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LAW personal statement help

Should I mention an open day I had with my sixth form at Freshfields?
How should I go about approaching it?
Should I include in my work experience section?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 1

Interrobang

Original post by Strive4Gr8ness23

Should I mention an open day I had with my sixth form at Freshfields?
How should I go about approaching it?
Should I include in my work experience section?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
@PQ

Your main focus should be on your academic interest in law (e.g. from listening to podcasts, watching lectures, reading books) and why that interested you :smile:

If you can talk about the open day or work experience in this way then that would also work (a law degree is not about training you to be a lawyer)

Reply 2

University of Sussex Official Reps

Original post by Strive4Gr8ness23

Should I mention an open day I had with my sixth form at Freshfields?
How should I go about approaching it?
Should I include in my work experience section?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
@PQ

Hello, thank you for your question.

When it comes to personal statements, it is always important to make it about you. If attending the said open day at Freshfields significantly contributed towards your interest in studying Law/ doing university degree, then it something potentially worth talking about! The important thing is to ensure you justify why that particular experience makes you an ideal candidate for the specific course. In my opinion, it is far more important, to focus on applying any given experience to the specific skill set you are discussing, then to simply list the most 'impressive' experiences you can think of...

In terms of structure, it may work well in you work experience section, but really it depends on what specific point you are trying to make. More than one experience (from different categories) can be discussed in any given paragraph, to make a stronger argument.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions. :smile:

Best Wishes,
Kasia (4th Year Medical Neuroscience Student, MSci with a Year Abroad).

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 3

Strive4Gr8ness23

Original post by University of Sussex Official Reps

Hello, thank you for your question.

When it comes to personal statements, it is always important to make it about you. If attending the said open day at Freshfields significantly contributed towards your interest in studying Law/ doing university degree, then it something potentially worth talking about! The important thing is to ensure you justify why that particular experience makes you an ideal candidate for the specific course. In my opinion, it is far more important, to focus on applying any given experience to the specific skill set you are discussing, then to simply list the most 'impressive' experiences you can think of...

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions. :smile:

Best Wishes,
Kasia (4th Year Medical Neuroscience Student, MSci with a Year Abroad).

how does the open day make me the ideal candidate for the course?

Reply 4

University of Sussex Official Reps

Original post by Strive4Gr8ness23

how does the open day make me the ideal candidate for the course?

Hello,

Well, you may want to talk about how it made you more informed about the contents of the course; thus helping you to make a more informed decision. Perhaps, you have talked to someone on the open day, that inspired you to study Law? Think about your experiences during that day: were they in any way helpful to you?

Kasia

Reply 5

Strive4Gr8ness23

Original post by University of Sussex Official Reps

unfortunately I do not remember. What should I do? What module could I link the open day to?

Reply 6

tinygirl96

Find one

Reply 7

University of Strathclyde Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by Strive4Gr8ness23

Should I mention an open day I had with my sixth form at Freshfields?
How should I go about approaching it?
Should I include in my work experience section?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hey @Strive4Gr8ness23

I'm currently doing the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at Strathclyde. It's important to show the university why you want to study law. I mentioned subjects that I'd studied at school and demonstrated how these would be useful when studying law. Do you have any hobbies? It's always good to show that you have other interests outside your subjects. I also mentioned some of the skills and qualities I have such as organisational skills. This helped me to meet deadlines at university and ensured I was prepared for lectures and tutorials. Do you do any extra curricular activities? I was languages prefect in my sixth year. I used this example to show my responsibilities and the skills I gained from this role and how this would help me on the LLB.

Why do you think going to the open day has impacted your decision to study law? If you think it's relevant then I would definitely mention it. If you have work experience, show how this has also contributed to your decision to study law. I didn't do work experience until the end of my sixth year after I submitted my personal statement so I didn't get the chance to write about it. I would mention your work experience and show how this has helped you gain some insight into the role of a lawyer. If you have space, you could mention some of the work you did during your experience in a firm.

Hope this helps! If you have any questions then feel free to get in touch :smile:

Melissa- Student Ambassador

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 8

University of Sussex Official Reps

Original post by Strive4Gr8ness23

unfortunately I do not remember. What should I do? What module could I link the open day to?

Hello, thank you for your question.

I would not worry about trying to link the Open Day to specific modules, especially if you do not know what these are. Going into this much detail will not necessarily be helpful in anyway. While, it is a good practice to carefully read through the module descriptions on the university course site, such level of information is not typically provided during an open day. Instead, focus on writing about what you do remember, giving an authentic overview of the experience, and how it actually contributed towards your interest in the study of Law.

Best Wishes,
Kasia (4th Year Medical Neuroscience Student, MSci with a Year Abroad).

Reply 9

University of Liverpool Student Rep

Hi there,
I thought I’d reach out to you, as I study Law at Liverpool and I remember doing my statement!

I would definitely mention the fact that you attended an open day at Freshfields. But as well as this, I’d write about what you learnt from the experience, what skills you’d learnt, or why it ‘inspired’ or influenced your choice of studying Law at University.

I hope that helps 😊 it’s a really helpful skill to use PEE in your personal statement. For example..
P: Attending Freshfields Law Firm helped me develop X skill
E: This is because, when I did ….
E: This enthused my passion to Law as….

I hope that helps – obviously you don’t have to structure your answer in this way, but just thought I’d help in any way I could. Don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Ana :h: