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Anyone else writing that one-page De Paul essay on why you want to be admitted to one of the three optional LARC sections (health law, IP, or public interest law)? Do you know if the people who read these also have the rest of your file? That is, can it just be a composite of my resume & personal statement (amounting to my background/interest in public interest), or does it have to go above and beyond? What you DePaul applicants out there do?

(And don't say "call them and ask" because I'll have to wait till Monday!)

While I didn't write the essay (the only course I'd even have a slight interest in is public interest and that's only if it involves international human rights), I would assume you can reiterate things that are in your resume and personal statement. I wrote optional essays for a lot of other schools and I just made sure to go more indepth about my interest in and reason for wanting to attend their school in particular (in your case, it would be a specific class).

I also don't know if that essay will be taken apart from your other application materials, but it wouldn't be a bad place to reiterate your interest in attending DePaul law school in general (I slipped that into the last paragraph of nearly all my optional essays -- giving them one extra reminder that you're enthusiastic about the school and its programs can't hurt ).

Good luck.

katespade,

While I totally think it is okay to reiterate points from your other essays- do not copy and paste! I think you can be well assured that the person reading the optional essay will also be reading your application. That school takes pride in a thourough admissions process and I know for a fact that the department heads for that school will hand pick applicants for admission based on those essays. DePaul has an amazing IP department too, if thats what you are interested in! Patty Gerstenblith is an incredible woman.

I wrote one on their IP program. My PS was pretty much why I want to go to law school. I reiterated a few points and went a bit more in depth on why IP law.

I currently am going to DePaul, and am in the IP LARC section. I would recomend writing the essay. My guess is that they will use it to weight the factors and place you in the proper section, and if you have an interest in public interest, you should provide a strong indication of that. My gues is that they will have most of your file available, but it wouldn't hurt to make spot references to past experience in the essay to round out the consideration process.

Basic thought is that if you don't consider DePaul a "Safe" school for the aplication process, do everything that you can to convince them that you want to go there, and it is not just another aplication for you. Taking the time to write this essay, would be a potential indicator of a desire to go to DePaul. Also, I have seen that the directors of the different writing programs do have some pull during the admissions process, so....

Hope this helps!

Wow, thanks everybody for the top-notch advice! I just called DePaul and the guy said he didn't think the reviewers of the LARC essay would have the rest of my file. But I will be careful not to be cut-and-pasty anyway, I think that, and reiterating my desire to go to DePaul, is great, great advice.

Cspin - so of course now we're all curious about how you like DePaul! Tell us everything!!

It's a little early yet for an overall review of my first semester, but I am planning on putting up a detailed review of the school sometime in the future.

In short, the people are far more personable than any of the other schools that I looked at. There is a solid level of support and involvement from the Chicago legal community, and it gets cold in the winter.

tune back later for more!