Tuesday, June 3, 2014

How (not) to Write Your Personal Statement

Advice on how to write your personal statement is unlimited and you probably know most of it by heart: be specific, be personal, be unique, edit, rewrite, edit, rewrite, have someone else edit, and then edit and rewrite again. As true as the advice may be, it is not very specific. Specific advice about what to do can be difficult when the essay is supposed to be your special snowflake, so let's stop and look at the other side of the coin. Below are a few themes you will likely want to avoid in your personal statement.

Quotes:
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..." - Robert Frost
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi
"Nothing will work unless you do." - Maya Angelou
Ect. ect. ect.
There are a lot of inspirational quotes that you can put in your personal statement, however, none of them say anything unique about you. The Admissions Committee wants to know how you will be a good fit at their school, not about your ability to find obscure William Blake quotes from your Poetry 201 class. Quoting another person only says something unique about the quoted and takes the focus off the substance of your essay. Spare the Committee their time and leave the quotes for your Facebook status updates.

Resume Regurgitation:
A resume is an outline of your experiences and successes. A personal statement is a persuasive essay which shows your ability to add a diverse viewpoint to the classroom and strengthen the learning environment. The two are not the same. The Admissions Committee is looking for something much deeper than a superficial regurgitation of your history. They want something that shows your passion, motivation, and drive. Something that only you can add to the learning experience to not only propel you on the path to success but also challenge your classmates to broaden their horizons. A long-form outline of your life story does nothing to help the Committee make a decision on your application.

The Superhero:
Everyone has a superhero - someone who inspired them to be the person they are today. It is wonderful that they helped you get as far as you have gone, however, at some point you have to do it for yourself. The personal statement is where you need to pick up the torch and leave the accomplishments of others behind and talk about your own accomplishes and challenges. As inspiring as the story of your (grand)parents immigrating to a new land/ building a business/ raising 18 children/ fighting a war may be, that story does not tell the Admissions Committee anything about you. It only tells them that they should accept your superhero. 

The Sob Story:
This sounds cold but everyone has bad things happen to them. Admissions Committees read about unfortunate circumstances all the time and it can get downright depressing.  Committees are not looking for unfortunate sad-sacks to feel bad for; committees are looking for the inspiration that changes a bad situation into an opportunity for growth. Everyone likes a comeback story (otherwise Hollywood wouldn't make any money). If you write about a difficult situation focus on the turn around and how it transformed you into the wonderful person you are today - not just the circumstances which you had to overcome. Admissions Comittees are looking for someone who overcomes challenges, not someone who wallows in them.

The Plagiarized Personal Statement:
Do not, I repeat, do not plagiarize your personal statement. You will get caught and brought before the LSAC Misconduct and Irregularities Subcommittee and your application to every law school will have a black spot on it for the rest of your life. If (by the grace of a very forgiving Admissions Committee) you do get into law school with a plagiarized essay, you will still have to explain it to your Board of Bar Examiners to get your license to practice law. It may sound dramatic but it cannot be overstated. If your personal statement sounds like any of the example personal statements on a blog or from a book you should throw yours away and start over again. There is too much to risk when a committee member can just plug a sentence from your statement into Google and find the example essay you pulled it from. Law school and the legal practice is heavily ethics based and having a plagiarized personal statement is the wrong way to get started in your new career.

Applying to Law School After the June LSAT

Have you decided that you want to attend law school this fall but you are just now taking the June LSAT? Although your options will be limited, not all hope is lost. Below are a few tips on what you will need to do to get the ball rolling in time for orientation.

Immediately:
These three items typically take the longest to complete on your application, therefore, you should start as early as possible to complete them.
  1. Request all transcripts from you undergraduate school(s) to be sent to LSAC to be processed for your Credential Assembly Service Report
  2. Choose Recommenders and ask them to submit their letters of recommendation to LSAC to be processed for your Credential Assembly Service Report
After the LSAT:
  1. Complete your personal statement
  2. Complete your resume
  3. Gather up any documents needed for addendums (legal records, financial records, ect...) and have them on hand if the Admissions Committee requests a clarification or more information on your record.
  4. Submit your application*
*A little known tip on getting a jump on the admissions process is that in many cases you can submit your application before your LSAT scores are received from LSAC, however, your application will likely not go to the Admissions Committee until after your scores are received and your application is complete. The advantage to submitting early is that the school has all the required documents except for the LSAT and after they receive your score and complete your file they can immediately send it onto the Admissions Committee.

As an aside, do not move across the country for a law school until you receive an admission offer from the school. As common sense as that sounds, it happens all the time with students who are applying at the end of the year in hopes that they will be admitted and will already have an apartment set up.

Below is a list of schools that may have application deadlines after the June LSAT. You should contact the school directly to get more information about applying.
  • Appalachian School of Law
  • Arizona Summit Law School
  • Atlanta's John Marshall Law School
  • Ave Maria School of Law
  • Brooklyn Law School
  • Charlotte School of Law
  • Drexel University
  • Elon University
  • Faulkner University (Jones)
  • Florida A&M University
  • Florida Coastal School of Law
  • Hamline University
  • Indiana University--Indianapolis (McKinney)
  • Liberty University
  • Loyola University New Orleans
  • Mississippi College
  • New York Law School
  • Northern Kentucky University (Chase)
  • Ohio Northern University (Pettit)
  • Oklahoma City University
  • Pace University
  • Regent University
  • Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey--Camden
  • Savannah Law School
  • Seattle University
  • Texas Southern University (Marshall)
  • Thomas M. Cooley Law School
  • Touro College (Fuchsberg)
  • Tulane University
  • University of Alabama
  • University of Baltimore
  • University of Connecticut
  • University of Houston
  • University of La Verne
  • University of Miami
  • University of North Dakota
  • University of San Diego
  • University of St. Thomas
  • University of Toledo
  • University of Tulsa
  • Valparaiso University
  • Wake Forest University
  • Washington University in St. Louis
  • Western State College of Law at Argosy University
  • Whittier College
  • William Mitchell College of Law


Thursday, April 17, 2014

Top Law Schools Where Accepted Students Enroll

Applicants to law school are shrinking; however, there are some interesting trends among those who do apply and are accepted to law school.

One of the trends to look at is the likelihood of enrolling at an institution. Nationally, the yield rate (acceptance to matriculate) for law schools averages 23%.  Logically, one would think that the highest ranked schools have the highest yield rates among accepted students, however, from the chart below, you can see that is not always the case.

Of course Yale, Harvard, and Stanford are ranked in the top 10 for yield and also take the top three spots on the USNWR rankings. But then there are schools outside of the USNWR top 10 and top 20 schools like Savannah Law School whose accepted students desire to attend the institution at higher rates than Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Penn, Virginia, Berkeley, Duke, and Michigan (the rest of the USNWR top 10 schools).

See how accepted students favored your school in the chart below.


SchoolAcceptancesMatriculatesYield Rate
Yale University 247 199 81%
Arkansas, Little Rock, University of 204 139 68%
Harvard University 858 568 66%
Brigham Young University 217 139 64%
Belmont University 176 82 47%
New Mexico, University of 258 119 46%
Southern University 487 224 46%
Stanford University 392 179 46%
Missouri-Kansas City, University of 383 172 45%
North Dakota, University of 189 83 44%
Indiana University - Indianapolis 533 227 43%
North Carolina Central University 597 251 42%
Nevada - Las Vegas, University of  269 113 42%
Missouri, University of 290 118 41%
Rutgers University-Camden 352 140 40%
Liberty University 172 68 40%
Montana, University of 210 83 40%
Memphis, University of 283 111 39%
Nebraska, University of 326 127 39%
Nova Southeastern University 788 305 39%
Tennessee, University of 413 158 38%
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale 354 133 38%
William Mitchell College of Law 631 236 37%
Oklahoma, University of 384 143 37%
Louisiana State University 484 178 37%
Savannah Law School 135 49 36%
Florida, University of 863 314 36%
Thomas M. Cooley Law School 1,600 582 36%
Wayne State University 387 139 36%
Hawaii, University of 184 66 36%
North Carolina, University of 664 237 36%
Oklahoma City University 455 162 36%
South Texas College of Law 1,189 402 34%
Howard University 447 151 34%
St. Mary's University 922 311 34%
Baltimore, University of 855 287 34%
Arkansas, Fayetteville, University of 336 112 33%
California-Irvine, University of 378 126 33%
Cleveland State University 407 135 33%
Buffalo-Suny, University of  597 198 33%
Utah, University of 323 107 33%
Detroit Mercy, University of 550 182 33%
Georgia State University 549 181 33%
Atlanta's John Marshall Law Shool 720 235 33%
Washburn University 361 117 32%
Ohio Northern University 244 79 32%
Alabama, University of 454 145 32%
Widener University-Delaware 758 239 32%
St. Thomas University (Florida) 832 261 31%
South Dakota, University of 220 69 31%
Northern Kentucky University 479 150 31%
Virginia, University of 1,071 330 31%
West Virginia University 383 118 31%
Southern Methodist University 692 212 31%
Idaho, University of 363 111 31%
Samford University 567 173 31%
Denver, University of 964 290 30%
Florida A&M University 489 147 30%
Duquesne University 460 138 30%
Regent University 361 106 29%
Mississippi College 542 159 29%
Mercer University 639 186 29%
Mississippi, University of 402 117 29%
Texas Tech University 736 214 29%
Stetson University 919 267 29%
District of Columbia 342 99 29%
Columbia University 1,236 352 28%
Southwestern Law School 1,291 367 28%
Wisconsin, University of 655 186 28%
Florida International University 558 158 28%
Texas Southern University 696 196 28%
Capital University 563 158 28%
Georgia, University of 711 199 28%
Texas A&M University 874 244 28%
Faulkner University 377 104 28%
Pennsylvania, University of 912 251 28%
Kentucky, University of 547 149 27%
Touro College 755 205 27%
California-Berkeley, University of 1,050 284 27%
Arizona Summit Law School 1,152 310 27%
South Carolina, University of 774 206 27%
Loyola University-New Orleans 904 240 27%
Rutgers University-Newark 730 193 26%
Louisville, University of 491 129 26%
Wyoming, University of 271 71 26%
Campbell University 480 125 26%
Ohio State University 687 178 26%
Albany Law School of Union University 712 182 26%
Houston, University of 838 213 25%
Texas At Austin, University of 1,267 319 25%
Akron, University of 587 147 25%
Willamette University 492 123 25%
Drake University 467 115 25%
Thomas Jefferson School of Law 1,312 323 25%
Widener University-Harrisburg 302 74 25%
Toledo, University of 441 108 24%
Suffolk University 1,838 450 24%
Creighton University 566 138 24%
Minnesota, University of 907 221 24%
New York University 1,800 437 24%
Saint Louis University 601 145 24%
Northern Illinois University 420 101 24%
Maine, University of 358 86 24%
Michigan, University of 1,318 315 24%
Pittsburgh, University of 738 174 24%
Whittier Law School 939 221 24%
Chicago, University of 836 196 23%
Massachusetts Dartmouth, University of  334 78 23%
Cardozo School of Law 1,448 336 23%
Georgetown University 2,353 544 23%
City University of New York 454 104 23%
John Marshall Law School 1,785 404 23%
Iowa, University of 412 93 23%
Elon University 475 107 23%
St. Thomas, University Of (Minnesota) 513 114 22%
Brooklyn Law School 1,658 368 22%
Notre Dame, University of 734 162 22%
Northwestern University 1,039 229 22%
Duke University 954 209 22%
Seattle University 1,041 228 22%
Kansas, University of 486 106 22%
Valparaiso University 967 208 22%
New Hampshire University of 358 77 22%
Barry University 1,319 283 21%
Charlotte School of Law 2,446 522 21%
Indiana University - Bloomington 975 205 21%
California Western School of Law 1,239 260 21%
Arizona, University of 501 105 21%
Colorado, University of 882 184 21%
California-Hastings, University of 1,597 333 21%
Washington, University of 686 143 21%
Loyola Marymount University-Los Angeles 1,722 358 21%
Connecticut, University of 727 151 21%
Fordham University 1,917 398 21%
Tulane University 1,044 216 21%
Pace University 1,003 207 21%
Arizona State University 624 128 21%
Ave Maria School of Law 575 117 20%
Michigan State University 1,327 270 20%
Hamline University 433 88 20%
Vermont Law School 636 129 20%
Western New England University 594 120 20%
Florida State University 848 170 20%
Marquette University 1,044 209 20%
Villanova University 810 162 20%
Gonzaga University 548 108 20%
Western State College of Law 610 120 20%
Chicago-Kent College of Law-Iit 1,456 286 20%
Temple University 1,151 225 20%
George Mason University 765 149 19%
Richmond, University of 699 133 19%
Florida Coastal School of Law 2,319 441 19%
Drexel University 762 143 19%
California-Los Angeles, University of 1,566 293 19%
Emory University 1,241 231 19%
Tulsa, University of 450 83 18%
Chapman University 856 157 18%
Charleston School of Law 987 181 18%
Washington University 1,032 189 18%
Syracuse University 1,069 194 18%
St. John'S University 1,416 253 18%
Miami, University of 1,727 308 18%
George Washington University 2,718 481 18%
Illinois, University of 964 170 18%
Oregon, University of 683 120 18%
Seton Hall University 942 165 18%
American University 2,713 473 17%
Pepperdine University 1,162 201 17%
Case Western Reserve University 585 100 17%
Maryland, University of 1,214 206 17%
San Diego, University of 1,439 241 17%
Santa Clara University 1,478 246 17%
Cincinnati, University of 615 100 16%
New York Law School 1,985 322 16%
Boston College 1,480 236 16%
Cornell University 1,226 193 16%
Lewis And Clark College 1,099 172 16%
Catholic University of America 1,035 161 16%
Vanderbilt University 1,122 174 16%
McGeorge School of Law 1,019 157 15%
Wake Forest University 1,179 179 15%
Golden Gate University 992 150 15%
Roger Williams University 735 111 15%
Quinnipiac University 566 84 15%
Baylor University 1,132 163 14%
Depaul University 1,968 276 14%
Dayton, University of 715 100 14%
Boston University 1,582 220 14%
Southern California, University of 1,269 175 14%
Appalachian School of Law 408 56 14%
Northeastern University 1,358 185 14%
New England Law | Boston 1,758 238 14%
La Verne, University of  371 50 13%
Penn State University 1,000 132 13%
William And Mary Law School 1,727 226 13%
Hofstra University 1,641 213 13%
Loyola University-Chicago 1,703 213 13%
Washington And Lee University 918 111 12%
San Francisco, University of 1,364 159 12%
California-Davis, University of 1,267 142 11%