If reapplying, new PS and DS? Forum

[amc987]

Hey all,

I am asking this on behalf of a good friend who is considering reapplying to law school this year.

If one is reapplying to law school can he or she submit the same personal statement and diversity statement from the previous application? Or, do the essays the person submits have to be entirely new? I only ask because my friend was very happy with the way her essays turned out last year, and doesn't know whether she has had tremendously new experiences to foster brand new essays.

I would appreciate any advice from people who reapplied.

[iMisto]

Is your friend applying to the same schools she did last time? If so, I'd at least consider a reworked version of the PS/DS. It would seem to be in poor taste to send the exact same application to the same schools.

This is my second round of applications (applied two cycles ago). Although I liked my original PS, I had it heavily edited by fresh eyes. I definitely feel confident with the new version. I'd suggest she have it sent to some folks on TLS for small revisions. If you can't tell, they're fantastically honest (assholes).

[bp shinners]

I would appreciate any advice from people who reapplied.

It's generally a good idea to make some changes to them. Update them with new events, or rewrite certain sections to reflect a deeper understanding of those events based on another year of life and (supposedly) maturing.

[francesfarmer]

Hey all,

I am asking this on behalf of a good friend who is considering reapplying to law school this year.

If one is reapplying to law school can he or she submit the same personal statement and diversity statement from the previous application? Or, do the essays the person submits have to be entirely new? I only ask because my friend was very happy with the way her essays turned out last year, and doesn't know whether she has had tremendously new experiences to foster brand new essays.

I would appreciate any advice from people who reapplied.

I retooled my PS slightly and wrote a DS. I applied three years ago. I'm not applying to many of the same schools, though. If she is happy with her essays, she shouldn't do a complete overhaul. I doubt adcomms will notice they are the same.

Edit: does anyone know how adcomms consider reapplicants? Has there ever been an interview with an admissions dean that asked? I feel like they just see little checkboxes next to "Applied? What cycle? Accepted?"

[BuckeyeGirl]

I'm reapplying from the 2010-2011 cycle. My thought is brand new PS (DS not as applicable to me) as a strategic reason more than anything else, ESPECIALLY if you write well. A number of the admissions offices explicitly say they will look at your previous application and I assume that's true at many others. I think it's a (potentially) great opportunity to have another piece of strong writing about you on file. I am writing a totally new PS and taking it in a very different direction. I know time is very limited for adcomms, but if there's even the possibility of them looking at both pieces it seems worthwhile to be adding a new and unique writing sample to your file.

But like I said, I'm 0L v2.0 so take that thought process for what you will

[francesfarmer]

I'm reapplying from the 2010-2011 cycle. My thought is brand new PS (DS not as applicable to me) as a strategic reason more than anything else, ESPECIALLY if you write well. A number of the admissions offices explicitly say they will look at your previous application and I assume that's true at many others. I think it's a (potentially) great opportunity to have another piece of strong writing about you on file. I am writing a totally new PS and taking it in a very different direction. I know time is very limited for adcomms, but if there's even the possibility of them looking at both pieces it seems worthwhile to be adding a new and unique writing sample to your file.

But like I said, I'm 0L v2.0 so take that thought process for what you will

This is very smart. Lol at "0L v2.0." I don't know exactly what that means but I'm happy to be applying for the second time (beyond the hundreds of dollars I wasted the first time) because I'm like, not even skerred.