Great Personal Statements for Law School [Paperback]

Paul Bodine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0071453008 | ISBN-13: 978-0071453004 | Edition: 1

Expert guidance in creating a high-performance personal statement--essential for admittance to law school

Nationally known consultant Paul Bodine has helped thousands gain admission to elite professional schools. In Great Personal Statements for Law School, he helps you ace your personal statement, the most critical part of any law school application.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Expert guidance to writing the all-important personal statement that will get you accepted by your first-choice law school

Your grades are nearly perfect and your LSAT scores are stellar--but that's not enough to get into a top law school. You have to stand out from a crowd of super-achievers, and the best way to do that is with a great personal statement.

Great Personal Statements for Law School is the only book to take the personal essay apart, piece by piece, and show you how to put it all together--from rough draft to finished product--with maximum effect. Written by expert Paul Bodine, the nationally known consultant who has helped thousands gain admission to elite schools, this guide will make it easy to ace your personal statement with:

• Six "data-mining" techniques for brainstorming raw material
• An effective system for moving from outline to writing, revising, and editing
• Detailed strategies for answering the most common essay topics
• More than 25 actual essays by successful applicants to top schools like the University of Chicago, Georgetown, and Cornell
• Expert tips for customizing essays to particular schools, waging a guerrilla wait-list campaign, and submitting "value-added" dean's letters

Writing the personal statement can be daunting.... Mr. Bodine's book is an excellent resource."--Derek E. Meeker, Associate Dean, Admissions and Financial Aid, University of Pennsylvania Law School

Great Personal Statements for Law School presents a practical approach to applying to law schools and "crafting" winning personal statements!"--Lynell A. Cadray, Assistant Dean/Dean of Admission, Emory University School of Law

About the Author

Paul Bodine is the Senior Editor at Accepted.com, one of the oldest and most successful online admissions consulting services. His clients have consistently earned admission to such elite law schools as Harvard, NYU, Virginia, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Georgetown, and Vanderbilt.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071453008
• ISBN-13: 978-0071453004
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Education & Reference > Education > Graduate School Guides > Law

More About the Author

Follow Paul on Facebook (paul.s.bodine), Twitter (@paulsbodine) and LinkedIn (in/paulsbodine).

One of America's most experienced admissions consultants (serving clients since 1997), Paul Bodine has helped hundreds of applicants worldwide gain admission to such elite business schools as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Chicago, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Columbia, Dartmouth (Tuck), Berkeley (Haas), London Business School, INSEAD, Yale, New York University, Duke, Cornell, and Virginia, among many others. He has been interviewed by or featured in the Financial Times, BusinessWeek, Christian Science Monitor, MBAPodcaster, and LawSchoolPodcaster. His law school clients have been admitted to such elite programs as Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Virginia, Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, Georgetown, and Vanderbilt. Paul's services to customers include strategizing on application strategy, editing admissions essays, recommendation letters, and resumes, admissions interview preparation, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A genuinely terrible book, November 9, 2006

By 

J. Lerman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Personal Statements for Law School (Paperback)

Avoid this one at all costs. These personal statements are laughably bad, almost without exception. Treating them as models for your own law school personal statement isn't wise; these things read more like poor college admissions essays written by high school students. The writing is leaden and awkward, the subjects cliched, and the editing sloppy. Also, it's worth noting that most of the applicants whose essays are featured in the book gained admission only to mediocre law schools. A better choice is "Law School Essays that Made a Difference," which features much stronger personal statements written by borderline applicants to top schools (Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, etc.). The writers managed to gain entry to these sorts of schools, sometimes despite so-so numbers, because of their exceptional personal statements. The "Anna Ivey Guide" and Richard Montauk's "How To Get Into The Top Law Schools" also have good info about the personal statement. Or avoid the law school advice industry altogether and get a book like "The Art Of The Personal Essay," an excellent anthology edited by Phillip Lopate; "The Best American Nonrequired Reading" series, edited by Dave Eggers; Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones"; and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful and informative book on applying!, December 12, 2006

By 

Rachel MBA_2006 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Personal Statements for Law School (Paperback)

Paul's book is really helpful. If you aren't sure what personal experience to write about in your personal statment, Paul discusses how to choose what to write about, which is really useful. He also tells you how to write a good outline so that when you actually have to write the essay, it's not so hard.

The advice on letter of recommendations is also very useful. Paul tells you how to choose the right recommenders and how to coach them so that your recommendations will really be an asset to your application.

There are also many sample essays which I found very beneficial. For this alone, the book is worth it.

I really recommend this book to anyone who's even thinking of applying to law school!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great help to students!, December 9, 2006

By 

Roberta79 (Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Personal Statements for Law School (Paperback)

A helpful book! This book's real value are the excellent sections on

starting the writing process and understanding the basic types of questions that law schools ask. There are also separate chapters on secondary essays, like diversity and optional essays and wait list letters and a separate chapter just on recommendation letters.