Crafting a Persuasive Law Essay.
Most law students find writing a law school essay overwhelming. Uncertain questions like how many law schools to apply to and the LSAT and GPA score needed can affect your admission cycle success. But amid all these statistics, your essay is the deciding factor for admissions. Why? Thousands of applicants already have strong backgrounds and high LSAT scores. Artificial intelligence can produce a well-researched legal brief. Law schools are after the narrative – a storytelling character that gives a proper understanding of their background and future – the key aspect of an attorney.
Why a Law School Essay is Important
While the GPA and LSAT carry a heavier weight, an essay is a substitute for the interview process. It displays your effectiveness in communicating ideas. It shows the admissions committee why a law degree is your next step. This could mean turning a likely rejection letter into an offer of admission.
How to Write an Effective Law School Essay
Considering that the admission committee is experienced at reading hundreds of essays, it’s important to write one that grabs attention. These tips will guide you in writing an essay to captivate the admission team.
Carefully examine the prompts
Understand the prompts before you dive in. Most schools have similar and open-ended prompts. Some focus on what you would contribute to the community through academic and professional experiences. Others don’t even revolve around law-related topics, so you are free to choose a topic of your choice. Quite a number will want you to have experiences, qualities, and motivation to apply.
Create a unique topic
Reviewers get many similar themes and narratives, the most important reason you should craft a memorable story. Note that you can have a cliché life experience, and they are not undervalued. These stories motivated thousands of law applicants and appeared in many essays. So, it would be more valuable if you looked at your story from a different angle and not from a general point of view.
Examples are as important
After selecting a topic, share examples that tie to the reason behind your motivation. Having a general essay will make it dull and won’t give you a reason to stand out. Giving examples raises the uniqueness of your experience and not sound cliche.
Don’t just recount, reflect
Unfortunately, having an outstanding story is not enough. The admission committee needs to reflect on how the events changed and shaped you into the person they are seeing today. Applicants focus on stating the tangible details of the events and not evaluating on what the experience meant to them.
Avoid adorning yourself
As much as you want to put a good word for yourself out there, it won’t help if it doesn’t match the qualities in your narrative. Claiming how great you are provides little value. Alternatively, tell a story that saw you rise to the good leader you are. Also, consider all that comes with the leadership because that is not the only quality that will take for the admission team to judge on your candidacy.
What would you expect from a great lawyer – honesty, empathy, compassion, fairness, intelligence, professionalism? Evaluate your brainstorm ideas and choose those that align with your narrative.
Be concise
The goal is to create a vibrant and compelling essay, but long, complicated sentences and hyperboles will do more harm than good. Being concise means cutting down unnecessary words and getting direct to the point. With that, the reader will flow well with the narrative rather than getting confused or lost in the story.
Common Pitfalls when Crafting Persuasive Law School Essay
It would be a total mess to invest hours in an essay only for it to bump. To avoid such an experience, these common mistakes for law school essays are worth considering.
Not following instructions
Different law schools give different instructions on formats and lengths. For instance, if you’re instructed to use double spacing, 12-point font, and two pages maximum, format your essay according to the specifications. Failure to follow these guidelines sees an automatic rejection.
Language too academic
Your essay should flow naturally or otherwise sound less personal or overly academic. Do not use legal language excessively. Your reviewers are academics, they will sniff out misused terms. After all, using language you are comfortable with will allow you to share ideas and themes you intended.
Now that you are well-equipped with essential guidance, you’re ready to craft a compelling law school essay. These insights will help you stand out in the admission process, highlighting your unique qualities and motivation.
