An Important Personal Statement Reminder

The time has come to draft your personal statements and you’re feeling overwhelmed. You’ve heard that they are often a crucial part of your application, and you want them to be perfect, but the task seems to be inherently flawed. “How in the world am I going to adequately sum myself up in just a page or two?” you ask yourself in frustration. This is a rather common complaint of applicants (it certainly was for me) but fortunately, the reality is that this seemingly impossible task really is just that: impossible. The truth is that these relatively short pieces need not be so complicated. Let me explain.

As a burgeoning law student, you likely have plenty to talk about — too much to talk about in your estimation! The beauty of this conundrum is that this seemingly problematic situation lends itself well to crafting excellent personal statements; you just need to first erase some misconceptions you may have of what your personal statement “ought” to be.

If you’re approaching your personal statements with the conviction that they need to be an adequate summation of your academic and professional career to date and that they need to perfectly encapsulate your essence, well, you’re going to have a hard time.

I get it, I really do. There is a burning desire to cram everything you deem remotely relevant to your application into those couple of pages: avoid this temptation. The odds are that you simply will not have the space to grant all your experiences the attention they deserve, and what will result, rather ironically, is a personal statement devoid of personality and substance. How can we avoid such personal statements that read like resumes and fail to inspire? We leave things out. “But I can’t! It’s all important” you may retort. I can assure you, however, that not everything is of equal importance.

It will likely feel painful at first, but you will be better served having a hard look at your CV and to pick a few experiences that you can write about in some detail, and in a manner that will make admissions committee members think “I can see this applicant as a lawyer.” This is an important visual to solicit, and it is exceedingly difficult to do so when you leave readers with surface-level descriptions of a plethora of activities, rather than substantiated descriptions of a select, impressive few.

The next question you likely have is how one goes about substantiating those chosen experiences. The answer? Anecdotes. Anecdotes are great not only for interview preparation but for your personal statements as well. They are great because they can demonstrate you, in action, getting work done and doing it well! Anecdotes are also easily visualizable. Remember, you want the reader of your personal statement to be able to picture you in action: this will make your impression on the reader more memorable and help solidify that image of you doing the actual work of lawyering.

I have written up an example here to demonstrate what I am harping on about. It is by no means perfect — no personal statement ever will be — but it will help give you a better idea of how to showcase yourself.

Sample

While serving as the director of the Business Analytics Student’s Association I was able to resolve a substantial, unforeseen dilemma which threatened to derail our marquee event. Students were set to compete in a case competition wherein they were to pitch their data-based solutions to real problems faced by local companies to a regional firm. The key sponsor of our event and supplier of judges pulled out two weeks before the competition, leaving the entire event in jeopardy. I was determined not to let the event fail as it promised both an exciting learning and networking opportunity for students. I spent the next two weeks contacting and promoting our competition to numerous other firms. After much effort, I was able to secure a replacement sponsor in time for the event who demonstrated an incredible enthusiasm for it. We were able to deliver the competition on the date planned and to much avail from students and faculty alike.

The above is an example of an anecdote that demonstrates leadership, determination, and problem-solving in action, all in one fell swoop. Rather than simply tell the reader you have these skills because of your position as an executive in a club, you can show them. This is always going to be a more convincing and compelling manner to describe your experiences and as such, you will leave your readers with a strong, lasting impression.

Conclusion

You will be well served selecting from your CV your experiences for which you can give compelling anecdotes that showcase you at your best. You should fight the temptation to jam everything you have in your arsenal into your personal statement to avoid simply reiterating your resume. Be deliberate with your writing and demonstrate, with concrete examples, that you are indeed up to the task.

Photo Credits:

Brandon Lopez

Zach Durant