How can I make my personal statement stand out if my LSAT is average?

[MossieMurphy]

Hi everyone,
I'm applying to law school and my LSAT is currently 155 - not too high, not too low. I know many top schools require higher scores, so I want to write a good personal statement to make up for it.
The problem is that I don't know what to focus on in my essay to make a strong impression. Should I tell a touching personal story, or should I emphasize a clear career goal?
Can anyone who has been in a similar situation or has experience writing essays share some advice? I would really appreciate it!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi MossieMurphy,

Hopefully, others who have been in a similar situation will chime in, but I'll offer a few suggestions.

First, the answer to your question of providing a touching personal story or emphasizing a clear career goal really depends on the specifics of your life, background, etc. as well as exactly how the personal statement is written. A touching personal story can work when well-written, but can really backfire in other cases.

I would highly recommend that you consider hiring a professional admissions consultant to help you with your personal statement. Unfortunately, many applicants unknowingly write personal statements that actually turn off the admissions staff for any number of reasons. (PowerScore does provide Admissions Consulting services and more information about these services can be found on our website.)

Second, while you certainly want to make your personal statement the very best that it can be, the most important factors in determining which law schools accept you is your LSAT score and your undergraduate GPA (in that order). If you've already graduated college, then your undergraduate GPA is already fixed (and hopefully it's high, as that can help offset a somewhat lower LSAT score). If you are still in college, focus on raising it as much as possible.

You mentioned your current LSAT score, but you didn't provide any information about your LSAT studying/preparation. Since your LSAT score is the single most important piece in your applications and it is something that you could reasonably expect to improve with additional study/practice, I would recommend continuing your LSAT practice and studying (and perhaps trying other approaches such as reading PowerScore's LSAT Bibles, taking one of our LSAT courses, and/or hiring one of our LSAT tutors if you haven't already tried these).