Real Examples of Personal Statement Law School
Sample Personal Statement #1
I was born in Juneau, Alaska. For the first
year of my life I lived in a tiny cabin in the woods with plywood
floors and no indoor plumbing. Even though my parents were the only
ones in their families to have college degrees, they were always
struggling to make ends meet. My father, a Vietnam veteran, was
either unwilling or unable to hold a job for very long. Eventually
my mother decided to go back to school, leaving my father to take
care of my sister and me while she studied and worked.
At the start of elementary school I was
placed in a program for gifted students, taking special classes
designed to challenge me where regular classrooms could not. It was
wonderful, but it wasn’t to last. When I was eight, my parents
decided to move to northern Minnesota, and I was pulled out of the
gifted and talented program. We moved to a small rural town with a
tiny, financially strapped school district. There were no special
programs at my new school. Most of the students were from poor rural
families like mine and the dropout rate was high. Suddenly, I was
very bored in school and began to hate it.
When I was fourteen, we moved again. This
time we went to yet another small rural town in the farming country
of southwestern Minnesota. Right away I got a job as a waitress at
the local diner, using the earnings to help my family. The job was
difficult for a shy kid like me, but my family needed the money. I
eventually learned to overcome my shyness, and after a year of
working at the diner I became very good at it. But then my family
moved again to, of course, another small rural town, this time in
north central Minnesota.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that I
didn’t want to be a waitress in a series of small towns for the rest
of my life. I had learned that if I wanted to have a better life I
would have to depend on myself. I decided that I wanted to be an
exchange student. I wanted the experience of learning another
language and visiting foreign countries. To be honest, I think I
really just needed an excuse to get away. Thankfully, I was awarded
a scholarship from the Blandin Foundation in my community to go to
France during my junior year with an exchange program, and I jumped
at the opportunity.
Going to France changed my life. I was
intellectually challenged for the first time since I left Alaska. I
embraced the challenge and loved every minute of it. One of the
happiest times of my life came in February of that year when I
realized I had broken through the language barrier and had become
fluent in French. Despite the initial language difficulties, I
earned straight As at the French high school I attended and became
close with my French friends and host family. It was difficult to
leave at the end of the year, and upon my return to the United
States I experienced intense culture shock.
During my senior year I took college courses
at the local community college instead of attending high school. I
worked full-time in the evenings and had a daily babysitting job,
too. On top of that, my parents were both commuting several hours
away for work and I was left in charge of my younger sister. I
struggled to make it to class and study when I could find the time,
and I somehow managed to earn a decent GPA by the end of the year.
I chose to go to St. Cloud State University
because I didn’t want to be stuck at the community college for
another year, and I knew that if I wanted to get somewhere in life I
had to have at least a four-year college degree. College hasn’t
always been easy. Having to work outside of school has allowed me
little time for studying and campus activities, and I took some
classes that were very difficult, but I always remained committed to
my intellectual growth and self-betterment. Consequently, I have
excelled.
I am seeking the best legal education that I
can possibly obtain, and I look forward to being challenged in law
school. I am a curious person that craves intellectual stimulation
and exposure to new ideas. I want to become a lawyer for many
reasons but the primary reason is because I want to have a good
career so that I can support my family and myself. I have spent
enough of my life in small, rural Minnesota towns and now I am ready
for my next big personal and academic adventure.
Sample Personal Statement #2
When I was eight years old my family moved to
a small town about forty miles north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Slinger has a population of 3000. After getting over being the new
girl from big scary Milwaukee, I basically sat side-by-side the same
twenty-five classmates for the next four years. After that, we all
went across the street to the middle school where another elementary
school joined us. Of course everyone knew everyone else here as
well. This was our class until high school graduation. You can
really get a sense of belonging and deep friendship by being so
close to people. I was an “insider” who shared everything with the
same people, day in and day out.
But the feeling of comfort I had in being
part of the group soon gave way to a sense of monotony. The people
around me were blind to diversity and were reluctant to change. The
people I’ve known forever disregard diversity with respect to people
and cultures, but more fundamentally they fail to pursue the
diversity of what life has to offer. I knew more existed in the
world. I knew life existed outside of Slinger, and that is what
wanted for myself. Consequently, I chose to attend college 400 miles
away from anyone I ever knew and where no one knew me.
When I decided I wanted to study law after
graduating from St. Cloud State University, I knew I needed some
experience. I wanted to get my foot in the door at a law firm or
simply be exposed to the law in action to see if a legal career was
really for me. I went home to Slinger for the summer wanting to work
in a law firm. Unfortunately, in Slinger there are just two lawyers.
They are husband and wife and work out of their house. Their son
runs their errands. So much for the legal market back home.
I realized then and there that I had outgrown
Slinger for good. I decided to seek employment in the big city of
Minneapolis. I obtained an internship at the Hennepin County Public
Defender’s Office. Working as an investigator for public defenders
opened my eyes to how difficult it is for the accused to obtain what
they are constitutionally entitled to. Many of our clients were
scary, and committed unspeakable crimes. I had never seen anything
like it. While growing up I read about some “kids getting into
trouble” in the Slinger Police Blotter, but I never had to sit five
feet from a convicted murderer contesting a charge of armed robbery.
Still, this defendant deserved all of the
rights and protections that the system could afford, and I was proud
to help him. The folks back in Slinger would never have understood
this. I participated in a part of our legal system that makes sure
everyone is given justice. But when my own clients are reluctant to
work with me because the only experiences they have had with the law
are negative, it makes it very challenging to serve them fully. I
may have been able to get statements from everyone who saw my client
the night of the alleged crime, but I can’t convince my client that
the law is supposed to work for him. Again, because of where and how
I grew up I have always viewed police officers as the “good guys.”
But at the public defender’s office, I had a seven-year-old client
who shut the door in my face because he thought I as a cop. He
wanted nothing to do with me. This is something I have never been
faced with before in my life. I wanted real life legal experiences
from my internship, and I got them.
After working for the public defender, I
continued to further my legal education both in and outside of the
classroom. For example, I was nominated to participate in the
National Youth Leadership Forum. For two weeks we intensely studied
the South African legal system. The experience was amazing. Like my
internship, it changed my outlook on the law. The South African
legal system is in the process of complete transformation. To see
the struggles of a nation working toward a kind of justice its
people has never known made me look at the United States system of
justice with more reverence. In America we see the right to a jury
trial as a fundamental right. In South Africa they see juries as a
hindrance to justice. They do not believe that ordinary people
without legal education are able to decide the guilt or innocence of
a person.
Not only was what I learned about the South
African legal system worthwhile, but the people I met made my trip
unique as well. I loved being able to talk to other aspiring law
students about what we observed. The sharing of thoughts and
feelings about these new approaches to the law was intellectually
stimulating. Moreover, I made lasting friendships. The folks back
home didn’t want me to go on the trip—they were worried for my
safety due to South Africa’s notoriety—but I’m so glad I did.
I have begun to learn about what the law
entails and I have seen the law at work in a variety of places. I
want to continue learning in law school. To be able to work with
some of the most diverse, educated, and experienced people in the
world is an aspect of law school that I look forward to. I want to
learn with and from them. I am committed to exploring and mastering
the legal field, and I know that I will succeed because I have the
drive, patience, and courage to go tackle the “unknown.”
I have come a long way from being a small
town girl living where everybody knows my name. But, I still have a
long way to go in reaching my personal and career goals, and law
school is the next step that will enable me to do just that.
Sample Personal Statement #3
[Note: The following 345-word personal
statement was part of a successful application to a top-25 law
school. When he arrived on campus with the law school’s new entering
class, the Dean of Admissions not only remembered his application,
but also told the author that his was “the best personal statement
that [she] had ever seen.” Study this personal statement carefully.
Note that the stories told reveal a lot about the applicant, and
that despite its short length, this statement packs a lot of punch.]
For most people, the slap on the face that
turns their life around is figurative. Mine was literal.
Actually, it was a punch delivered by a drill
sergeant at Fort Dix, New Jersey, while I was in basic training.
That day’s activity, just a few weeks into the program, included
instruction in “low-crawling,” a sensible method of moving from one
place to another on a battlefield. I felt rather clever for having
discovered that, by looking right rather than down, I eliminated my
helmet’s unfortunate tendency to dig into the ground and slow my
progress. I could thus advance more easily, but I also exposed my
unprotected face to hostile fire. Drill sergeants are typically very
good at detecting this type of laziness, and mine was an excellent
drill sergeant. So, after his repeated suggestions that I correct my
performance went unheeded, he drove home his point with a fist to my
face.
We were both stunned. This was, after all,
the New Army, and striking a trainee was a career-ending move for a
drill sergeant, as we were both aware. I could have reported him;
arguably, I should have. I didn’t. It didn’t seem right for this
good sergeant, who had not slept for almost four days, to lose his
career for losing his temper with my laziness. Choosing not to
report him was the first decision I remember making that made me
proud.
I was not a perfect soldier the next day;
neither was I the same unmotivated person who, for lack of effort,
had failed at virtually everything I had previously attempted. I was
determined (itself a novel experience) to apply myself to
soldiering.
That was eight years ago. In the interim I
have enjoyed a short but distinguished military career, married,
fathered a child and resumed my college education. I am currently
poised to graduate with honors from [State] University. Looking
forward to law school, I can only trust that my distant mistakes are
not too costly; I am certain, however, that the lessons I’ve learned
will continue to assist me.
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