Customer Reviews

Great Personal Statements for Law School

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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."

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!

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.

A good read. When I was trying to think about what to write for law school applications I couldn't come up with a lot. After reading what others had done it made me realize I was being overly critical of what I should write.

There was nothing unique about this book. I bought 4 different books to help me write my personal statement. They all said the same thing with the same insight. Talk about plagarism. They weren't word-for-word, but the gist was the same.

Save your money and buy only 1 book!