Every law school has a different requirement. Some schools don't limit your length, while others cap it at a certain number of pages or words.

Most schools limit the length to 2 pages, double spaced, or about 500 words.

One strategy: Look at all the schools you're applying to, and pick the school with the shortest limit. Write your essay within that limit.

Granted, the more you can customize your statement for each school, the greater impact it will have on each admissions committee. But writing your statement within the shortest limit will allow you to use it for any school you apply to.

Here are some sample limits:

Georgetown

There is no minimum or maximum length. We do not feel that an applicant's personal statement should be limited. Please send in your personal statement with your application.

George Washington

Please try to keep your personal statement to 500 words – two pages, double spaced.

American

The average length is 2-3 pages. Reviewers appreciate it if you could keep the font size legible (at least 11 point) and double spaced.

George Mason

The application requires submission of a personal statement not to exceed 500 words, double-spaced.

Harvard

We ask that you limit your statement to two pages, double spaced, using a font size that is comfortable to read (not less than 11 point).

Stanford

Enclose a statement of about two pages describing important or unusual aspects of yourself not otherwise apparent in your application.

NYU

Because people and their interests vary, we leave the content and length of your statement to your discretion. You may wish to complete or clarify your responses to items on the application form, bring to our attention additional information you feel should be considered, describe important or unusual aspects of yourself not otherwise apparent in your application, or tell us what led you to apply to NYU School of Law.

One of our students, who took the June 2009 LSAT at Bowie, had this to say.

Too funny not to share:

LSAT went pretty well I think, though it was pretty interesting, they jipped us 5 minutes on the last section apparently and people started yelling about it and stuff. So she gave us an extra 5 minutes after it all went down. Was funny. Some guys also thought that we lost 5 minutes on the second section, but I noticed the time for that one and I was 99% positive that we got full time.

Lesson learned: Keep time so you can demand your 35 minutes?!

Hopefully this never happens again, LSAC. :)

Strategy LSAT Preparation is looking for qualified individuals to join our DC office and expanding areas in Virginia and Maryland. We're looking for the following:

• LSAT Instructors
• LSAT Tutors
• LSAT Proctors

To recruit the best talent, we pay our teachers above-average rates. Your exact rate, however, depends on your teaching and tutoring experience.

Requirements:

• Official LSAT Score in the top 98%
• Excellent teaching experience and abilities
• Outgoing and friendly personality

Please do not apply if you do not meet these requirements.

Apply Online

Thanks for your interest. We look forward to meeting you!

The LSAT will ask you only to evaluate two choices—not to evaluate an argument. Argument writing prompts were discontinued in June 2007.

A good writing sample is direct and gets to the point. Even though they give you a whole page, don’t feel like you need to use every line. Instead, state your conclusion—your main point—in your first sentence. Then support it. Then stop.

1. In the first sentence, state which choice you support.

2. In the next three to six sentences, give three reasons why you support it.

• Make sure each reason relates to the two criteria.
• Keep it short but substantive by not repeating yourself.

3. Show that you understand the benefits of the other choice by concluding with one or two sentences starting with “although.” Here’s a good format to follow:

• Although the [other choice] has benefit X, person Y should still go with [your choice] because of reason Z.

That's it. No need to go further. Writing more for the sake of writing more will hurt your writing sample. They won't appreciate your verbosity.

It usually takes about 3 weeks.

For the June 2009 test, for instance, LSAC says you'll get your score by June 28:

June 2009 Dates and Deadlines

But they often send the scores a few days early. It just depends on your luck.

Yes, law schools will look at more than just your LSAT score. But in a sea of applicants, it's impossible not to rely on the exam. Some say that as much as 70% of the decision depends on your three-digit result from this four-hour test.

Not fair? Perhaps. But consider Georgetown Law School.

Georgetown's Numbers

In 2008, it received 11,000 applications for a class of about 400 students. How else is a small admissions committee to wade through all the chaos?

They could turn to everyone's GPA, but that, too, poses serious challenges. The main challenge is the lack of consistency. These GPAs come from schools all across the country (and, for that matter, the world) and represent every type of degree imaginable. Try to compare a physics-program 3.67 from NYU with an American-studies 3.92 from Stanford.

Not sure? Okay, just read all 11,000 personal statements.

But even personal statements are misleading. They favor those who know how to sell themselves. Granted, that's a talent that might suit a future lawyer well. But we're still looking at over 11,000 monologues of why so-and-so is the best applicant ever. There's simply not enough time.

Level Playing Field

This brings us back to the LSAT—the strictly monitored, standardized test. It's the easiest way to size people up in a heartbeat. So simple, in fact, a computer can do it.

It may not be fair, but it's the reality.

The Secret

Now for the least-understood secret:

The LSAT is no IQ test. The longer you study for it, the better you'll do. If you want to score high, just study more and beat the system.

That's why we created the 100-Hour Course. It's long, but it works.

Now imagine Harvard, Yale, Stanford . . .

Every year, the LSAT is administered four times—in February, in June, in late September or early October, and in December.

Most law schools start accepting applications in September and stop accepting them in February.

Applying Early

Because most schools start accepting students as soon as they get applications, it's better to apply as early as you can. UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall), for example, fills 75% of its seats by its application deadline, which is February 2 in 2009.

That said, every school is different. To give you an extreme example, ... more.