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I wouldn't touch this one with a 10-foot pole, in light of recent events, but that's just me.

rwhyAn wrote:I wouldn't touch this one with a 10-foot pole, in light of recent events, but that's just me.

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I generally recommend talking about things in personal statements that demonstrate how you overcame adversity, developed as a person, persevered through difficult times to shape your perspective, etc...

Since this happened like, yesterday, I don't know how it could already serve the basis for a genuine personal statement

Writing about this is risky and polarizing at worst and will provide absolutely no benefit at best.

I think it's ok to talk about it, since you've been working as an immigration paralegal and want to help disadvantaged foreigners, but be really considerate about what you say. First off, is helping refugees specifically what you want to do? I'm not too clear what you mean by "help foreign nationals that are disadvantaged." Are you talking specifically and exclusively about refugees, or would this also include a severely poor Haitian trying to make their way to the US? Maybe talk about prejudice, maybe not. Honestly, saying that you want to help people escape war-torn Syria would probably not have a negative effect. At the same time, though, it's an issue that just got a thousand times more complicated in the wake of the Paris attacks. Beyond that, it's crucial that you don't come across like you're using this situation to your personal advantage. That's why it helps that you've worked in immigration, etc. but you need to be real careful to sound genuine.

acr wrote:I generally recommend talking about things in personal statements that demonstrate how you overcame adversity, developed as a person, persevered through difficult times to shape your perspective, etc...

Since this happened like, yesterday, I don't know how it could already serve the basis for a genuine personal statement

Writing about this is risky and polarizing at worst and will provide absolutely no benefit at best.

Yeah, this.

acr wrote:I generally recommend talking about things in personal statements that demonstrate how you overcame adversity, developed as a person, persevered through difficult times to shape your perspective, etc...

Eh, this sounds a little too diversity-statement inflected. Not everything has to be overcoming adversity and persevering. It's fine to talk about what you want to do in your career, if you actually have a clear idea of what that is and why you want to do it. The risk with such a topic is that you produce some incredibly naive "I want to use my JD to save the rainforest/starving orphans in Africa" thing, or talk about doing something that isn't really what lawyers do. But if you have enough exposure to the legal profession that you can speak reasonably about your goals, that kind of topic is fine.

It's a personal statement. The adcomms want to use it to learn something about you. That may be adversity you've overcome, but it absolutely doesn't have to be.

That said, I probably wouldn't focus on the Syrian refugees in a lot of depth - you don't want to make it look like you're trading on their situation to come up with a topical PS. But referencing it may well be reasonable/appropriate.

No

I'm in favor of Syrian immigration but it is such a controversial topic that it displays poor judgement to address in a personal statement.