PS Draft (Deleted) Forum
-
Anonymous User
- Posts: 428520
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
PS Draft (Deleted)
---Thanks!-----
Last edited by Anonymous User on Mon Aug 17, 2015 12:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
-
debdeb2
- Posts: 66
- Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 2:21 pm
Re: PS Draft
Hi Anon - the extended metaphor of the sausage is fun, but probably makes more appearances than necessary in this draft. What is more important is showing what drives you, and what attributes make you who you are.
I'm not sure what tier of law schools you are considering, but the focus on career may not be a bad thing. Take a look at the specific prompts for the schools you are considering. Are the prompts actually more of a "statement of purpose," where the school is asking you to interface with questions like "why law?" and your career goals? This is sometimes the case for mid-tier schools. If you find that the schools you are applying to are a mix of statement of purpose vs personal statement, you may need at least two separate essays for your applications. For a school seeking more of a statement of purpose, this essay's direction would be appropriate. But again, when adcomms are reviewing your essay, you don't want the primary summative takeaway to be "likes sausage."
If you are only considering top-tier schools, you should be aiming for more of a character study/personal story, and of course you'll need it to be well written. This frame sometimes helps: Be the hero of your story. What are you standing for? What are you struggling with? What have you overcome? What have you changed for the better? What have your earned, or learned? Showing some sort of growth to the reader, and how that came about, tells the reader a lot about how you make decisions, overcome difficulties, and choose to live your life. Your topic can be fun and light, or deep or morbid, but it should give the reader a picture of you. Aim for some concrete details beyond the image of sausage, and read drafts aloud to yourself - your ears will be better editors than your eyes when it comes to elegant prose.
I'm not sure what tier of law schools you are considering, but the focus on career may not be a bad thing. Take a look at the specific prompts for the schools you are considering. Are the prompts actually more of a "statement of purpose," where the school is asking you to interface with questions like "why law?" and your career goals? This is sometimes the case for mid-tier schools. If you find that the schools you are applying to are a mix of statement of purpose vs personal statement, you may need at least two separate essays for your applications. For a school seeking more of a statement of purpose, this essay's direction would be appropriate. But again, when adcomms are reviewing your essay, you don't want the primary summative takeaway to be "likes sausage."
If you are only considering top-tier schools, you should be aiming for more of a character study/personal story, and of course you'll need it to be well written. This frame sometimes helps: Be the hero of your story. What are you standing for? What are you struggling with? What have you overcome? What have you changed for the better? What have your earned, or learned? Showing some sort of growth to the reader, and how that came about, tells the reader a lot about how you make decisions, overcome difficulties, and choose to live your life. Your topic can be fun and light, or deep or morbid, but it should give the reader a picture of you. Aim for some concrete details beyond the image of sausage, and read drafts aloud to yourself - your ears will be better editors than your eyes when it comes to elegant prose.
