Personal Statement -- Admission Law School
For as long as I can remember, I have been an arbitrator of justice. I am a fairly typical oldest child who enjoyed the advantage of being an only child for eight glorious years. So by the time my younger siblings arrived, I had a fair grasp of what the good life could entail. Sharing my parents and every other resource of the household with my five siblings -- a set of twins followed by a singleton and another (final) set of twins -- I also had a keen appreciation for how quickly -- through no fault of one's own -- privilege and advantage could fall away. Because they spend so much time in the presence of adults, only children and oldest siblings intuitively grasp the use of logic as an effective tool known to persuade even the most recalcitrant of parents. From this, one can see that I had ample opportunities to hone my capacity for fearless logical argument. It is not much of a leap to see how I would go from this childhood grounding to major in communications, psychology, and sociology in college.
Though I confess to having used my skillset primarily for my own benefit during my pre-teen years, and even into my teenage years for the fierce sort of negotiation that accompanies allowances, curfew, and a driving learner's permit, I developed a more altruistic streak when I left puberty behind -- and...
Quite by accident, I learned that when I spoke -- and assumed the posture commonly seen in confident and favored offspring -- people listened. Since I rarely struggled to get my way, or impress educators and Sunday school teachers, I enjoyed the challenge of advocating for others, particularly children or octogenarians whose age resulted in an absence if argumentative logic. Through these experiences, I have developed a robust sense of
social justice and an appreciation of the outcomes that are derived from rigorous application of the law.
My path to pursuing a career in
law has been fairly direct, and for that I am grateful. I have had support from my family and my teachers at every juncture. Coupled with this clarity about the rightness of my
career choice is my desire to become a civil rights lawyer. My father was an officer in the
Air Force, which meant that our family traveled a great deal and the communities to which we were attached were highly diverse. Our family's experience in the
military was doubtless smoother and more elevated than the experiences of families whose parents were not officers. Indeed, the economic and social disparity between the ranks was not clouded by my more privileged status. I heard tales from my father that illustrated the problems faced by people who came from marginalized or impoverished backgrounds. My experiences in school underscored the difficulties people face when there are more barriers than solutions. Moreover, the disproportionate number of soldiers of color in the military was an indicator of larger inherent socio-economic inequalities that were impossible to ignore.
Just after…
