Your Personal Statement Is a Writing Sample

The University of Chicago's Law School admissions blog uses a March 16 post to remind potential applicants that their personal statements are read carefully -- not just for content, but for the quality of their writing.

Writing matters in law school applications because law students (and lawyers) write a lot. They're expected to write both intelligently and carefully. After all, a mis-used word or a mis-constructed phrase can make all the difference in the way a legal document is interpreted.

Your personal statement is the part of your application that demonstrates your writing skills. You need to be at the very top of your game here. You need to make sure that you convey exactly what you need the admissions committee to know, keeping within the typically tight word limits of a law school statement. And you need not just to spell-check but to edit and proofread your statement carefully, too. The kind of common blunder that spell-checkers won't catch -- like 'too' for 'to,' or 'its' for 'it's' -- could be all that's needed to send your application to the reject pile.

Your law school personal statement may be one of the most important pieces of writing you produce in your legal career. Although law schools will not start accepting 2008 applications until this September, it is by no means too early to start working on your statement. Many applicants are amazed at the amount of time they wind up having to devote to crafting their essays. The sooner you start the reflection and writing process, the better off you'll be when the application season opens.