When you’re lost somewhere, what do you turn to? Chances are, you use your phone’s GPS to get you where you need to be.
Just like your GPS, your outline can keep your law school personal statement on track (and get you where you want to go – your top-choice school!).
As you may have noticed, I’ve shared a lot about preparing to write your law school personal statement.
The outline is the final preparation step.
It takes place after brainstorming, and there may even be a few versions of it. I usually work with students to come up with an outline together, and it’s a great way to keep their law school personal statement focused and on course.
But a lot of students want to skip this step and just get to the writing.
Here’s why that’s not a good idea: A lot of writers may not tell you this, but they usually don’t just sit at the computer and let the words “flow.”
In reality, writing a great law school personal statement requires planning.
Even the best novelists, journalists, and essay writers have at least some sort of framework before they just start typing away.
I understand that writing an outline might feel like extra work. So, let me take a few moments to share with you why the outline isn’t actually an “extra” step; it will actually save you time and effort in the long run.
3 Reasons You NEED an Outline for Your Law School Personal Statement:
1. It Gives You a Starting Point
One of the most common challenges the students I’ve worked with have faced is simply not knowing where to begin.
(If this sounds like you, don’t feel bad; this is something that professionals who write for a living struggle with all the time – it’s called writer’s block!)
Outlines take the guesswork out of writing so you won’t just be staring at a blank computer screen.
Outlines also remove the pressure of having to “sound good,” since they’re just a list of ideas. Once you have them on the screen (or paper – whichever you prefer!), you can then begin to organize them. You can add, remove, or reorder them as you see fit. What matters most is that writing your first draft will seem much less intimidating, because your outline will be there to guide you.
2. It Helps You Focus
After the creative juices start flowing, it’s easy to get caught up in a story or idea. Before you know it, you might find that your law school personal statement has veered off in a direction too far from the original point to reel it back in.
Again, your outline is your “map:” it’s the list you can look at when your ideas start to run wild. One thing I tell students to do is to look at their outline at the end of each paragraph. If your points are still relevant to your original supporting ideas, you’re on the right track. Which brings me to my next point…
3. It Means Fewer Revisions
Yes, outlines require you to put more work in upfront. But in the long run, they’ll save you time. By planning out your law school personal statement, you’ll stay on track with your writing so your first draft will be better than it would have been without following an outline.
This means you’ll spend less time on revisions – and more time thinking about how you’re going to decorate your dorm after getting accepted to your dream school.
Outlines remove the stress students feel leading up to the essay-writing process. The process is already stressful enough, but by getting your thoughts down ahead of time, you’ll feel less pressure when it comes time for writing.
The problem is, some students don’t even know where to start with an outline, even after doing some brainstorming. They get stuck, and even though they have great ideas and experiences, it’s difficult to organize them.
That’s where I come in: the law school application process is what I do best, and I’ve been helping students get into their top choice schools for years.
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