Hopefully Last Draft of Personal Statement Forum

[Anonymous User]

I

[PlanetExpress]

Stanford Law School’s world-renowned faculty, small class sizes conducive to discussion and collaboration, and strong commitment to public interest demonstrated by its Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law and wide array of public interest course, externship, and clinic offerings, make it the ideal learning environment to delve into these broad concepts.

It's not necessary to tailor a PS to each school. However, if you do, try to be more detailed about why SLS (or any other) is right for you. Every top law school has small class sizes and great faculty, so those reasons aren't unique. Hundreds of other applicants will say the same thing. Could you mention a specific class, or professor and why they are attractive to you? Did you visit SLS? If so, that info could also go in there. You do name drop the Levin Center, but could you say something more specific about it?

Also, I just realized that your SLS part is only just one very long sentence. It's a little tough to read. If you broke it into two sentences and made it all more specific to you and SLS, it'd be easier to read and more genuine.

If you're looking to cut down the length, you might also consider just getting straight to the point on how this guy told you he was going to kill his girlfriend. You tease us with it for quite a while before you actually state it. Putting sooner could have the dual benefit of making the intro even more eye-catching and cutting down the length.

Just suggestions.

This is a great draft, though. Awesome!

[LSATclincher]

Great intro then it got verbose and boring. Attorneys are counselors and that skill is important. You can address that in 1 sentence or 2. You can probably tie in your message better in the final 2 para's.

Also, no need to address a particular school unless the school requires. They know why you are applying: You have the GPA and LSAT score to get in. Dont try to butter up to the committee. They don't care. They want the highest scores to boost their rankings. The PS is a way for good writers, with borderline #s to differentiate themselves against other applicants.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you both so much for the feedback! I originally had a lot more of the "story" part of the statement but I cut a lot of it out because all of my feedback was to tie it in to why I want to go to/why I would be a good fit for law school more. Do you think adding more of the story back in would be less boring?

[LSATclincher]

Thank you both so much for the feedback! I originally had a lot more of the "story" part of the statement but I cut a lot of it out because all of my feedback was to tie it in to why I want to go to/why I would be a good fit for law school more. Do you think adding more of the story back in would be less boring?

Yes -- It's a personal statement. And really the only opportunity you have to show some creativity and show who you really are to the committee minus an interview.

[Anonymous User]

l