Personal Statement: Style and Content of Part B

 

One of the requirements for all UVic Law applicants is the submission of a Personal Statement. The simple guidelines can be found here. We’ve also published some helpful blog posts with tips to write a strong Personal Statement (Tips and Tricks: Personal Statements and Clarification on Personal Statement Guidelines). However, we still get a lot of questions about how to write a strong Personal Statement. This is part of a series explaining more of what the expectations are of a successful application, as well as some tips and things to avoid. This installment discusses style and content of Part B.

Part B of your Personal Statement is, of course the sidekick to your Part A. It is the index, the appendix, the supplement, and the backup singer. Think of it as a way to create harmonies and complex chords out of the melody provided by your Part A.

We’ve moved away from asking you to provide Part B in bullet point format because, after some discussion, we realized that an outline is really what we want. We want something that is tied together, rather than disconnected, stand-alone points. We want a well-organized outline that supplements and compliments your Personal Statement Part A with additional information that you feel we would benefit from knowing when we review your application file.

We hesitate to tell you how to organize Part B because we don’t want to box applicants into an expectation that stifles another way that works for their brains. However, here are a few tips:

1. Remember that all of the information – absolutely every bit of information – that we have about you is kept in the four corners of your application. That is, we see your grades, your LSAT scores, your application, your Personal Statement (Parts A and B), and any other statement you may be required to submit (depending on which stream you apply under). We do not see anything about you unless you tell us. It’s a good idea that, before you start writing Part B, you make a list of things you want us to know. This way, you don’t accidentally leave things out.
2. When you’re making that list of things, ensure you write down some qualities about yourself you would like to convey. These can be things you learned, attributes you think you have, or strengths you have developed. Note where the origin story of each of those qualities begins. This will help you focus on your intended message as you draft Part B.
3. When you are thinking of events and experiences, think about what has actually influenced you, rather than what you think will look good on paper. I mean, we’d love to see the stuff that looks good on paper, also, but it’s a good idea to ensure these have a direct tie to your qualities and attributes.
4. Organize Part B. This can be done in a number of ways, in whatever way makes the most sense for you. This can be done chronologically. It can be done by category (work, education, volunteer). It can by subject matter. We do ask, however, that you take the time to organize your Part B. Make parallel headers for your organization.
5. A lot of the information we want would be on your resume, but we definitely do not want your resume. Instead, what we want are a few selective points under each header, with short descriptions. At the bottom of the points, and before the next header, it’s a good idea to put a sentence or two that ties them together or tells us why each point is relevant.
6. Don’t negate your transferrable skills. Working in retail, for example, can give you lessons learned or skills that you can use in law school. We do not expect every applicant to have lengthy legal experience (or any at all).
7. Don’t undersell yourself. Not every applicant will (or needs to) have experience as a UN Intern or have a PhD, the Order of Canada, and a full career behind them. We seek applicants who are well-rounded, and being well-rounded can come from a variety of experiences that includes things like retail or restaurant work, sports, travel, and family obligations. The more important thing is how you talk about yourself and your experiences, and how you tie things together.
8. Don’t oversell yourself. We want an applicant to be sincere when they apply to UVic Law. That includes not overstating your experience or exaggerating what you have done. Avoid euphemisms or resume buzzwords that don’t actually tell us what you did in plain language. You say you were a Sanitation Quality Assurance Technician? Not only do we have no reference point for what that means, we would have understood you were a stay-at-home parent to an infant much better. Be insightful, sincere, and unapologetically yourself.
9. Don’t ramble. Remember that we read so, so, so many applications – so many. And we read every word of every one of them. Part B is not a way to get around having a word limit for Part A. As much as we enjoy reading applications, extending a Part B to more than a couple of pages is overkill. If you’ve lived a very full life, you might need to be selective about what you put in Part B. We ask that Part B be brief and concise. 1-2 pages is generally enough.
10. Don’t assume we know what things are. Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, and familiar names may not be as widely known as you think. Spell things out for us, and explain things where gaps night exist.
11. Your fun facts are important. You do not have to include fun facts in your application. However, they give us insight both into who you are and into your likelihood to succeed. They tell us about your sense of humour or your ability to commit to something. They can make an otherwise dry-ish application more colourful and memorable. They are a really good opportunity to have fun and stand out.