Telling Your Story: Beginnings Are Boring
A personal statement is really no more than telling a story—one that illuminates the “you” a law school would be lucky to have in its student body. In this series, “Telling Your Story,” a jdMission Senior Consultant will discuss how elements of storytelling can—and should—be applied to your law school personal statement.
You walk into a bookstore to browse, pick up a book with an interesting title and open it to the first page. It begins, “I was born on a sunny day in Indiana in 1955.” Do you keep reading? If you are like me, probably not. I know better than to overvalue book covers, but I do judge most books by their first lines.
A general principle of storytelling is that too much exposition or background before the action starts is a guaranteed way to lose readers. The same idea can make your law school personal statement stronger, hooking a reader from the beginning rather than the middle. (Let’s be honest, an admissions officer may not even make it to the middle, depending on the strength of your application.)
Suppose you are writing about the time you organized a Relay for Life event—the big, outdoor American Cancer Society fundraiser—in your community. Your story is about how, in the middle of the event, it began to rain, then pour and eventually flood. You were about to cancel the event, when something changed your mind.
This essay could begin, “Volunteer work has been a part of my life ever since I was young.” Or it could begin, “I stood, soaking wet, on a hill overlooking 200 people, and prepared to announce that the Relay for Life I had been organizing for a year was canceled.” Which statement is stronger?
Starting in the middle—in the heat of the action—helps ensure that the person reading your personal statement will read it all the way through to the end. ?
jdMission is a leading law school admissions consulting firm with a team of dedicated consultants who have not only been through the law school application process themselves, but also possess elite communications skills and can help you navigate this crucial—and often perplexing—process. Your consultant will serve as your coach and partner every step of the way, advising you on school selection, helping you brainstorm personal statement topics, editing your essays and resume, helping you manage your recommenders, advising on any addenda, and more!