To help you draft your personal statement, we've gathered together a few ideas on what you should avoid including, or, at the very least, think long and hard about before you do decide to include them. Most of these are common pitfalls that many law school applicants fall into out of their desire to explain a shortcoming. Good intentions aside, rarely do you want to try to excuse something that may be seen as a weakness. As a firm rule, it is better to focus on the positive, than try to obfuscate a negative. Along with these tips on what to avoid writing about, we'll give you some advice on what you should.

"My LSAT score isn't great, but I'm just not a good test taker."
Before you say this, consider that law school is a test-rich environment. In fact, grades in most law-school courses are determined by a single exam at the semester's end. This claim does little to convince an admissions committee of your ability to succeed in law school once accepted. Consider also that a low LSAT score is one of those things that speaks for itself -- all too eloquently. It doesn't need you to speak for it too. The attitude of most law-school admissions departments is that while the LSAT may be imperfect, it is equally imperfect for all applicants. That is to say that, apart from extraordinary (even if truthful) claims of things like serious illness on test day, few explanations for poor performance on the LSAT will mean much to the people who read your application.

An Exception
About the only situation in which a discussion of your LSAT score in your essay could possibly help you is if you have one score that is significantly better than another. If you did much better in your second sitting than in your first, or vice versa, a brief explanation couldn't hurt. Even in this scenario, however, your explanation may mean little to the committee, which may have its own hard-and-fast rules for the interpreting multiple LSAT scores. Some schools may take a straight average, while others may give more weight to the first score or to the higher one.

The Way Around It
The obvious and preferable alternative to an explicit discussion of such a weakness would be to focus on what you are good at. If you really are bad at standardized tests, you must be better at something else, or you wouldn't have gotten as far as you have. If you think you are a marvelous researcher, say so. If you are a wonderful writer, show it. Let your essay implicitly draw attention away from your weak points by focusing on your strengths. There is no way to convince an admissions committee that they should overlook your LSAT score. You may, however, present compelling arguments for making them look beyond it.

"My college grades weren't that high, but…"
This is a bit more complicated than the previous issue. Law school admissions committees do seem willing to listen to an applicant's interpretation of his or her college performance, but only within limits. Keep in mind that law schools require official transcripts for a reason. Members of the admissions committee will be aware of your academic credentials before they ever get to your essay.

A Better Way to Handle It
Make no mistake: If your grades are unimpressive, you should offer the admissions committee something else by which to judge your abilities. Again, the best argument for looking past your college grades is evidence of achievement in another area, whether in your LSAT score, your extracurricular activities, or your career accomplishments.

"I've always wanted to be a lawyer."
Many people seem to feel the need to point out that they really, really want to become attorneys. You will do yourself a great service by avoiding such throwaway lines, which do nothing for your essay but water it down. Do not convince yourself in a moment of desperation that claiming to have known that the law was your calling since age six will somehow move your application to the top of the pile. The admissions committee is not interested in how much you want to practice law, but it is interested in why. Really.

"I want to become a lawyer to fight injustice."
Though some people actually mean this, most people's motivations for attending law school are not so altruistic. Law school admissions committees certainly do not regard the legal profession as a Saints vs. Sinners proposition, and neither should you.

Consider these facts: Slightly less than 60 percent of all law-school graduates in 2001 took jobs in private law firms; only 3 percent took public-interest jobs. Among the nearly one million practicing lawyers in the United States, there are relatively few who actually earn a living defending the indigent, saving the wetlands, or protecting our civil rights. Law schools are well aware of this, and they take the lofty goals professed by many applicants with a grain of salt. But while law school admissions committees know that the vast majority of working lawyers do little to "fight injustice" actively, they also know that these same lawyers are not slick, dishonest ambulance chasers.

If a Thurgood Marshall comes along only once a decade, a Roy Cohn comes along even less often. Do not be afraid of appearing morally moderate. If the truth is that you want the guarantee of a relatively good job that a law degree ensures, be forthright. If you can in good conscience say that you are committed to a career in the public interest, show the committee something tangible on your application and in your essay that will allow them to see your statements as more than mere assertions.

If you cannot truthfully commit to a career spent Fighting the Good Fight, but you are willing to at least do your part, say so. Your essay might include a thoughtful discussion of your commitment to being a responsible, ethical professional while still being able to pay the rent. You should also realize, as the admissions committee will, that people often change their direction while in law school. The exact nature of the motivations you espouse may be less important than the way in which you discuss them. Nothing is as impressive to the reader of a personal statement as the ring of truth.

"My GPA of 3.5 from a respected university and my strong LSAT score of 165…"
It is almost always unnecessary to recapitulate your numbers in your personal essay, no matter how impressive or unimpressive they may be.

For better or for worse, most law-school admissions committees group applications by grades and LSAT scores before getting to the essays. Though all schools claim not to have any cut-off scores, many initially sort the hundreds or thousands of applications they receive into groups like "great chance," "some chance," and "virtually no chance." A school that does something like this will already know what they're looking for from your essay. That is to say that they already know what sort of consideration your grades and scores have earned you. The last thing the admissions committee needs to read is a laundry list of all your vital statistics.

If You Feel You Must
If you know that your grades and LSAT score are strong points in your application, and if you feel it's necessary to remind the jury of this fact, be humble and subtle; don't actually mention the numbers.

If you know that your grades and test scores are working against you, remember that the admissions committee knows this too. Be positive about something else; you've already got two strikes against you.

An Exception
There is, however, a notable exception to this rule. If your cumulative college grade-point average hides something important, you should point this out. For instance, if one particularly bad semester or course dragged your GPA down, and if you can argue plausibly that those low grades should be viewed as anomalies, do so.

If your GPA for courses in your major field is significantly higher than your overall average, you might allude to this fact. Even better, if your grade-point average masks an upward trend in your performance, make sure to call attention to your improvement. Admissions committees love this.

Summary
Your personal statement should market all your best qualities to a school's admission committee. Don't wait precious moments in front of the admissions committee by trying to explain what you see as a weakness, that strategy will surely backfire. Instead, make them want to accept you as a student by pointing out what makes you distinct from the rest of the applicant pool. Use the tips above as a guide and, as always, let as many people as possible read your drafts to provide you with valuable feedback.