| Whether you're submitting a personal statement, a | | | | were the conflicts and problems you faced? If you |
| statement of purpose, or a diversity essay, make | | | | write, "I have excellent time-management skills," back |
| sure to follow these rules:Rule #1: Edit and Proofread, | | | | up that statement by pointing out that you |
| Then Proofread Again Your grammar, spelling, and | | | | graduated in the top 10 percent of an engineering |
| punctuation must be flawless. When in doubt, pullout | | | | program that 40 percent of engineering freshmen |
| those old standbys The Chicago Manual of Style and | | | | drop.Rule #5: Respect Page Limits and Other Minutiae |
| Strunk & White. If grammar, spelling, and punctuation | | | | If a school gives you a page or word limit, abide by |
| aren't your strong points, enlist a friend to help (and | | | | it. And follow the spirit of the rule as well as the |
| give you a tutorial, while you're at it). There's no | | | | letter -- don't get too sneaky with fonts, margins, |
| excuse for a college graduate to mess this up. And | | | | and line spacing. Admissions officers won't cut you |
| beware the spell-check trap -- it won't catch "right" | | | | any slack if your essay comes in under the page limit |
| when you should have written "write," and it won't | | | | but makes them go cross-eyed because the font or |
| catch your "commitment to pubic service." (You | | | | line spacing is so small. If a school doesn't specify a |
| laugh, but I saw that typo as a law review editor.) | | | | length, a good rule of thumb is two to three pages, |
| Always have a second pair of eyes proofread your | | | | double-spaced, in eleven-point Times New Roman, |
| essays before you send them off.Rule #2: Nothing | | | | with one-inch margins all around. When in doubt, |
| Cutesy Anything cutesy or gimmicky will make | | | | shorter is better than longer. As an admissions officer |
| admissions officers groan. Stay away from the | | | | buddy of mine likes to say: "The vast, vast, vast |
| following:Essays in the form of poetry | | | | majority of just-out-of-college applicants (almost all |
| Essays in the form of a legal brief ("For all the | | | | applicants, really) are not interesting enough to fill six |
| reasons cited above, the admissions committee | | | | pages. Show me that you understand my time is |
| should admit Petitioner to Slamdunk Law School.") | | | | valuable, and show me that you understand how to |
| Essays in the form of an obituary ("Tracy Johnson | | | | pick out what's really important."Make sure to put |
| died the most respected jurist of her time.") | | | | your name and Social Security number in a header |
| Essays in the form of an interview | | | | and page numbers in a footer, just in case your file |
| Crayons, construction paper, perfume, or illustrated | | | | goes splat and has to be reassembled. Also, identify |
| essays, no matter how sophisticatedRule #3: No | | | | in the header what essay question you're answering, |
| Legalisms You're not a lawyer yet, so your use of | | | | if you're given more than one option or are |
| legal concepts or terminology will most likely | | | | submitting more than one essay ("Personal |
| demonstrate that you have no idea what you're | | | | Statement," "Optional Essay #3," etc.). By the way, |
| talking about, not to mention the fact that legal | | | | you don't need to give your essay a title like "Morris |
| writing is considered god-awful by the rest of the | | | | 405" or "Jorge." I added those titles in the appendix |
| world, including admissions officers. Many applicants, | | | | essays so that I could refer to them easily in this |
| for example, refer to a company or a person | | | | chapter.Don't submit pages that are crumpled, |
| violating someone's right to free speech, when, in | | | | stained, or smell like pot smoke -- most admissions |
| fact, the First Amendment applies only to | | | | officers really aren't looking for that contact high. |
| government restrictions on speech. And by all means, | | | | Really, your essay shouldn't smell like any kind of |
| steer clear of anything in Latin.Rule #4: Show, Don't | | | | smoke.And finally, if you're getting too close to your |
| Tell Back up any general statements with examples | | | | material and think you're losing perspective, turn to |
| and anecdotes. If you write, "The student presidency | | | | the sample essays in the appendix to keep your |
| taught me that leadership means more than | | | | big-picture objective in mind. Can you see how much |
| delegating," tell us how you learned that lesson. What | | | | more engaging and revealing the good ones are? |