What topic to write about for a personal statement when I am applying straight out of undergrad with no career stories and no significant hardships in my upbringing to speak of?

[Seansei]

I believe I should write about something that makes me seem interesting and stand out, but against people who have years worth of stories about their work in an industry or their harsh upbringing, I don’t see how my story is much different from any other undergrad student without experience.

I am in computer science / software engineering (unusual pathway?)

By the time I apply I will have a private pilot license (passion, not career)

How can I stand out in telling my story?

[LMP]

You're presupposing what an admission committee wants to hear. Don't do that. There's a reason you want to go to law school and there are things you want to do after law school. Write about those things. 

[luckycharm]

you have 3.9 GPA and 161, that's a good enough story

[legaljustice]

I think many people in law school are privileged, so not having significant tragedies isn’t necessary. 
 

I’m gonna post some questions that may help guide you … my advice is don’t sell yourself short; everybody has a story. What’s yours? Why are you interested in law? How has your personal lived experience contributed to achieving this goal? How has it led you to applying to this specific law school? Give us a roadmap perhaps. What are your career objectives? How has your academic journey been? Any deep quotes that you can elaborate on? What has a privileged upbringing taught you?
 

everyone has a story. 

[Tesseract]

What you'll find when the application portal reopens is that many schools tell you exactly what they want you to write about. The questions they ask do vary across different topics but the most common questions, I found, were: 

Why law?

and

Why us?

You should spend some time determining whether or not you can think of compelling answers to these questions. It will help you determine whether or not law is actually the correct path for you to embark upon. 

 

[vital_signs]

This sounds like you are looking at how people typically write personal statements for American schools. Having applied to both American and Canadian schools this cycle, the Canadian schools seem to want something very different. As Tesseract has said, they give you a much more guided prompt that steers away from these sort of "adversity statements" that are prevalent south of the border.

EDIT: I should add that obviously these types of statements can be effective for Canadian admissions. But this is because they make sense for telling that person's story and answering the prompt. If you're sitting around trying to think of some hardship to tell just because you think it will sound nice, it probably isn't going to fit in well for telling your story about why law and why that school. 

Edited May 21, 2022 by vital_signs

[Seansei]

On 5/21/2022 at 10:45 AM, vital_signs said:

This sounds like you are looking at how people typically write personal statements for American schools. Having applied to both American and Canadian schools this cycle, the Canadian schools seem to want something very different. As Tesseract has said, they give you a much more guided prompt that steers away from these sort of "adversity statements" that are prevalent south of the border.

EDIT: I should add that obviously these types of statements can be effective for Canadian admissions. But this is because they make sense for telling that person's story and answering the prompt. If you're sitting around trying to think of some hardship to tell just because you think it will sound nice, it probably isn't going to fit in well for telling your story about why law and why that school. 

I see! The prompt is quite guided. As others have said, "Why law? Why us?" So, given the 2000 character limit Osgoode Hall has, there is not much room for descriptive prose like you often see in American admission essays. Do you know where I could find any examples of these short format personal statements, possibly even specific to Osgoode Hall? I am not sure how much they want a narrative versus a retelling of events.

[vital_signs]

On 5/24/2022 at 9:19 AM, Seansei said:

I see! The prompt is quite guided. As others have said, "Why law? Why us?" So, given the 2000 character limit Osgoode Hall has, there is not much room for descriptive prose like you often see in American admission essays. Do you know where I could find any examples of these short format personal statements, possibly even specific to Osgoode Hall? I am not sure how much they want a narrative versus a retelling of events.

I don't know if Osgoode offers any examples, but here are some from U of T https://marcuseducate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Примеры-эссе-для-UofT.pdf