Admittedly biased as a coauthor, I think the Top-Law-Schools.com Guide to personal statements is the best b-book (and book) out there providing applicants over 200 pages of advice on writing a strong personal statement for the admissions application. This e-book includes over 30 examples of personal statements with extensive commentary on "What's Strong" and "What's Wrong" for each statement. The e-book also includes appendices on supplementary admissions essays, letters of recommendation, and letters of continued interest, among others. The first author, Ken DeLeon, J.D., runs Top-Law-Schools.com, the nation's premier advice website for law school applicants. The second author, Joann Kleinneiur, Ph.D., runs Revision Editing, a professional personal statement editing service. This is the only book on the market that includes detailed commentary, showing you the feedback an applicant would receive from a private editing service.

The e-book is available at http://www.top-law-schools.com/guide-to ... ments.html

Thanks Ken! I'll have to check this out.

I wish there was a way to preview the book.

I just flipped through the link slee posted and I think the appendix on the Yale 250 should be revised at some point. At least two of the 250s featured were written by applicants who were ultimately rejected by Yale ("Porgy and Bess" and "Bighead"), and I think the rest of the 250s (except #4) are lighter than most of the successful 250s I've seen. In my own research on the 250 I've noticed that almost all of the unsuccessful 250s avoid intellectually-demanding subjects, while most of the successful 250s seem to do the opposite (i.e. they discuss difficult topics in philosophy or science). I've personally gotten the impression that the Yale 250 is best used as an academic writing sample; the professors reviewing your application want to know how clearly you can communicate difficult subject-matter, and the 250 is the only place to do that if your PS is autobiographical and written in a less formal style (as most are).

I was wondering if anyone could give some feedback about this ebook. I'm currently in the process of writing my personal statement and think this could be helpful. However, I know there is a lot of content here already on TLS and was wondering if there was any repetition in the ebook. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

I bought this book yesterday and devoured it last night; for $9.99, I thought it was a reasonable price, and I think rather than doing the usual, "I know a good personal statement when I see one" and then showcasing good personal statements, this work was really useful in pointing out what works and what doesn't.

Specifically noteworthy were the "Seven Questions the Admissions Committee Will Ask." It gave me a great sense of direction on what needs to be covered in the story I'm telling instead of just "telling a great story." I also felt like the way this book broke down the various elements that go into the personal statement allowed for me to take back control of my essay's effectiveness instead of simply relying on the story itself as an indication of whether or not I was ready for law school. Essays about world travel, holding twenty patents, or running a multi-million dollar company at nineteen are great, but after reading this book I felt confident that what really counts isn't how big the obstacles you overcame were, but rather the underlying message about what traits you have should appeal to law school. This book broke out from each essay what the essay really said to the reader--I found that extremely useful.

The essays shared were mainly stellar and at times intimidating; however, even the best essays were broken down to point out weaknesses or how the author could have improved. There were also some middle of the road examples that I personally would have considered submitting, which was good to see. I feel like examples of bad essays are so extreme that the average writer wouldn't dream of turning such a thing in as a personal statement.

The number one mistake I saw was the same mistake I was making--people were engrossed in storytelling that they failed to communicate why they would be successful in law school. Thus, I'd recommend this book--hope this helps!

I placed an order for the e-book an hour ago. Where is it?

It looks like that site has closed. Is there any other place on the net that I could find a copy?

Thank you.

"Revision Editing has closed. If you have already purchased the ebook and would like to view it, log in"

Seems like they took this one down.

It appears the site is back up. I purchased the ebook today and it went smoothly.

Bought it, yet haven't got it yet...my browser errored after I paid and I can't figure out how to re-download. Help.

+1

Just bought it and it errored on me too. Help.

Does this book still cost money?

It appears to be available for free: http://www.top-law-schools.com/guide-to ... ments.html

There is nothing saying that you can't still buy it to help support the site