Writing your personal statement may prove to be one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome in completing your law school applications. If you don't believe us now, just wait until you start working on that first draft. It's not an insurmountable hurdle to overcome, however, it just requires that you know what you want it to accomplish from the outset.

Make Yourself Stand Out
The primary goal of your personal statement stems from one potentially depressing fact: You will be competing against thousands of well-qualified applicants for admission to the law school of your choice. Rather than simply be discouraged, you should let your knowledge of this guide your work: Your primary task in writing your application will be to separate yourself from the crowd.

Particularly if you are applying directly from college or if you have been out of school for a very short time, you must do your best to see that the admissions committee cannot categorize you too broadly. Admissions committees will see innumerable applications from bright twenty-two-year-olds with good grades. Your essay presents an opportunity to put those grades in context, to define and differentiate yourself. How you do this will ultimately depend on who you are, what you have accomplished, and what you value.

What Makes a Good Personal Statement?
Like any good writing, your law-school application should tend towards clarity, conciseness, and candor. The first two of these qualities, clarity and conciseness, are usually the products of good methodology. Repeated critical revision by yourself and others is the surest way to trim and tune your prose. The third quality, candor, is the product of proper motivation. Honesty cannot be added in after the fact; your writing must be candid from the outset.

In writing your personal statement for law-school applications, you should pay particularly close attention to methodology and motivation. Admissions committees will read your essay two ways: as a product of your handiwork and as a product of your mind. Do not underestimate the importance of either perspective. A well-crafted essay will impress any admissions officer, but if it does not illuminate, it will not be remembered. Conversely, a thoughtful essay that offers true insight will stand out unmistakably, but if it is not readable, it will not receive serious consideration.