Law school admissions personal statement

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endersdragon34
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

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Joined: 11 May 2015
Posts: 126
Location: Utah

08 Jan 2018, 5:35 pm

Long story short, I have decided to go to law school (and have the 163 LSAT score to back up that desire, at a lot of the schools I am looking at that basically makes it a sure thing), no you can't talk me out of at least applying (if I don't get enough scholarship money, yea that might make things different, but most of the schools I am looking at are known for being generous there), so don't bother trying. So now we get to the dreaded personal statement. Considering I want to go into disability/education law (yes I know they don't make much blablabla) I don't think I can write an essay like that without at least mentioning my autism, but my autism has lead to a lot of heartbreak and a lot of people thinking I am incapable, so... I don't want the admissions board to think that of me. To make matters worse as I mentioned before I am hoping to get some scholarship help, and the only diversity I have is autism, so it seems worthwhile to use it to make me sound unique (I've heard trying to sound unique is a bad thing... but being diagnosed with autism is probably more uniqueness than they are used to, and therefore far less cliche) and desirable, but also have to make sure I sound capable of competing the curriculum otherwise my 163 LSAT might not matter. So does anyone have experience with this and can help me navigate around these hurdles.



Sum
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

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Joined: 1 Apr 2015
Age: 26
Posts: 68
Location: Kansas, United States

12 Jan 2018, 9:13 am

Outsourcing your personal statement would be an immense mistake. Personal statements by their very nature are meant to be an opportunity for you to sell yourself to the admission board. This is a job, by its very nature, no one can better do than yourself. This disregards the obvious economic burden and academic dishonesty involved in the act of outsourcing any essay you are expected to write. Besides, the lawyers primary mode of communication is written; as such, now is the time for practice, not outsourcing, unless you wish to do so your entire life. I can guarantee if you outsource now it will significantly hurt you in the future.

Now, in regards to your primary issue. I believe your best choice is to market your Aspergers as a character strength and stop thinking of it as a weakness. When you get to a graduate level the administration and admissions team assume you have already proven yourself capable and are neither interested nor do they have the time to baby you. The admissions team's job is to determine if they believe you are capable of passing the academic rigor required for graduation, nothing more. There are many blind lawyers and lawyers with other disabilities. I guarantee an admission team will look exceedingly favorably on an individual who has overcome the many trials that come with Aspergers and in doing so has decided to give back to those with the same issues as themselves who may be much less fortunate. Look, if you are anything like the rest of us, you have fought tooth and nail and struggled in the face of challenge after challenge to get where you are now. Instead of pretending the mountain you climbed to get here does not exist why not point to it and say "see what I overcame compared to everyone else?". From a Personal Statement writing perspective you have everything you need to write a very powerful essay. Sorry I could not edit and organize my thoughts I need to shower and eat before my first class of the day. I will the best for you.