I am having trouble organizing a theme of my personal statement for many reasons.
1. Undergraduate gpa was 2.58 and I scored 149 and 156 on the LSAT, respectively.--
2. Had a DUI when I was 21, I am currently 30 (and caught driving while on a suspended license twice)
Moreover, I started college late, at 25 (currently 29) because of two deployments for the National Guard while in school I worked full time, so I had no extracurriculars or interacted with faculty to get a good letter of recommendation. The only shining light of mine is the National Guard and after the age of 22 I my record has been spotless. Could someone help me with suggestions in forming my personal statement. Do I acknowledge the DUI? My lack of letters of recommendation was due to work? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Help with personal statement. Forum
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Hat.trick
- Posts: 138
- Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 4:05 pm
Re: Help with personal statement.
There's really no good reason to mention the DUI or lack of LOR in your personal statement, use an addendum for the DUI. Your personal statement should be just that, something personal to you. Not why law or an essay to explain the bad parts of your application or highlight your resume. If you can use the national guard thing as a background to an interesting story that might be worth a shot. Just remember that the personal statement is your chance to tell adcomms things that aren't in your application, show off your writing ability, and tell them who you are.
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TLSanders
- Posts: 163
- Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:24 am
Re: Help with personal statement.
No, don't talk about negatives in your personal statement.
Your major weakness right now is that you see your only positives as having been in the National Guard and having refrained from getting into any trouble in the past eight years. It's very unlikely that that's accurate, but if you can't see what you have to offer, you can't expect the law schools to see it, either.
Take a few steps back and do some serious brainstorming. Figure out what you're proud of in life, what you have to offer your school and the legal profession and then identify the right way to illustrate those characteristics in your personal statement.
Your major weakness right now is that you see your only positives as having been in the National Guard and having refrained from getting into any trouble in the past eight years. It's very unlikely that that's accurate, but if you can't see what you have to offer, you can't expect the law schools to see it, either.
Take a few steps back and do some serious brainstorming. Figure out what you're proud of in life, what you have to offer your school and the legal profession and then identify the right way to illustrate those characteristics in your personal statement.
