.

Kind of boring. I dunno, I could be wrong... but it just didn't grab my attention. If you write it, write it well.

I would talk more about you... a personal statement, at least in my view, should be just that- personal. I'm sure that experience has pushed you to pursue a career in the legal field, but I would put together a PS that highlights certain traits/characteristics about you that won't shine through in your resume/application. just a thought.

The problem is that I really don't have much to talk about. The only thing I could really talk about that's more personal is my background (a minority but probably overrepresented) or my path from high school underachievement and depression to getting closer to hitting my potential in college (upward trend too), but that would sound like an ugly sob story. I feel this ties in with my political science background and ultimate desire for legal academia.

To be bluntly honest, at this point I'm really not looking to write anything exceptional because I know my experiences aren't going to result in something amazing; also because I just want to get my apps in before the wave of Dec LSAT takers. I just want to write something solid that'll cement my status at some of the schools I should get into (MVP). I might write something else or add more to my PS for Berk.

Uh, you are quite possibly already in the same boat as December LSAT takers if not behind some of them if they have submitted and schools are just waiting for a score - so that should not be a reason for not doing a good job on your PS.

Everyone has something interesting to say. You don't have to be unique. From your short blurb you already have a life experience that other people don't have.

Focus the personal statement on your experience living under a dictatorship. It doesn't have to be exciting - you can talk about how little changes influenced your life, personality, and who you are today. You can talk about why you left the country and experience leaving, etc.

What you shouldn't talk about is the law, unless you its something really simple. You can mention how under authoritarianism the law was useless or seemed arbitrary, but leave that as one or two sentences in a larger story about you and what you experienced because of that. Admissions doesn't want you to write about what you think about the law or about democracy and so forth. You're not a legal scholar, you are going to learn a lot about this material in law school. Stick to something personal and you'll be way better off.

Which dictatorship?

Rather not say on a public forum.

Whatever, bottom line is I wanna get my apps in ASAP and I know I'm not going to come with something incredible. I don't even know what a head-turning PS looks like.

Ok, a few questions.

1) Do people typically send the exact same PS to every school? Do you need to include the school's name SOMEWHERE in the PS? Typically 2 pages double-spaced, right? I'm only planning so far to send a different one to Berkeley by adding 2 more pages about Berk itself since they allow a 4-pager (prolly gonna end up around 3-3.5)

2) Good or bad sentences?:

"In its ideal form, the law derives its legitimacy from the will of the people and bolsters its place in society via consistency in application."

"My desire to make the law my next intellectual and academic pursuit is rooted in both my experiences and my identity; it is a passion that I have held for as long as I can remember, and one I am confident I will excel at."
^better structure? cliche?

Thanks everyone.

You should download Ken's ebook. It was helpful.

I've actually read (and will continue to read) a good portion of it. I agree, it's helpful.

When you say you have experience in a dictatorship do you mean that you visited a dictatorship or that you lived under a dictatorship for many years?

I'm technically a dual citizen and have probably spent around 10% of my life there.

I already know you're most likely Chinese or North Korean, so technically you already said that.

sounds like a good idea, but make sure that you are discussing YOU and not the dictatorship (for the most part). how did it affect you? why does it motivate your attendance at law school? what were your thoughts when you saw bad things X,Y,Z happen? etc etc.

Both wrong.

Thanks, that's good advice.

This seems a little dicy for a PS then. If I assume you're ~20 years old that means you spent ~2 years living there, and it was probably your first two years of life. Now correct me if I'm wrong of course, but if that's all correct you don't really know too much about living under a dictatorship, and anything you do remember would be minimal.

On the other hand, I think you have a great diversity statement at your fingertips. I'm assuming this would make you a first generation American if you immigrated when you were a child, and the fact that your parents and grandparents most likely lived the vast majority of their lives under this regime means that it does have a profound effect on your educational, social, linguistic, economic, etc. backgrounds.

I would avoid it as a PS though unless you lived there from ages 16-18 and something life-shattering occurred.

Ok, I probably should just have mentioned earlier that I HAVE experienced this place enough to write about it. I go there virtually every year for a month or so.

As far as diversity, I don't know. I was born here and my ethnic group is a small minority but one that is probably overrepresented, if anything. That, and my upbringing was not disadvantaged in any way.

Two things wrong with this:

1. This has nothing to do with you except for that you experienced a dictatorship abroad. Most of what you plan to do is pontificate about an appreciation of the American legal system. A personal statement needs to be about YOU. Spend more time on your experience and how it affected you, not the hypothetical masses.

2. As another poster pointed out, you are not a legal scholar. Citing Anna Ivey as my source, ad-comms hate reading PS/DSs where the applicant tries to write about the law- which is know as the "Think Piece." Unless you wrote a doctoral dissertation on the topic, in the eyes of the ad-comm, when it comes to the law, you are a n00b. You are extremely likely to write something that is incorrect or ignorant.

I think you have potential for an interesting topic, but how you are planning to do it isn't really doing you any favors. Lawyers are professional writers- don't just write off the PS. It is important.

At the same time you'll probably never have to write something like this again. If you think this is the best you got, write it to the best of your ability. If you don't feel comfortable swapping with people on here, swap with some people or close friends whose opinion you respect. At this point I wouldn't spend longer than 2 weeks from rough draft to submit. Good luck.

On the same note- have you thought of asking people who know you well, like family and friends, about your topic? They may be able to give you some ideas you hadn't thought of that would fit you very well.

LS use the PS in many cases as their "unofficial interview"- the best description I have ever heard for the PS is this (which I want to say came from Great Personal Statements for Law School): the law school application process is like being at a cocktail party with 200-1000 other people. The hosts want to talk to everyone, so they only can spend five minutes or less with each person. What would you want them to know about you in those five minutes?

Yeah, I'm actually wary of this and I've been going through it making sure I don't say anything dumb. That's why I posted that sentence above and will probably take it out.

I've also been editing it and talking more about how the experience affected me.

Sounds like you are moving in the right direction; if you honest to God must say something esoteric about the law (because I would take it out completely if possible), have a lawyer read over it. He/She should be able to pick up anything blatantly obvious.