Last week, I published an excerpt on
law school personal statement topics to avoid from
The Art of the Law School Personal Statement by
Michelle Fabio.
This week, we're continuing the series with more law school admission essay topics to avoid.
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5. Poetry or Other Creative Writing
As touched on in the 12 Commandments, your personal
statement is not the place to write haiku or the draft of a screenplay. You
want your essay to be memorable but not in the “Can you believe she actually
sent this in?” kind of way.
And to expand a little more on the inclusion of humor,
never, under any circumstances, should you write the equivalent of a stand-up
monologue. Law schools are looking for intelligent, mature, hard-working
individuals, so your personal statement should highlight those
characteristics—not make your case to replace Conan O’Brien.
6. Awards and Achievements
The brainstorming questions touched on this topic, and one
outstanding award or achievement could make for a great personal statement
topic, but a resume rundown of your awards and achievements can come across as
pompous and arrogant. Believe me, I’ve seen this type of personal statement, and
it’s not pretty.
Your resume is the appropriate place to list your awards and
achievements, especially if there was nowhere else on the application to
include them.
7. Trite Reasons for Wanting to Be a Lawyer
Trite is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, but when it
comes to “why you want to go to law school,” here are general answers you
should avoid:
• My parents (or whoever) told me I’m
good at arguing.
• I loved my elementary/high school moot
or mock trial court program.
• It’s been my lifelong dream.
• My [fill in the relative(s)] is/are
lawyers.
• I didn’t know what else to do with my
English major.
You may be chuckling to yourself, thinking who would ever
try to form a personal statement around any of these ideas? Trust me. I have
seen a variation of each of one of these over the years, and it’s never been
good.
So should you never write about why you want to become a
lawyer? Never say never, because this could actually be a wonderful personal
statement topic so long as you have a compelling story to tell and tell it,
well, compellingly.
Generally, though, the “why I want to be a lawyer” topic is
overdone and hard to pull off in an interesting, engaging way. This is
especially true if you’re planning a "save the world" theme (it's
difficult for it to come off as sincere and credible—sorry!). But if you've had
a particularly formative, recent experience that has stirred your passions for
practicing law, sure, it can work. Just be careful.
8. Random Childhood Memories
Your personal statement should focus on people and/or events
that have shaped who you are, so don’t try to form a personal statement about
the one time you volunteered at the hospital telethon working the phones.
Volunteering, of course, can make for an excellent personal
topic, but only if you focus on a meaningful experience that made a significant
impact on you.
Now that we’ve been through what would make for good and bad
topics, it’s time to get this statement put together.
