2006 Great Personal Statements for Law School Admissions Chat with Paul Bodine

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Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 4:57:27 PM)
It is with special pleasure that I welcome you all to this chat with Paul Bodine, senior editor at Accepted.com, author of Great Personal Statements for Law School, and valued colleague since 1997.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 4:57:33 PM)
Paul, thanks for coming today. You have participated many times in chats and assisted me, but today you're the "special guest." Welcome.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 4:57:43 PM)
Thanks for having me, Linda.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 4:57:51 PM)
Thanks to everyone for joining.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 4:57:56 PM)
You're welcome. Paul.

Ahmed (Feb 15, 2006 4:59:32 PM)
What is a good opener?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:00:08 PM)
Good question. It's one that grabs the reader's interest, establishes your themes, and begins providing the context that will help the reader understand your story. There are different ways to grab the reader's attention.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:00:37 PM)
One overused way is the quotation "I took the road less traveled" etc. One excellent opener is the vivid description of a defining moment or learning experience in your life that may or may not be related to your decision to pursue the law. Another ineffective opener is the bland assertion like "I have always wanted to be a lawyer." Please avoid that! Try to be creative and engaging without being gimmicky or cute.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:02:54 PM)
How does a law school applicant develop his or her marketing handle?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:03:08 PM)
You have to start with some serious introspection about who you are as a person, what you've achieved and where you're going. This introspection can and should be done with input from people who know you well. You then have to turn that self-analysis into 2 or 3 "themes" that is, words or values that capture what makes you unique. For example, creativity, international experience, unusual job or upbringing. Your themes should ideally establish two things because one theme is probably not enough in itself to capture all that makes you distinctive. Hopefully you've got at least 3 distinct and distinctive things you want to communicate to the schools.

Jules (Feb 15, 2006 5:04:55 PM)
2 or 3 themes? Why wouldn't you stick to one?

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:05:49 PM)
You can also weave 2-3 sub-themes into one theme that ties the essay together.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:05:56 PM)
Definitely.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:06:04 PM)
I use the term "theme" loosely. Your essay can focus on a single experience and still deploy 2 or 3 "themes" that capture you: your self-marketing handle. These themes should do two things: One, show that you have the skills law schools are looking for (writing ability, analytical skills, leadership, etc.) Two, that you stand out from the pack, that you are not a cookie-cutter applicant, that you will add color and variety to their class.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:07:09 PM)
For example if you want leadership to be your theme, you may draw on being a sports captain, a class president, and the #1 sales person for Cutco.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:10:13 PM)
Your themes should strive to comprise a mix of professional/academic, personal insight, and perhaps community involvement. That is, you want the 3 themes to show you as a balanced and multidimensional person. So maybe you're (a) an excellent writer (b) a self-taught pilot (c) the head of church group and (d) grew up in Uruguay. You would want those 4 things to be coming across in the essay(s) because they're interesting and relevant.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:10:20 PM)
How would you tie them together?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:10:27 PM)
You may not have to tie them together in one essay. Fortunately, most schools offer two or more essays in addition to the personal statement so you don't have to try to ramrod your stories into a single slot. One convenient way to combine disparate themes is to take a chronological approach or developmental approach that is, your varied interests emerged over the course of your life. Of course another way to tie themes together is in terms of their relevance to your decision to pursue a law degree. Your themes may also be related to each other by the values they express. They may all be illustrations of who you are and what you think is important.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:13:32 PM)
What is the biggest, most common mistake most people make in writing personal statements?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:13:50 PM)
The mistake that I see far more than any other is the use of vague or generic language.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:14:02 PM)
Like...

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:14:02 PM)
A lot of applicants avoid details when describing their experiences, like describing vague post-JD goals and giving reasons for wanting to go to a particular school that could apply to most other schools, like “great reputation” or “outstanding faculty.” But actually, details are what keep your essay from sounding like everybody else’s. You simply must go into detail about your experiences, your reasons for pursuing the law, and your reasons for choosing a particular school. I think this vagueness is because applicants think schools aren't really interested in who they are are. They actually think law schools are waiting to be told some magic formula and are bored by the details of people's lives, which is totally off base.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:16:12 PM)
What would be more informed and informative reasons for choosing to apply to a given school?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:16:24 PM)
The essays that work are the ones that are brimming with personality and vivid detail. The best reasons are concrete links between your learning goals and the resources of the school. That is, if you know you want to be public service lawyer you would identify resources at schools that are relevant to that goal like clinics or courses in non-profit areas of law, and so on.  The other way to show that you really want to go to a particular school is to refer to your experiences with *the people* of that school students you've spoken to, adcom members, alumni, and faculty. So you need to do a lot of due diligence if you want your "Why Our School" argument to be compelling and distinctive. Start building a network before you begin writing your essays.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:19:39 PM)
How should applicants handle weaknesses in their application?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:19:56 PM)
By not pretending that they don’t exist it's a double negative. You can usually develop a good sense of what the adcom will perceive to be your weaknesses.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:20:14 PM)
Good answer. I'll forgive the double negative. We're being informal.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:20:25 PM)
If they are major ones like lousy grades or a criminal record you can address them in an optional essay or addendum. You need to be factual, brief, and mature about weaknesses, and then move on to explain how you’ve already begun working on them, and the results you’ve achieved. If your weaknesses are not the kind you need to write about—i.e., less-than-brilliant record in writing skills—use your essay(s) to work against this weakness.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:21:29 PM)
There two types of weaknesses in other words; the "extenuating circumstance" kind and the more general kind that everyone has in one form or another like not a great community service record or no experience with the law.  This second kind obviously should not be the focus of a separate essay the way a murder conviction would have to be.  You can deal with this second kind of weakness positively and indirectly by what you emphasize in all your essays. In either case it's a mistake to pretend you don't have weaknesses.

Jules (Feb 15, 2006 5:24:12 PM)
Weakness question: At what LSAT score or percentile do you address it as a weakness? I scored in the 26th percentile - 145.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:24:52 PM)
Well, I'm not sure you will gain anything by addressing that unless there were specific extenuating circumstances. You could try to build a case that your score is not representative of your academic potential but you would have to point to a low SAT score coupled with valedictorian grades in high school or something like that i.e., you are the type of person for whom standardized tests are not predictive. This is a tough argument to make however, and very few can do it legitimately.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:25:17 PM)
When you are below the 75th percentile for the schools that you are applying to, you have a problem and should address it. As Paul points out, you have to have an extenuating circumstance.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:26:44 PM)
Jules, are you from an "underrepresented minority"? If so, you may be able to earn admission to schools whose average LSAT scores are much higher than your score, but otherwise you will face tough odds I'm sorry to say.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:28:12 PM)
How can applicants demonstrate fit with a given law school?

Jules (Feb 15, 2006 5:28:28 PM)
What do you mean by that? I'm out of undergrad school 15 years, with a professional engineering career.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:28:51 PM)
That would make you a nontraditional applicant but not an underrepresented minority which means Native American, African American, or Hispanic American. Being a nontraditional applicant will help you to some extent. That is, schools will admit the occasional older applicant to round out their class but your LSAT will still need to be within striking distance.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:29:42 PM)
Jules, have you considered retaking the LSAT?

Jules (Feb 15, 2006 5:30:02 PM)
I feel I do have extenuating circumstances behind my crummy score. My best friend husband died in a car accident two weeks before the LSAT, and I spent a whole lot of time being there for her. I thought I was doing around 156 on practice tests.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:30:36 PM)
Had you been scoring significantly higher on practice exams? What schools are you aiming for?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:31:39 PM)
Demonstrating fit with a school begins with knowing what kind of education you want and then showing the schools that they have the specific resources (classes, law journal, moot courts, etc.) that speak to your educational needs.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:32:12 PM)
Can you retake the LSAT?

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:32:34 PM)
Then you should retake the exam, hopefully get a much higher score, and in the addendum let the schools know why the first test is not a good representation of your abilities.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:33:04 PM)
But be short and sweet, objective and mature in the addendum. No long-windedness, self-pitying etc. If you have a great GPA and also great SAT (or GRE) scores that would help show that the LSAT score was an anomaly.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:34:27 PM)
What should applicants do before they start writing?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:35:12 PM)
Before you start writing you should get as many of your potential stories down on paper as you can. You need to brainstorm stories and then structure those stories by using an outline.

Jules (Feb 15, 2006 5:35:26 PM)
I could retake. It is just a drawn out experience to do over, as you know. I was hoping to avoid it!

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:36:05 PM)
Jules, what schools are you aiming for?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:36:38 PM)
Ahmed, how about yourself, what schools are you shooting for?

Ahmed (Feb 15, 2006 5:36:44 PM)
Can I be funny, witty, entertaining, or otherwise amusing because I often come across that way?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:36:54 PM)
Yes, you can but you must be sure that your essays are capturing your humor. Funny in person is different than funny on paper and what your friends think is funny may not amuse a law professor or adcom. So you really want to show your humor to others, especially those who *don't* know you, so you can know whether it's coming off well. If it is, then fantastic, your sense of humor can definitely help you.

Jules (Feb 15, 2006 5:37:29 PM)
I'm geographically in Michigan, so I'm going to apply to U of D Mercy.

Ahmed (Feb 15, 2006 5:38:44 PM)
I would love Berkeley, and Arizona state and Univ of Arizona.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:38:57 PM)
Have you been taking practice LSATs?

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:39:14 PM)
Jules, its average LSAT range is 147-152. If you can just raise it a little, it will really help you.

Ahmed (Feb 15, 2006 5:39:44 PM)
Yes, I am also planning on taking a preparation course. On the other hand, can it be a sob story?

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:40:08 PM)
Well, you don't want to give them a "sob story" per se that is, a maudlin, self-pitying, depressing thing but if you do have a powerful personal story of obstacles overcome or a personal tragedy that you made you stronger then yes that can be an excellent story.

Ahmed (Feb 15, 2006 5:40:31 PM)
A heartfelt, or touching story is what I meant. Nothing worse than a broken fingernail.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:41:24 PM)
For heartfelt and touching, you want to be sure it's coming across as "real" and not manipulative. I would avoid essays devoted to broken fingernails (or even fingers) as a general rule! You need a LESSON LEARNED. Tragedy in and of itself is not enough

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:42:59 PM)
Thank you again all for participating today. Special thanks to Paul Bodine.

Jules (Feb 15, 2006 5:43:02 PM)
This chat has been very enlightening.

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:43:11 PM)
Once again, if you are interested in Paul's recently published book, Great Personal Statements for Law School, please visit our website.

Paul_Bodine (Feb 15, 2006 5:43:15 PM)
Good luck!

Linda Abraham (Feb 15, 2006 5:43:19 PM)
I'm glad you found it helpful Jules.

Ahmed (Feb 15, 2006 5:43:27 PM)
Thank you very much for this great experience.

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