Personal Statement Help! Forum

(Personal Statement Examples, Advice, Critique, . . . )
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ThatOneAfrican

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Personal Statement Help!

Post by ThatOneAfrican » Tue Jan 16, 2018 3:50 am

Hi everyone. Okay, so this is what I have so far as my personal statement. I'm not sure what to think about it as a whole. I feel like I should probably add a lot more to that last paragraph and cut some stuff out, but what I'm not sure yet. Any help/critique is appreciated!

If there is one thing I love, one thing that has really exerted an influence over me, it’s books. So much so that I can trace the exact timeline of how my fondness for them began. First, there were the Enid Blyton books, books about magical cottages and British schoolchildren caught up in brilliant adventures. Then there was the Left Behind: The Kids series, which were a bit more dramatic. Then there was Harry Potter and from there it spiraled into something unquantifiable. I was always, always with a book in my hand. It didn’t matter where or what time of the day, what genre it was or where it was set at that point. American books were always the easiest to find in Nigeria, but as I grew I searched and found books by authors from all over the world.

I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that all the books I read when I was younger colored my entire outlook on life, both how I thought of people and how I thought of myself. My love for books and fiction came about pretty simply. To be able to experience realities so different from mine was amazing to me. I had lived my whole life in Nigeria, and I didn’t have much contact with people from other countries. With books, however, I could see how people from completely different countries and walks of life thought, how they lived, how they understood things. Of course, you can’t really get the whole story from novels alone. But it was a starting point, the trigger so to speak, of my interest in the international.

By this point, I suppose it would not be surprising to learn that my interest in law also began with a novel. A John Grisham novel to be specific. These were hawked all over the streets of Lagos when I was a child, along with other western popular fiction authors, for the same price as a bag of plantain chips. They were almost always about lawyers caught up in the most dramatic events you could think of. Naturally, after reading these books I began to seek out information about the law, and eventually about international law specifically. What I found was a dynamic practice, not as melodramatic as my childhood novels, and yet just as interesting. And so, when I eventually came to the US for my undergraduate studies, at the back of my mind was the goal of eventually studying international law. In an attempt to not pigeonhole myself into only one thing, I branched out into other sectors in college, tried new things. Over time, however, I realized that my interest has yet to wane. In fact, it has only grown stronger.

DrGlennRichie

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Re: Personal Statement Help!

Post by DrGlennRichie » Sun Jan 21, 2018 9:11 pm

Nope. Writing that you want to be a lawyer because you read about them is like saying that you want to be a doctor because you like white lab coats, or whatever they are wearing.

Its also sounds very childish and makes me question your maturity.

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ThatOneAfrican

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Re: Personal Statement Help!

Post by ThatOneAfrican » Mon Jan 22, 2018 4:43 pm

I was trying to show that books are what sparked my interest in the international and in law, not necessarily what made me want to be a lawyer. Not too sure what I can do about making myself sound more mature.

DrGlennRichie

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Re: Personal Statement Help!

Post by DrGlennRichie » Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:19 am

ThatOneAfrican wrote:I was trying to show that books are what sparked my interest in the international and in law, not necessarily what made me want to be a lawyer. Not too sure what I can do about making myself sound more mature.
First try to figure out what you want to say. You want to convey some information about yourself that would make them better understand who you are. Is fact that books sparked your interest very important for you? Does it make you stand out? Does it show your qualities? Not really. It only shows that you are literate, but that is what LSAT is for.

Read more examples here and it will help.

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