First Draft -- Critiques Appreciated Forum
-
Anonymous User
- Posts: 428558
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
First Draft -- Critiques Appreciated
-
Last edited by Anonymous User on Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
HRomanus
- Posts: 1307
- Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2013 8:45 pm
Re: First Draft -- Critiques Appreciated
My suggestion is to not dwell on your adversity, particularly your childhood adversity. You had a horrible childhood - but that isn't necessarily relevant to what makes you a fit for law school or the legal profession. Adcomms want to read how you overcame adversity or how adversity inspired you to action in life.
"Why Law" is a sticky thing to write, particularly because there are other (and arguably better) avenues to stand up for the weak. "Why Public Service Law" is stickier still because it is so cliche. If you really want to serve people through law, AdComms want to see how you are serving them now. Law school isn't a magic ticket that suddenly enables you to help people. The vast majority of lawyering is not social work. Even the majority of public defenders are advocates for guilty persons - our criminal justice system isn't so corrupt that thousands of innocent people are accused of crimes. Law schools aren't asking for a purpose statement (except for UNC, damn them), they want to understand you as a person.
Befriending those without friends? Are you the middle school saint? To be serious, this sentence is actually where I am most interested. This should be your thesis. Through your adverse experience, you advocate for _______. Your adversity should be a quick drop in the statement that logically sparks your actions - whatever those are. Tell me what you did as a result of your adversity.Through my experiences, I have learned to advocate for the ignored, whether through working with underrepresented populations or befriending those without friends.
"Why Law" is a sticky thing to write, particularly because there are other (and arguably better) avenues to stand up for the weak. "Why Public Service Law" is stickier still because it is so cliche. If you really want to serve people through law, AdComms want to see how you are serving them now. Law school isn't a magic ticket that suddenly enables you to help people. The vast majority of lawyering is not social work. Even the majority of public defenders are advocates for guilty persons - our criminal justice system isn't so corrupt that thousands of innocent people are accused of crimes. Law schools aren't asking for a purpose statement (except for UNC, damn them), they want to understand you as a person.
