school has survived. From the late nights spent studying for a mock trial case in class, to the 27 page paper due at in the morning, to the countless jokes from my roommates saying, “so when we get arrested you’ll get us out, right?” I’ve always known that I would be a lawyer someday. To me, there is no greater feeling than being able to prove through logic that you are correct, or that using the decisions of your predecessors can help you alter the future. The idea of a continuum leading from the first lawyers to myself gives me chills, but that only motivates me further.
But what does all of this have to do with being a “one-trick pony?” That’s the point of this whole personal statement I suppose. My father always felt that my time would be best spent learning different fields rather than just one. When he came to America he barely spoke English and knew little about the culture, but that excited him. He had the opportunity to learn, which he instilled in me. “Knowledge is power,” he’d always tell me as I studied in our kitchen, or my personal favorite, “The leaders of our world don’t have to be the biggest, but they should be the smartest.”
By meeting people with different beliefs and ideologies than myself, by gaining experience in completely unrelated fields, and by maturing as a man, I believe I have gained the knowledge that I need to succeed as a lawyer, and more importantly as a person. These separate experiences have given me attributes and skills in multiple fields and have saved me from becoming the aforementioned “one-trick pony” that has stigmatized many of my peers. As the admissions counsel review my application, I hope that they understand that I am much more than a stack of papers. I hope they feel that they know me on a personal basis afterwards, and I hope they truly feel that I would be a positive, unique, and substantive addition to their law school.