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 personal statement.

Remember in elementary school when you would return to school in the fall, and your teacher asked you to write about your summer break? Your essay would read something like this:

First we went to see my grandma. Then we swam. After that, we came home, and I had to help my dad clean out the garage. Then I… Read more

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 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

Everyone said it would be a mistake to keep my baby. My mother, my father, my teachers, my guidance counselor. Seventeen when I got pregnant, I would not even have a chance to graduate high school before he was born. Instead of going to the prom, I’d be going to the maternity unit. Instead of putting on a cap and gown, I’d be putting diapers on another human being. 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 personal statement.

You have finished a draft of your personal statement. You have read it over, looking for ways to make it stronger, and you have rewritten it a few times. Is it true? Yes. Is it compelling? Yes. Is it concise? Yes. Does it have an ending? Yes. Are you happy with it? Pretty much. What is left that could be improved? Read more

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 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. 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 personal statement.

Your personal statement is meant to be about you, not about how the world works. Of course, you may need to share some facts about the world around you and the people in your life to make your story clear and meaningful, but a good rule of thumb is that you should be writing much more about yourself than about anything else. Read more

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 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. 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 personal statement.

We all suffer from writer’s block sometimes, and it can be particularly brutal when the stakes are high…like when you are trying to get into law school. Read more

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 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. 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 personal statement.

A few years ago, I was at a wedding, and someone stood up to give a toast. If you have been to many weddings, you know that toasts can get pretty bad—awkward, drunken, sometimes mean. This toast was not bad in that sense, but it was not as good as it could have been had the person not been so determined to use perfect grammar. Read more

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 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 of the importance of having someone (or multiple someones) proofread your work.

Personal Statement

“Opening up” doesn’t come organically to everyone. The truth is, most of us have a very hard time finding a way to de-clog and allow oxygen to flow freely throughout our bodies. There are of course tools, but they are not always so easy to find. Sometimes you come across important tips in magazines or on television: They might be breathing exercises to help with circulation, or workouts to get your blood flowing, or even drugs to open up the blood vessels in your lungs as wide as they can open. Read more