Same personal statements Forum

[matt690]

Can I use the same statement for all schools? I was under the impression that a personal statement should work for every school, as it's an individual's unique writing providing writing capability with a unique perspective with him/herself.

I couldn't find any information regarding this. What did you do, what do you think? Thanks.

[Davidbentley]

Fwiw, I submitted the same PS to all of the schools I applied to. I did not tailor it to the schools, or for that matter tie in the "why law?" angle. Write something good. If you can't do that, write something interesting. And if you can't do that, then write the typical "how i decided on law" PS and tailor it to the school.

[bp shinners]

It's, by far, the norm to use the same personal statement for every school. There's sometimes room for a little customization if you have a specific, demonstrable interest in an area in which the school to which you're applying has numerous programs. Generally, though, one letter for everywhere.

[Duramax80]

I dont know what schools youre applying to, but after reading the PS guidelines for the schools Im applying to, they all want something different. Okay, maybe not all of them, but some focus on your educational and work experience, while others ask you to avoid rehashing your resume. I was planning on using the same PS for all my schools (All Tier 2 or Tier 3), but after checking out what they wanted, I took the more tedious route of writing 3 different statements for like 15 different schools.

[bp shinners]

I dont know what schools youre applying to, but after reading the PS guidelines for the schools Im applying to, they all want something different. Okay, maybe not all of them, but some focus on your educational and work experience, while others ask you to avoid rehashing your resume. I was planning on using the same PS for all my schools (All Tier 2 or Tier 3), but after checking out what they wanted, I took the more tedious route of writing 3 different statements for like 15 different schools.

You're reading too much into the prompts. They're all essentially asking for the same thing.

Sure, there are a few oddballs out there. But if you wrote a proper Personal Statement, it should be responsive to the vast majority of prompts out there.