In this series, a jdMission Senior Consultant reviews real law school personal statements. What’s working well? What’s not? If it were his/her essay, what would be changed? Find out!

Note: To maintain the integrity and authenticity of this project, we have not edited the law school personal statements, though any identifying names and details have been changed or removed. Any grammatical errors that appear in the essays belong to the candidates and illustrate the importance of having someone (or multiple someones) proofread your work.

Personal Statement

I never actually got to be Brutus, at least not on game day. But I was the next best thing. I actually got to spend every game day on the sidelines of Horseshoe Stadium, which was a childhood dream, and I got to make sure that Mike, who played Brutus, had enough water and didn’t fall over with the enormous weight of that giant head. (Trust me. On a hot autumn day after two hours, it’s hard to keep upright.)
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Learning science has come a long way in recent years, and we’ve been learning with it. We incorporate the latest discoveries in learning science into our LSAT course to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your prep. Want to see? Try the first session of any of our upcoming courses for free.

One of my favorite TV shows is Jane the Virgin. On a recent episode, Jane’s husband, Michael, decides to take up everyone’s favorite past-time: studying for the LSAT. To Jane’s chagrin, studying for the LSAT is almost indistinguishable from watching the NFL playoffs. When Jane inquires, Michael tells her that football gets him in a relaxed frame of mind to study, and resumes eating popcorn.

If you’re in Michael’s shoes right now (or Jane’s!) you’re not alone. Many LSAT students have confided in me sheepishly that they’re struggling to find the motivation to get down to business with their test prep. That’s understandable. The LSAT is intimidating and can be more than a little boring. But it takes a significant time and energy investment for most people to see the score improvement they want. So if you need help lighting a fire under yourself (or your significant other!), here are a few suggestions: Read more

A personal statement is really no more than telling a story—one that illuminates the “you” a law school would be lucky to have in its student body. In this series, “Telling Your Story,” a jdMission Senior Consultant will discuss how elements of storytelling can—and should—be applied to your law school personal statement.

You walk into a bookstore to browse, pick up a book with an interesting title and open it to the first page. It begins, “I was born on a sunny day in Indiana in 1955.” Do you keep reading? If you are like me, probably not. I know better than to overvalue book covers, but I do judge most books by their first lines.

A general principle of storytelling is that too much exposition or background before the action starts is a guaranteed way to lose readers. The same idea can make your law school personal statement stronger, hooking a reader from the beginning rather than the middle. (Let’s be honest, an admissions officer may not even make it to the middle, depending on the strength of your application.) Read more

Learning science has come a long way in recent years, and we’ve been learning with it. We incorporate the latest discoveries in learning science into our LSAT course to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your prep. Want to see? Try the first session of any of our upcoming courses for free.

So, you’re in the test, and things are going well. Or not. But, you’re coping, and working through all the problems as best you can. And then it hits: that one thing you just. don’t. get.

And wow, that’s a really sickening feeling.

Will this wreck your test? Honestly, it could. And you obviously don’t want that. So what do you do when you don’t know what to do on the LSAT? Read more