We get a lot of questions from applicants about what Part B of your Personal Statement is actually supposed to look like. We give some loose direction, and we do that on purpose. We don’t want to see 1400 formulaic Part Bs. We want to give each of you the latitude to speak to your specific skill set and experience without being hindered by what someone else tells you to write. However, I can give you some general guidance that might help form the basis of a strong Part B.
Tip 1: Actually create a Part B
We don’t want a resume or CV. I cannot emphasize this enough. Resumes have a very specific look to them, so we know when you have just cut and pasted your resume to your Part B. Some people don’t even hide the fact that it’s their resume. They simply upload their resume, calling it “Resume” and forget to upload a Part B.
This is a mistake.
I mean, yes, a lot of the information we want from you in Part B would be things you would find in your resume or CV. But simply uploading your resume tells us that you didn’t put in the minimal effort to even call it what we asked for. It means you didn’t follow the instructions. It means your application is incomplete.
We want applicants who want to be at UVic Law. What we know of you – all that we know of you – is what is contained in the four corners of your application. Creating a Part B is one of the very easy ways you can show us you want to attend UVic Law.
Tip 2: Organize
One of the things you can take from your resume format is the organization piece, though it doesn’t necessarily need to look like that. Most resumes are organized concurrently in two ways: time and subject matter. These are logical ways to organize things, though they are not the only way to do so.
On your Part B, remember that your audience is a group of 4 or 5 people who have never met you before. If you just put a bunch of bullet points down a sheet of paper with descriptions of the life experiences you’ve had, it’s not very easy for the readers to organize it in their brain as they follow along. However, if you organize it into sections that make sense, it helps us better understand what you are trying to say. It also helps shape the lens we view the information through.
That said, there are many ways to organize this information. A lot of applicants opt for heading divisions like Education, Work Experience, Volunteer Work, Fun Facts, etc. However, if there is another way to organize your information that makes better sense for what you are trying to say, please do.
Tip 3: Actually talk about things and list transferable skills
We do care what you did at your barista job in 2018. There are a lot of transferable skills that you can learn at a job like that. Customer service skills can be really important to your work in the legal profession. Don’t discount and thus not include life experience simply because you don’t think it’s related to the legal field. We honestly do not expect that applicants will have had a full (or any) career in the legal profession prior to starting law school.
Tip 4: Tie it together and make it applicable
We absolutely love when we see a Part B that lists a category of life experience, shows transferable skills and ties it all together with two or three sentences at the end. This is a great opportunity for you to tell us what you want us to see from what you have done. For example, do you want us to see your incredible ability to work with all types of people? Do you want us to know how much empathy you learned from an experience? This is the time to literally let us know exactly what it is you feel your life experience taught you.
Tip 5: Fun facts can be fun
I know, I know. Asking you to list fun facts seems a little weird. It doesn’t seem relevant. But it is for several reasons. The biggest reason is it lets us know a little more about you. It makes a little more personal an otherwise very impersonal application process.
Every year, I am blown away by several applicants who found an absolute art in writing their fun facts. They’re funny, entertaining, interesting, touching, self-deprecating, fascinating, or just weird. Some of them are fantastically or cleverly written.
However, remember that these don’t have to be ridiculous or even out of the ordinary. You don’t have to break the world record for the longest sky dive. You can enjoy cooking a new version of eggs benny every week or have a pet rock collection. Please know, though, that if you can write about it cleverly, you are more likely to be memorable to your readers.