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When writing law school essays you have two key objectives: to persuade the admissions officer that you are extremely worthy of admission and to make the admissions officer aware that you are more than a GPA and a standardized score, that you are a real-life, intriguing personality.
Whilst this can be easier said than done, every prospective law school student should be able to write an essay that catches an admissions officer's attention.
To help you with this process, LawSchools360.com have teamed up with EssayEdge to provide you with the following tips for success when writing law school essays.
Tips for Success when Writing Law School Essays
By
EssayEdge, The Net's Law School Essays Resource
Tip 1. Answer the Question:
You can follow the next 12 steps, but if you miss the question, you will not be admitted to any institution.
Tip 2. Be Original:
Even seemingly boring topics can be made into exceptional essays with an innovative approach. If writing about a gymnastics competition you trained for, do not start your essay, "I worked long hours for many weeks to train for XXX competition."
Consider an opening like, "Every morning I awoke at 5:00 to sweat, tears, and blood as I trained on the uneven bars hoping to bring the state gymnastics trophy to my hometown."
Tip 3. Be Yourself:
Admissions officers want to learn about you and your writing ability. Write about something meaningful and describe your feelings, not necessarily your actions. If you do this, your essay will be unique.
Many people travel to foreign countries or win competitions, but your feelings during these events are unique to you. Unless a philosophy or societal problem has interested you intensely for years, stay away from grand themes that you have little personal experience with.
Tip 4. Don’t “Thesaurize” Your Composition:
For some reason, students continue to think big words make good law school essays. Big words are fine, but only if they are used in the appropriate contexts with complex styles. Think Hemingway.
Tip 5. Use Imagery and Clear, Vivid Prose:
If you are not adept with imagery, you can write an excellent admissions essay without it, but it's not easy. The law school admissions essay lends itself to imagery since the entire essay requires your experiences as supporting details. Appeal to the five senses of the admissions officers.
Tip 6. Spend the Most Time on Your Introduction:
Expect admissions officers to spend 1-2 minutes reading your law school essay. You must use your introduction to grab their interest from the beginning. You might even consider completely changing your introduction after writing your body paragraphs.
Tip 7. Body Paragraphs Must Relate to the Introduction:
Your introduction can be original, but cannot be silly. The paragraphs that follow must relate to your introduction.
Tip 8. Use Transition:
Applicants continue to ignore transition to their own detriment. You must use transition within paragraphs and especially between paragraphs to preserve the logical flow of law school essays.
Transition is not limited to phrases like "as a result, in addition, while… since… , etc." but includes repeating key words and progressing the idea. Transition provides the intellectual architecture to argument building.
Tip 9. Conclusions are Critical:
The conclusion is your last chance to persuade the reader or impress upon them your qualifications. In the conclusion, avoid summary since admissions essays are rather short to begin with; the reader should not need to be reminded of what you wrote 300 words before.
Also do not use stock phrases like "in conclusion, in summary, to conclude, etc." You should consider the following conclusions:
Tip 10. Do Something Else:
Spend a week or so away from your draft to decide if you still consider your topic and approach worthwhile.
Tip 11. Give Your Draft to Others:
Ask editors to read your law school essay with these questions in mind:
Tip 12. Revise, Revise, Revise:
You only are allowed so many words; use them wisely. If H.D. Thoreau couldn't write a good essay without revision, neither will you. Delete anything in law school essays that do not relate to your main argument. Do you use transition? Are your introduction and conclusions more than summaries? Did you find every single grammatical error?
Allow for the evolution of your main topic. Do not assume your subject must remain fixed and that you can only tweak sentences.
Editing takes time. Consider reordering your supporting details, delete irrelevant sections, and make clear the broader implications of your experiences. Allow your more important arguments to come to the foreground. Take points that might only be implicit and make them explicit.
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