Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Guidelines On Writing A Law School Essay

By Alison Heath


Though most schools weight the numbers a little more; your LSAT score and GPA have a big impact, law school essays are definitely taken into account. Moreover, your law school essay will make or break your application if you're a borderline applicant, and it can even make up for a weak showing in the numbers department.

Your undergraduate GPA, your LSAT score, and your law school essay are the most important factors in both what schools will accept you and how much scholarship they're going to offer you if you're applying to law school.

Even if you're a huge long shot for a particular school the admissions staff will read at least the first paragraph of your law school essay, just to see what you have to offer. On the flipside, if you're a strong applicant to a particular school a bad law school essay can knock you out of the running if you're too flippant or stuck-up.

Though some law schools will give a required topic for your law school essay, most will offer up a few suggestions but allow you write on anything your heart desires. Avoid repeating any information that can be found on other parts of your application when you're writing your law school essay.

The admissions staff can read; they know what your GPA is and what activities you've taken part in. What you can do instead is fill them in on what is not on your application. Defining who you are and why you stand out from the crowd are things you can write about.

You won't get much attention, unless it's earth-shattering or truly fresh, if you write over-used topics like the most inspirational person you know or the difficulties you've overcome because all of these are tired topics.

It's possible that the admissions staff has heard things like the most inspirational person you know is the Unabomber or you were born without legs and can run real fast (a ten second fifty yard dash).

The admissions staff has gone through thousands of applications, so tell them something about yourself that makes you stand out in their minds. Have you by any chance hiked the entire Appalachian Trail? How about skydiving in a kayak? Raised your baby brother for a summer? Helped a poor family get a house?

Sometimes, it helps if your activities are related to the law but this isn't necessary and the topic you write about only needs to have been important to you. You should also have something to say about the topic, whatever it may be. Say it, and think of the law school essay as a way for the admissions staff to get to know you better.




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