A2Z S4 E04: Personal Statements // Controversial topics & common topics
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2024
- Dean Z has talked about personal statements in previous episodes but today she covers two specific aspects: writing about controversial topics and writing about common or typical topics. Whichever kind of topic you're writing about, Dean Z has some advice that will help you make the most of your personal statement.
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🕔 Time Chapters 🕔
00:19 Two topics
00:44 Question from viewer
01:37 Difficult or controversial topics
03:25 Brief story of clerking
04:40 Boldness and talent
06:22 "Typical" topics
07:37 It needs to be personal
09:22 Promissory estoppel
Hello dean z, a question and an idea for a future video: how does being an international student play into admissions? Especially with public schools who have to prioritize in-state students? and how does the financial aid look like if it exists in private vs public schools? Will being an international student reduce someone’s chances of both of these? I tried looking elsewhere but there are really limited resources addressing this as its quite niche. The video was insightful as always!
I would love to hear about this as well.
@@munachiakwali6496 🤝🏻
Hey Dean Z,
Huge fan of this video series! I've seen quite bit of them and I wanted to ask about how Military Service Members should discuss our employment experiences. For members of the reserve component, what would be the easiest way to discuss deployments, military training, etc?
Great question-I’m not expert on military service, and so I’m always very grateful when applicants can step back and describe the positions in a way that makes sense to a layperson. Stay away from jargon, for example, and use the most conversational types of terms you can. I think specifying deployments is very helpful, and I’m surprised by the number of people who don’t include that info! For training, I would focus on information that you think will translate most to law school. -DZ
thank you so much for all these videos! Such an absolute gift to everyone considering law school. Any chance you can do an app review of a KJD low GPA and at/above median LSAT?
The main issue I'm running into is my personal statement is trying to make it so that my personal statement doesn't bleed into being my adversity statement. I'm looking to make sure I don't repeat myself in different essays.
That’s the right instinct! You want to make full use of all the real estate you have, as it were. While you want essays to be consistent with each other (e.g., don’t have one talking about you want to be a biglaw transactional attorney and another that talks about your commitment to the underserved, unless you can include content that makes those not seem in opposition), but you don’t want repetition. -DZ
Hello, could you cover diversity statements? What makes a good diversity statement?
I asked the question about gender equality. It’s a great feeling to know that Dean Z really do take the time out of her busy schedule to respond to questions! Thank you for the amazing advice.
Thanks again for asking!!
What if one’s undergrad background was in a pre med related discipline and thus all their internships and jobs arent legal related but stem related? Will this disadvantage a law school applicant? Does your work experience have to contain jobs related to the legal field in specific, given the undergrad circumstances?
The only thing I’m wary about is writing about my involvement in campus activism surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict.
This would be especially risky if I were to apply to a school that had very intense protests earlier this year; an example would be Columbia. I’m sure the last thing those schools want is more pro-Palestinian student activists causing “trouble,” and I’m worried that there would be a bias against them in admissions.
don't
@@r.p.8906 Duly noted. It's also rather telling that Dean Z never bothered to like my comment or respond to me, despite being one of the first comments. She is too entrenched in the establishment even to _risk_ a response on this controversial issue. Perhaps I was naive for even entertaining the idea that I could expect any degree of friendship or closeness from a bureaucratic administrator.
This is a broader concern than just this one issue-whenever someone is writing about a political topic, they would be well-served to think about a reader who disagrees with them. It is certainly possible to discuss controversial issues in a way that does not give offense to those with opposed viewpoints, and that has to be your goal. If you don’t think you can be dispassionate enough to do that, then you should pick a different topic. -DZ
Thank you Dean Z for this great insight into how to craft and effectively analyze your own personal statement. This was extremely helpful and I look forward to all your videos!
Waitlist is not decided by the personal statement. Keep it safe and study for one extra point on the LSAT.
Wellllll… maybe? Sometimes? More frequently, though, if you end up on the waitlist it’s because your numbers are fine, and the thing that gets you selected from among similarly situated people is everything else about your application and subsequent interactions with the office (e.g., updates, letters of continued interest, and so on). -DZ