Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

Seeing as I'll be attending University (to study Law, for those who remember my threads all them years ago!) next September so need to write my statement of why they should let me in!

Has anyone (I know most of the forum is US based, and I don't know if they have something similar over in the states, but it's worth a bash) wrote one? Read some? Know what they need?

I basically have to sell myself and all the ones I've read, on the internet or friends, are so over the top.

"I've always had a passion for law" - no, when you were little you wanted to be a footballer/spy/teenage mutant ninja turtle like the rest of us. Bah! Any advice would be great!

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

Funny, anyone with a decent education can attend university here. No need for written motivations or anything. For graduate programs, I believe there is a short talk.

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

Well anyone *can* attend university here, as far as I know, but some universities and courses require higher grades to get in (Most places that do law require AAA/AAB), so they need something to distinguish between applicants as the courses are so competitive.

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

Yes, it's the same here. Anyone can attend, but places can be limited for popular courses. It's like art courses want a portfolio beforehand when reviewing your app.

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

I'm starting to write one. And both my parents read them regularly, being teachers. Heh.

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

I havent had to write them, but just give a bit of background to yourself, and the reasons/events in your life that made you choose law.

Then disucss how you will use your law qualifications (probably good to pretend that lawyers are noble people in this bit!) to help others/right wrongs/destroy injustice.

Talk about a desire for a respected career (if that is what you desire) that has lots of opportunities to do many things and see the world.

End with a statement about how you feel that studying law with make you a better, wiser person, and that you feel you have something to offer the legal profession.

As i said though, i have never written one, so the above is quite likely to be utter bollocks. Probably better to get DragonShadows folks to read it for ya!

Good luck!

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

Haha! All I know about them is "don't start them with I, and be interesting".

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

If the application isn't asking for a writing sample, the personal statement could be your only chance to prove that you can write.

In any case, I had to write one to go to college here, and another one to go to graduate school.

Some things to think about:

Yeah you want to study law, but is there a particular reason you want to go to University X to study it there?

Everyone's going to say they have a passion about law. You might say something more intellectual about law.

"While reading Jacque Derrida's The Force of Law, it occurred to me that law and justice do not necessarily go hand in hand, and yet people seem to believe/assume it does. The law as a field is therefore wrought with interesting paradoxes that can tell us volumes about the relationships between people and state institutions."

Okay, so I'm on the road to being a political-legal anthropologist, so that's how I'd phrase something like that. It gave me an idea though: most people will be writing to talk about how they want to practice law. They want the $$ of being a lawyer somewhere, and they want to argue, etc. You may stand out by professing an interest in the field of law or of legal scholarship - broader questions of concern about the relationship between law and state, law and citizens, etc. This may or may not be true, but as you said, so little of what's written in these things is lol.

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

For college, I wrote something along the lines of... "Here's the thing. I hate writing these things and you hate reading them. So here's how this is going to work. I'm going to write a story so you can get a feel for my writing style, and if you read the entire thing I promise to keep you entertained." Then I told my favorite, never-fail, yes-this-actually-happened-to-me tale. I got called in for an interview, the guy had it on his desk. He picked it up, pointed at it, and said, "Really?" I nodded. He said, "Look, you're accepted. Again... Really?" "Yes." "Tell me everything." Good times.

Demonstrate that you are an actual person, an intelligent person, a person who's going to be successful, and you should be fine. Don't write something that's going to put whoever reads it to sleep.

Re: Personal Statement, Uni Applications
 

Tell him that ever since you were a kid, you knew what you wanted to do.
Explain to him that one dark night your parents were walking home with you after a great [Insert Sports Event], but it was pretty long past your bedtime, so your parents were cutting through some alleys to save time, as your [Hometown] is quite large.
After a ways, you all hear a noise and your father decides to pick up the pace. Suddenly, a very grubby and grimy person dressed all in black emerges from the shadows behind a dumpster; his gun is pointed in your direction. The man demands your parents turn over their wallets, jewelry, and any other valuables on their person. They reluctantly turn them over, and just as the robber turns to leave your father makes a move to stop him but the man sees him, turns, and shoots him dead. It looks like your mother is about to attack him too, so he shoots her as well as you stand by looking helpless and mortified. He smirks at you and says 'See you around, kid...!' and disappears in to the shadows once more.
Ever since that day you knew that you wanted to fight crime, but since you aren't a millionaire, the whole Batman thing didn't really work, so you've settled for the next best thing: fighting crime by prosecuting the same manner of criminals that killed your parents in order to ensure it doesn't happen to any more kids.

It's definitely interesting at least... I'm glad I don't need a portfolio or anything to get in to my social science programs =D Good luck, mate!