Christina Chong founded the boutique firm of Renaissance Admissions Consulting to demystify admissions processes at top colleges and graduate schools in the United States. Her experiences working in admissions offices at Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law, New York University College of Dentistry, Amherst College, and University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice have been invaluable in providing clients with expert insights on how to stand out in the admissions process.
Christina was personally admitted to the Ivy League for both college and graduate school. Her higher education expertise has resulted in client acceptances to every T14 law school. Her abilities as a former admissions officer to strategize and provide detailed feedback of materials while highlighting candidates’ strengths and aspirations have helped many clients accomplish their goals in being accepted to top colleges, dental schools for DDS/DMD, and law programs for JD and LLM. Christina is part of the Harvard Club of New York and is a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA).
Successful Harvard Law School Essay: Personal Statement
At the time, I wasn’t sure of my answer: “I think a good manager knows he or she doesn’t have all the answers, but does know where to look for them.” I was twenty-three and applying for a position many people didn’t think I was ready for. I felt small. The question was, “What do you think makes a good manager?” Almost seven years later, I have learned from experience that leadership is all about finding answers to difficult questions. I have worked hard to develop this ability, and now I am seeking to use it at a higher level. I see law school as the chance to make that happen.
I have been gainfully employed since I was fourteen and spent over ten years in leadership positions. Six of those years were spent managing a branch of a major national bookstore that had fifty employees and annual sales of $8 million. But those statistics don’t really tell you what I did. I answered questions. Questions such as: “Where can we find another fifteen thousand dollars in sales by tomorrow?” “Can I hire two new employees for the café?” “How can we get this employee to do his job better?” Some of my most fulfilling moments were walking through the store with a line of employees forming behind me, discussing each person’s questions and finding answers together. We’ve all had managers we listened to because we were required to, and ones we listened to because we were inspired to. When people responded to me as they did at the bookstore, it gave me hope that, at least occasionally, I was in the latter category. I look at the store now and find gratification at seeing employees I hired serving as effective leaders, and policies and procedures I established continuing to serve a new management team.
During this time I also had the great pleasure of being a stepfather. For ten years, I helped raise a little girl from the age of seven. She was an incredibly accepting stepdaughter, but let me just say, if there are lessons in patience you do not learn as a manager, you will learn them as a parent. At the bookstore my contribution was important, but it was mainly limited to that store, or at most, that company. As a parent, I helped shape how another person experienced the world. Here, I didn’t just help her make decisions. I tried to teach her how to find the answers on her own. You raise this child and attempt to give her all the tools to prepare her for a life you cannot predict. Hopefully, if you did enough things right and not too many things wrong, her life will be limited only by her own desires and not her parents’ vision.
Since that time, aided by several personal and professional changes, I decided to seek out a career in which I could apply my growing leadership skills toward a larger goal. That is what led me to give up my management position and return to school. The time I had spent in management led to a seven-year hiatus between starting and finishing my undergraduate degree. While that break may make me older and less fun than my peers, it has also given me a maturity that has served me well in my return to the university. Unlike many undergraduates, I know why I’m in school and I want to be here. I returned to school to find a forum in which I could use the leadership skills I have been developing toward a greater purpose, but I consciously did not limit my perception of what that forum might look like. I studied communication as a potential tool to effect change, and political science to be exposed to social issues that may need changing.
It may be idealistic, but I began to see the law as a means of seeking social justice using analysis and reason rather than strategy and emotion, and this felt familiar to me.
It was in a law and religion class that I found greater focus. This class examined first amendment cases involving such issues as school prayer, state voucher use for private religious schools, and religious practice rights. In reading these cases, I identified with the legal process behind the decisions. It may be idealistic, but I began to see the law as a means of seeking social justice using analysis and reason rather than strategy and emotion, and this felt familiar to me. I saw a parallel between the legal reasoning process and what I had done as a manager for so many years. I have heard it described that constitutional law is the reverse of regulatory law. While regulatory law is written by the government to dictate what the people can and cannot do, constitutional law is written by the people to regulate what the government can and cannot do. I want to play a role in the formation of decisions regarding social justice issues. Working in constitutional law would allow me to apply the skills I developed as a leader toward this goal. Just as when I was a manager, my role would be to understand the legal questions and relevant policies, and work with others to find the best answers.
At this early stage, I am drawn to the more intellectual pursuits of the law. I see myself potentially working as an appellate attorney or perhaps someday as a professor. However, as with my undergraduate schooling, I do not enter this with a specific idea of what I will do, for too specific a goal could narrow my latitude of exposure. I want to attend law school for the education, not the degree. As I study and work in the law I hope to find myself back in a familiar place—where I don’t know all the answers, but I do know where to look.
Professional Review by Renaissance Admissions Consulting
It is a near-universal experience to interview for a job you want and wonder if you answered the questions well enough to land the position. In the opening paragraph, Brian establishes a storyline in which the reader views him as an underdog and is curious of how the story unfolds. Brian comes across as someone open to learning and new experiences who is receptive to listening and taking feedback, which are qualities of a strong leader.
Brian also establishes himself as a non-traditional candidate who is ready for law school. Work experience has become even more highly valued in the last few years at top law schools. The median age for those starting law school is about 24 to 25 for the most highly ranked programs, and he demonstrates his maturity compared to most of the pool. His experience in managing a large team at a bookstore is atypical for many top law applicants, who often come from jobs such as paralegal, marketer, consultant, teacher, and business analyst. He shows investment in caring about others on his team and showing high emotional intelligence.
He draws a motif in his essay: connecting his skills in the beginning as a manager with understanding the whole picture and seeking answers to how he will approach the law in his next chapter.
As a stepfather, another role that many law applicants do not possess, he shows tenderness and wisdom in approaching this important part of his life. This can highly resonate with JD admissions committees, as many application reviewers may be parents themselves.
Brian clearly delineates how he became intrigued by constitutional law in a particular class, and how he has given thought to how he can contribute to the legal field while finishing his bachelor’s degree as an older student. He draws a motif in his essay: connecting his skills in the beginning as a manager with understanding the whole picture and seeking answers to how he will approach the law in his next chapter. The essay is limited to two pages; and he is very effective in the depth of his content despite this restriction. It is unclear if he submitted this essay before or after August 2023. Harvard Law School (HLS) significantly changed their application prompts to now require both a statement of purpose and a statement of perspective when the only previously required essay in prior cycles was a personal statement. It is now more challenging for applicants to rewrite and reformat their required HLS essays to make sure they thoroughly address each prompt without reiteration.
There are minor improvements I suggest for Brian’s essay. One is adding commas in strategic locations. Another is he uses past tense in mentioning his stepdaughter, raising questions if he is currently present in her life or still married to her parent; some clarification here would be helpful. I encourage students to focus on one or two areas of law which fascinate them to stand out, which Brian has done in this essay. I would have also mentioned activities outside of class which relate to his legal interests if possible, such as doing research or volunteering in areas such as voter rights. Brian also focuses on “unicorn” jobs which are very challenging to land after law school – such as legal academia and appellate law—the latter which requires very few lawyers in general and can be beneficial to earn a clerkship before doing this work. Nevertheless, Harvard Law School does extremely well in having students go on to earn clerkships, practice law in niche areas, or become professors.
In conclusion, Brian’s essay overall is well-written with a clear sense of purpose and self-awareness. He shows leadership as a manager in the workplace, in addition to maturity in finishing college at an older age and taking on the role of a stepfather. Since Harvard Law School’s JD program is one of the largest by enrollment, it may have more flexibility to take on non-traditional candidates compared to most other T14 schools. Brian comes across as genuine and likable, engaging the reader in learning how unusual he is compared to his peers, while highlighting areas of law in which Harvard Law School excels.
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