Law School Personal Statement Samples Page 3
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10 Mythos: Belief and value patterns of an audience, including traditional narratives,
sayings, metaphors, and symbols. Use mythos to add power, subtle rhetorical control
and wider significance to your argument.
A persuasive personal statement will be an organic whole from beginning to end, not a
collection of elements held together with a few flimsy pieces of tape you call “Why I should
be admitted.” An exceptional law school personal statement will have themes running
throughout like a functioning circulatory system, with these themes discussed and
interpreted in the introduction and conclusion.
Structuring Your Statement – You should be able to tell someone how your personal
statement is structured, what the logical progression is, what each of the roughly six to ten
paragraphs is about, and how each paragraph both interprets evidence for its specific claim
and contributes to the overall effect of the essay. You should also try to have a unifying
theme. This might organically develop from your attention-grabbing material at the
beginning of the statement. For most people, this will be a story with a moral strong enough
to be your motto: the “angle” from which you are presenting yourself.
There are several standard structures for law school personal statements. You may use more
than one:
o Tell a personal narrative or story. People remember stories. Have a clear ending to
your story/stories as well as an explicit lesson. This type of essay typically allows you
to demonstrate aspects of your character and leadership skills.
o Show how you have made chronological growth, including steps you will take in the
future. It is generally better to avoid giving long narratives about some aspect of
yourself before college. If you have a good reason for mentioning your childhood or
adolescence (such as an unusual history abroad or a specific obstacle you have
overcome), then it is better to keep it to one short, vivid paragraph and refer to it
again later in the essay, if you are making it the unifying theme of your statement.
This structure relies on time to move it forward, but that is not enough: it also
requires a theme you are tracing through time.
o Present a problem and how you solved it or would solve it. This is called the
problem-solution structure. For example, you might discuss what’s lacking in the
legal system or society or demonstrate a need for change and then give evidence for
how you have begun to solve this problem. This type of essay showcases your
analytic reasoning.
o Use a metaphor or analogy to help your audience understand you. This demonstrates
your rhetorical control and usually integrates mythos into your statement.
o Pose rhetorical questions to your audience or use suspense. This structure showcases
your skill in persuasion and argumentation.
o Describe what you have learned from another lawyer or mentor. Also analyze what
you would do differently. This type of essay allows you to showcase your analytic
reasoning.
o Begin with a meaningful quote, which you explain and refer to throughout your
statement. This is a difficult structure to master, but when it is done well, it can be
satisfying for the reader. Do not randomly pick a quote from Bartlett’s. Do not pick
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