Categories: Advice, Law School Personal Statement, Personal Statement Tips, Reasons for Going to Law School
Tags: law school personal statement, optional essays for law school applications, why law school
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An increasing number of law schools are asking you to address your reasons for attending law school, and their law school in particular, as part of your personal statement or in an optional essay. After all, my recent survey of 100 law school applicants showed that 39% felt they “knew nothing” or “only a little” about the legal profession.
After interviewing and surveying 300 lawyers for The Law School Decision Game: A Playbook for Prospective Lawyers, here are some things that I learned that can help you answer the questions “Why Law School?” and “Why THIS Law School?”
- The #1 reason lawyers say is a good reason for going to law school is Learning to Think Like a Lawyer. #2 is Enjoying Solving Problems and #3 is Enjoying Research and Writing.
- Lawyers say the top 3 traits for success in their field are: Willingness to Work Hard, Attention to Detail, and People Skills.
- The #1 reason lawyers say you should choose a law school: Location Near Community Where you Hope to Live. #2 was Cost of Attendance, and #3 was Location Near Job and Internship Opportunities.
These responses should help you phrase your responses to the questions being asked by law schools. For more in depth information about reasons to go to law school, what the legal profession is really like, and what you can expect from a career in law, read The Law School Decision Game: A Playbook for Prospective Lawyers, now available on Amazon.
Categories: Advice, Law School Personal Statement, Personal Statement Tips
Tags: law school personal statement, personal statement help
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The following is an excerpt from The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert, page 92:
5 Words & Phrases that Make Me Cringe in Personal Statements:
1. “Personally”- It’s a personal statement. Of course everything you say is your own personal opinion. If it’s not, you’re doing something wrong.
2. “In conclusion….” Blech! Just conclude, don’t announce that you’re concluding.
3. “I believe…” It doesn’t matter what you believe about your ability to succeed in law school or what you believe is important in your application. The fact that you believe it is immaterial. Just state the facts so that the reader independently concludes that he or she believes whatever you’re trying to prove.
4. “Unique…”Very few things in this world are “unique,” especially the use of the word “unique.”
5.”Firsthand experience….” What is a secondhand experience and why would anyone write about it?
Categories: Advice, Law School Admission Deadlines, Law School Personal Statement, Law School Resume Tips, Letters of Rec, LSAT, LSAT; Rolling Admissions
20 Comments »
If you just took today’s LSAT, congratulations on being done. For the next 24 hours make no major decisions and avoid reading any forums or talking to anyone who also took today’s test. You have 6 days to decide whether to cancel your LSAT score and there are no bonus points for rushing to cancel today. Take a deep breath and relax. I always talk to a lot of people who panic on LSAT day, only to feel just fine about their performance the next day. That rarely happens in reverse. However, definitely cancel your LSAT score if any of these things happened to you.
When you wake up tomorrow, decide to be productive. Here are 3 easy things to do this week to move your application process forward:
1. Get out your resume and resolve to polish it up. See this US News post I wrote last year and listen to Chapter 6 of the audio version of The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert.
2. Make sure your LORs are in process – being sent to LSAC or already there.
3. Work on your personal statement. Here are some helpful posts about law school personal statement writing and this one about concluding your personal statement.
Lastly, if you end up being disappointed by your score, is it OK to take the December LSAT and apply in early January? YES. Absolutely. It’s ok.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend and, as always, I’m happy to answer your questions.
Categories: Law School Personal Statement
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Apparently, there is a new trend where employers are asking law students applying for internships and clerkships for copies of the personal statements they used when applying to law school. One attorney told me she does this when hiring and that many of her colleagues do the same. She says:
“I feel like there’s so much focus on grades and academics in law school and its easy to lose sight of who you are or where you come from. I like the idea of learning a little about the applicant and then speaking with them about it when they interview.” For a recent hire in a family law practice, she learned through the personal statement of how divorce impacted the applicant’s life – that person got hired! It’s certainly something to think about!
Categories: Advice, Law School Admission Deadlines, Law School Admission Trends, Law School Personal Statement, Law School Resume Tips
Tags: getting into law school, law school admission tips
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I just returned from a really great couple of days speaking to the Pre-Law Society at San Diego State University and the Phi Alpha Delta chapter at University of California San Diego. Next week, I’ll be headed to NYC to speak to students at Fordham University. The school newspaper there interviewed me about my tips for getting into law school. I wanted to share this with my readers because I think they asked me some really great questions.
Categories: Law School Personal Statement
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I just finished presenting to 160+ law school applicants through a webinar for MSU Law School. Everyone asked great questions tonight and I’m opening up this blog post tonight to answer any questions about “Crafting Your Best Law School Personal Statement and Other Winning Tips for Law School Admission” that we were unable to answer during our session tonight. Just leave comments and I will reply.
Thanks so much for your comments and feedback about the session.
For those of you who missed it, we talked about the do’s and don’t for personal statements and other aspects of the application process.
Categories: Advice, Joint degree, Law School Admission Trends, Law School Personal Statement, LSAT Prep, Personal Statement Tips
Tags: Blog Talk Radio Show, JD/MBA, Joint degree, LSAT, personal statement
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Thanks so much to Wei Wang for asking me such great, thought-provoking and relevant questions today on BlogTalkRadio. (CLICK TO LISTEN to our 15 minute segment)
For those who missed the interview about my law school admission guidebook, Wei asked me questions about:
1. Prepping for the LSAT as a full time occupation versus studying while working full time.
2. Pursuing a joint degree, such as a JD/MBA.
3. What to do if you’re taking a year off from school and you can’t find a professional job.
4. Choosing what to write about in your law school personal statement.
Please check out our upcoming BlogTalkRadio segments and feel free to ask questions and to invite your friends to listen in.
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Ann K. Levine, Esq., former director of law school admissions for two ABA approved law schools, is a law school admission consultant and owner of Law School Expert,
