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Seems like most people put an interests section. Don't mention practice areas, though; that's just weird. It should be your personal hobbies and interests.

Some examples are things like rock climbing, cooking, photography, sewing, restoring cars, competitive swimming, reading poetry, and traveling to archeological sites. Try to be more specific than vague things like "traveling" or "reading," and list a variety to make yourself sound well-rounded. Something like political philosophy would be ok, if you can be more specific as to how you 'practice' your interest (reading? attending symposia?), and you balance it out with other types of hobbies/interests so you don't sound like an insufferable ass whose lone hobby is sitting around reading Atlas Shrugged.

Make sure you can talk intelligently on any topic you list. You don't have to be an expert, but marke sure you are reasonably well-informed and enthusiastic on the topic.

I believe mine is fairly typical. It says: Interests include snowboarding, recreational ice hockey, camping, digital photography and art, cooking, and reading fiction.

Okay thanks. That helped a lot. So listing things I am interested in academically but not necessarily as a hobby is probably on the wrong track. Ex. Healthcare policy?

Is it ok to say I enjoy skinny skiing and going to bull fights on acid

Does everyone really put their random hobbies on resumes?? Or is this just a law school resume thing...

If you put M&A on your personal interests, it will be read by adcomms as Semi-Professional Douchebaggery.

Personal interests are really only useful as potential conversation points during an interview. In a process where you rarely (save for a few schools) interact with the people reviewing your application, I think an interests section is a waste of space. Save it for your job interviews.

Lawdy, don't put law related stuff in the interests section. At least try and act like you have a personality.

The interest section is basically a way for you and the interviewer to warm up to one another. Add some specific things you like to do. Don't put down World of Warcraft, but don't unnecessarily vague either (IE "Books"). Also, don't do anything that could be risky or offensive (IE "Preventing heathens from killing God's children").

Edit: forgot what forum this is on. Disregard.

Trout et al wrote:Okay thanks. That helped a lot. So listing things I am interested in academically but not necessarily as a hobby is probably on the wrong track. Ex. Healthcare policy?

Right. Academic or professional interests should be coming across in other parts of your resume (associations, internships, your personal statement, etc.) and not as a personal interest. The interests section is there to make you seem more human and to generate talking points during an interview. If you don't have legitimate/interesting/fun interests, leave it off for law school applications because it won't matter anyway. But I'd at least start brainstorming for when you need to apply to legal jobs.