Law School Personal Statement Samples Page 2
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10crafted personal statement will not answer the following questions directly, but it will embed
the desired answers in the narrative:
Will you be a good lawyer?
What was your tangible impact on an institution, an organization, or individuals?
Have you reached beyond the safety net of college into the real world?
Do you have a plan for your goals, or are you a dreamer?
Can you put yourself in another subject position in order to see all sides of an issue?
What will you bring to our law school?
Have you been a pro-active starter in the past? Did you raise money for what you
started?
Do you know how to organize? Do you follow through on what you began?
Have you demonstrated your ability both to work with a team and to delegate?
4. The First Steps to an Exceptional Personal Statement
Argumentation and Persuasion – You have three purposes in your personal statement
that demand the art of persuasion:
1. To make your reader believe you should be admitted.
2. To clear away any doubts your reader might have about you.
3. To make your reader act on your behalf.
You are writing a persuasive essay, but it should also have some of the elements of a
persuasive speech. That is why it is generally called a personal “statement,” instead of
personal essay. The personal statement is a unique genre and very difficult to master, since at
most people write one or two in their lives. Most importantly for this genre, you want to
build a strong ethos. That means your audience should like you and find you authoritative,
competent, thoughtful, and honest. You want to demonstrate that you are a perceptive
leader, who can communicate well with others, that you are open to new experiences and are
enthusiastic. You do not want to come across as too formal, stuffy or too technical. You
must give your audience evidence for your assertion that you should be admitted. The best
essays will interpret the evidence provided by explaining how each piece of evidence
contributes to supporting the assertion. The best essays will also be clear, concise, and
graceful.
There are several types of evidence you may choose to use. Good personal statements use
more than one type of evidence, and exceptional personal statements use them all.
Logos: Reason and logic, including facts, figures, expert testimony, and syllogism. Use
logos to persuade with facts.
Pathos: Emotional appeals, including examples and narratives that build sympathy. Use
pathos to persuade with feelings. Show you care passionately about something. Caution:
Using too much pathos, including wretched descriptions, fear or guilt, or even too many
glowing adjectives can make your audience feel manipulated, offended, or turned off.
Ethos: Credibility, including perceived competence, character, and likeability. Use ethos
to persuade by authority.
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