Personal Statement—Help and Tips?

[Bridget21]

Hello, everyone—how did you handle the personal statement?

My first draft was basically a cover letter. I then watched the helpful webinars from October-ish and revamped the thing. Then I gave it to my friend/editor who’s going into an English MA and was horrified at how personal my PS was. In the new draft, I use my experience as a child of a single mother after my dad’s essential abandonment to explain my motivating factors for being a lawyer, info I didn’t mention at all in the first draft. TLDR: what did you accepted people do with your PS?

 

Additional Context: I’m on my third attempt at UVIC Law with a 4.0/4.33 GPA (probably more with drops) and a 161 LSAT that will hopefully get higher in January.  

[Thrive92]

1 hour ago, Bridget21 said:

Then I gave it to my friend/editor who’s going into an English MA and was horrified at how personal my PS was.

I'm not accepted into any law school yet, just an applicant like you.

But imo, the entire point of a personal statement IS to be personal. Unless you are putting down your SIN number, you shouldn't avoid putting down your personal situation into your PS.

Good luck

[babylawyer]

Hi, I got into UVic a few weeks ago, not sure how much weight they gave my personal statement (or if they even looked at it) but you can use me as a data point if you want. I would say my personal statement was 50% a pretty personal story and 50% cover letter. For half of it I talked about my sexuality and gender identity, and for the other half I talked about my history in student advocacy, and used both as motivators for wanting to become a lawyer. The latter was more of a cover letter style brag about my previous work experience, while the former was more context about myself and my life. I think the balance was probably a good move, and the multiple elements worked for me because I could tie them together with one thesis about my interest in law. Again, maybe my statement was terrible and I got in just from my stats, I have no idea what they're doing at admissions so take this with a grain of salt. But hopefully I helped a little bit, and good luck this cycle!!