Admission to law school is dependent on a couple of factors. First, any applicant must have a bachelor's degree from a 4-year college, an acceptable LSAT score, and perhaps most importantly your law school essay. The law school essay is really more of a personal statement, and it is probably the most similar to the essays that you would have written for admission to an undergraduate college. Often this essay has a fairly open topic, and that can make it somewhat difficult to know where to get started.

When you begin to write your law school personal essay there are two things that you want to think about addressing. You want to be sure that your prospective college knows what it is that makes you want to be a lawyer, and they also need to know what your qualifications are and why you would be a good addition to their student body.

When talking about why you want a career in law you will want to keep your audience in mind. Admissions officers of any law school have seen more than enough application essays that start with "I have dreamed of being a lawyer since I was a little kid" and then go on to list all of the reasons that they will be a great lawyer. Perhaps your parents were lawyers, and you want your life to be like them. Again this is something that admissions counselors see all too much of. The truth is that you will want to focus on what your specific career goal is. Is there an area of the law that you have always wanted to work in? That is a good thing to write about. Talk about a specific part of the community that you want to help service, such as children or a group that does not have enough public advocates.

To make your personal essay stand out from the crowd, there are five tips that you will want to follow.

5. Create Interest

Any admissions officer is going to have to read hundreds of admission essays. It is important to remember that fact as you are writing yours. Be sure that your essay is stimulating to read and is memorable. The best way to do this is to create an attention-getting opener that lets the admissions officer know who you are in a nutshell. Give them an idea of who you are and where you come from at the beginning of your personal statement.

4. Make It Personal

The way to make yourself stand out to law school admissions officers is to reveal who you are through personal details. Allow yourself to be vulnerable in your essay and to reveal specifics about your life experiences that got you to where you are today. Do not just tell what happened to you in your life; reveal how it has affected and shaped you as a person.

3. Don't Hide Discrepancies

There may be a couple of areas on your law school application that are a bit lacking. Perhaps you had a couple of academic blips on your college transcripts. Take time in your personal essay to address these shortcomings, but be sure that you are explaining them properly. Do not simply say that you partied too much in college and that is why your grades were not what you would have liked them to be. Instead, try to focus on how your professional and personal experiences have shown you that you truly want a career in law and that you have learned from those earlier experiences.

2. Keep It Short and Sweet

When revealing personal details, you may find yourself rambling on to explain. This is a mistake that many law school applicants make within their college essays. Be sure that you are explaining things fully, but take care not to run on and on. Shorter sentences are often easier to read and tend to pack more impact into them.

1. Avoid Legal Mumbo Jumbo

Any prospective law student might be tempted to try to prove that they are a viable candidate through their knowledge of legal terms and phrases. Often, law school admission officers see essays that are filled with these terms and phrases. Fight the urge to do this. The truth is that there will be plenty of writing for which you will have to use this vocabulary. Instead, construct a thoughtful and personable essay that will get the admissions officer personally interested in who you are.