Transfer App Q's re: Personal Statement Forum

[iheartlaw]

Hey future colleagues,

First off, I'd like to start by just saying how amazing it feels to wake up and not have to go to the library. Pure bliss. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and has some exciting plans ahead of them or other things to look forward to.

I have a question about how to write the personal statement when Transferring. It seems like it is significantly different then the PS we wrote when we were still applying to LS, because back then I basically just had a generic "ps" that would pretty much work for every school. Now, from what I have been able to gather, it must be very school specific. Are there any threads w/r/t how to write a transfer PS. I tried to use the forum's search function, but came up empty. I would truly appreciate any direction or advice or thoughts on how I should go about this.

Kind regards.

[A'nold]

I'm going to keep the beginning the same (my life story part) and then use the rest to talk about each school separately. Not sure if this is the best method but it seems about right.

[Mox]

Some potential topics are a desire to practice in a certain area or a certain program/clinic that the school you are applying to offers. I agree with A'nold that it is prudent to tailor each p.s. to the specific law school you are applying. However, don't go nuts over the personal statement. IMO, for transfers the p.s. is weighed less and LOR's are weighed more in the admissions commitee's decision than it is for people applying as 1L's.

[JayCutler'sCombover]

Here is some stuff I wrote on this last topic year. There is a link to a blog I was horrible at updating but there is some useful transfer info in there (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 11&t=77498):

TRANSFER PERSONAL STATEMENT

Writing a personal statement sucked when I had to do it the first time I applied to law school, and it sucked equally when I had to do it for transfer purposes. I used the same transfer personal statement for each school (in general), and then modified it for each school. I got into to almost every school I applied to, but who knows if they actually read the thing. It was about 2 pages double spaced for each school (except for NYU which requested only a 1 page personal statement - for NYU I just discussed why I wanted to attend the school).

Here was my format for my personal statement:
1) General introduction with introduction of overarching theme of PS (1 paragraph)
2) Quick rundown of my 1L accomplishments (1 paragraph)
3) Quick rundown of pre-law school accomplishments (1 paragraph)
4) Specific discussion about why I want to attend X Law School (3 paragraphs)
5) Conclusion (1 paragraph)

I reused about 1/5 of my original personal statement from 1L applications and the rest was brand new. The 3 paragraphs was specific to each school and usually included the following information:

1) info about a specific clinic I was interested in (look at the school's website);
2) info about one class taught by a well-known professor that is offered (Click here for a list of the most-cited professors at each school: --LinkRemoved-- ... reas.shtml);
3) information about the school's strong placement in judicial clerkships (see USNWR for how many Article III clerks are from each school);
4) information about placement in academia (I've always wanted to do adjunct or other work at a law school; Click here to see how many alums from each school are teaching in law schools: --LinkRemoved-- ... hing.shtml);
5) information about the school's strong placement in my desired region (check out the NALP website for firm information at OCI).

I wasn't thrilled with my personal statement, but I thought it was well-written (i.e., it was nothing to fancy and didn't have any grammatical or spelling errors) and it showed that I did some research about each school. Granted all it took was about 25 minutes of internet research for each school, but I think it helped me learn about each school and gave me something to write about. It was nothing fancy, but it got the job done.

[A'nold]

Here is some stuff I wrote on this last topic year. There is a link to a blog I was horrible at updating but there is some useful transfer info in there (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 11&t=77498):

TRANSFER PERSONAL STATEMENT

Writing a personal statement sucked when I had to do it the first time I applied to law school, and it sucked equally when I had to do it for transfer purposes. I used the same transfer personal statement for each school (in general), and then modified it for each school. I got into to almost every school I applied to, but who knows if they actually read the thing. It was about 2 pages double spaced for each school (except for NYU which requested only a 1 page personal statement - for NYU I just discussed why I wanted to attend the school).

Here was my format for my personal statement:
1) General introduction with introduction of overarching theme of PS (1 paragraph)
2) Quick rundown of my 1L accomplishments (1 paragraph)
3) Quick rundown of pre-law school accomplishments (1 paragraph)
4) Specific discussion about why I want to attend X Law School (3 paragraphs)
5) Conclusion (1 paragraph)

I reused about 1/5 of my original personal statement from 1L applications and the rest was brand new. The 3 paragraphs was specific to each school and usually included the following information:

1) info about a specific clinic I was interested in (look at the school's website);
2) info about one class taught by a well-known professor that is offered (Click here for a list of the most-cited professors at each school: --LinkRemoved-- ... reas.shtml);
3) information about the school's strong placement in judicial clerkships (see USNWR for how many Article III clerks are from each school);
4) information about placement in academia (I've always wanted to do adjunct or other work at a law school; Click here to see how many alums from each school are teaching in law schools: --LinkRemoved-- ... hing.shtml);
5) information about the school's strong placement in my desired region (check out the NALP website for firm information at OCI).

I wasn't thrilled with my personal statement, but I thought it was well-written (i.e., it was nothing to fancy and didn't have any grammatical or spelling errors) and it showed that I did some research about each school. Granted all it took was about 25 minutes of internet research for each school, but I think it helped me learn about each school and gave me something to write about. It was nothing fancy, but it got the job done.

Hey, thanks a lot.

[iheartlaw]

Thanks for the advice JayCutler'sCombover. I have another question. I know this is kind of stupid to ask, but is anyone talking about why they want to practice law? I know that is something we included during 0L when we were still trying to get in to law. But do you think its important to still address why law? Or do you think we are okay, if we skip past that part, since presumably we have already gone through a year and know we want to practice law?