Northwestern Personal Statement vs. Optional Essay Forum

(Personal Statement Examples, Advice, Critique, . . . )
Post Reply
Anonymous User
Posts: 432098
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Northwestern Personal Statement vs. Optional Essay

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Oct 07, 2013 3:44 pm

Northwestern offers an optional essay, and the prompt is "Briefly discuss your specific interest in Northwestern Law."

Does this mean that most of my discussion of "Why Northwestern?" should go in that essay? Or should I still include some of that discussion in my personal statement? As of right now, my personal statement is mostly about me, my interests, and my goals. There's just a small mention of Northwestern at the end. Now I'm second-guessing that decision. Do I need to?

Thanks!

User avatar
rinkrat19

Diamond
Posts: 13922
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 5:35 am

Re: Northwestern Personal Statement vs. Optional Essay

Post by rinkrat19 » Mon Oct 07, 2013 4:04 pm

Your personal statement should be about you. The optional Why NU? essay should be about why you want to go to Northwestern. Two separate topics. Don't overlap much, if at all.

As a side note, if anyone is wondering: Northwestern does genuinely want people to do all the optional stuff and does genuinely view applicants who jump through all the hoops more favorably than those who don't. Optional essays aren't going to make up for a lacking in numbers, but not doing them can hurt.

Post Reply

Return to “Law School Personal Statements”