Pre-Law Advising

Pre-Law Advising provides general feedback on drafts of student documents including personal statements, diversity statements, résumés and addenda for submission with law school applications.  The Pre-Law Adviser’s feedback focuses on issues such as topic selection, structure and suggestions for how to condense statements to stay within length limitations.  The Pre-Law Adviser does not provide written feedback on your documents, either in person or via email, so it is important to schedule an appointment (in-person, telephone or Zoom) to discuss her comments and suggestions.  In addition, the Pre-Law Adviser is not your final editor; it is your responsibility to proof your personal statement to insure that spelling and grammar are perfect. 

It is recommended that you have multiple reviewers for your personal statement.  Select reviewers who have excellent writing skills and choose recommenders from a range of disciplines.  Once you have collected feedback and suggestions from reviewers, decide which suggestions to incorporate into your personal statement and draft the revisions.  It is important to retain your voice and personality within your personal statement, so do not feel compelled to implement every suggestion.  Ultimately, it is your personal statement so the final decision regarding its content and structure is yours alone.

Additional Resources:

Penn State Career Services (http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/career/)

Penn State Learning (https://pennstatelearning.psu.edu/tutoring/writing)