Great Personal Statements for Law School

Your grades are nearly perfect and your LSAT scores are stellar-but that's not enough to get into a top law school. You have to stand out from a crowd of superachievers, and the best way to do that is with a great personal statement.

Paul Bodine is the Senior Editor at Accepted.com, one of the oldest and most successful online admissions consulting services. His clients have consistently earned admission to such elite law schools as Harvard, NYU, Virginia, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Georgetown, and Vanderbilt.

Acknowledgments

viii

Introduction

ix

CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTED

1

(18)

Know Thy Audience

4

(2)

The Admissions Party

6

(1)

Finding Your Self-Marketing Handle

6

(2)

Data-Mining Your Life

8

(5)

Writing Your Personal Statement

13

(4)

Revising and Editing

17

(1)

Letting Go

18

(1)

CHAPTER 2 GETTING PERSONAL: THE PERSONAL STATEMENT

19

(24)

What Schools Ask

20

(3)

Who Are You?: Diversity and Obstacles Overcome Topics

23

(5)

Accomplishments, Strengths, and Interests

28

(7)

Goals

35

(8)

CHAPTER 3 FINISHING STRONG: SECONDARY ESSAYS AND WAIT-LIST LETTERS

43

(20)

Are Optional Essays Optional?

44

(9)

The Fine Art of Damage Control: Addenda

53

(4)

Closing Arguments: Wait-List Letters

57

(6)

CHAPTER 4 CREDIBLE ENTHUSIASM: LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

63

(22)

What Do Recommendation Letters Do Anyway?

64

(1)

How Long?

65

(1)

How Many?

66

(1)

Selecting Recommenders

67

(1)

First Letter: Professor

67

(2)

Second Letter: Professor or Employer

69

(2)

Subsequent Letters

71

(1)

Dean's Letters

71

(1)

Approaching Recommenders

72

(3)

Writing Your Own?

75

(1)

Strategies for Recommendation Topics

75

(10)

SAMPLE DOCUMENTS

85

(60)

Personal Statement Outline

85

(2)

Personal Statements

87

(49)

Diversity Statement

136

(2)

Addendum

138

(1)

Transfer Essay

139

(2)

Letter of Recommendation

141

(3)

Wait-List Letter

144

(1)

Parting Thoughts

145

(1)

Bibliography

146

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Great Personal Statements for Law School

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials