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Law School Personal Statement Advice: CAPS LOCK EDITION

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Today is NATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY, so go to town in the comments section. After all, how are people going to know that you are YELLING AT THEM THROUGH THE INTERNET if you haven’t utilized that oblong button sitting just next to your left pinky?

In reality, there are only four reasons to use the caps lock key:

1) Someone is WRONG ON THE INTERNET! And you have to set them straight.

2) You recognize that you are AN IDIOT AND WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW IT THROUGH YOUR TYPING.

3) You’re writing out the lyrics to Kenny Loggins’ DANGER ZONE.

4) You’re writing your law school personal statement.

Wait, what?

YEP! But I mean that figuratively.

All-caps words are meant to call attention to themselves. While those words are usually used to call Obama by his full name and reference his secret Muslim agenda (see 1 and 2 above), the person writing them absolutely believes them to be important. They’re the SECRET KEEPERS of some arcane KNOWLEDGE EVERYONE MUST KNOW and the only way to get that information across is to FIGURATIVELY SHOUT IT OUT ON THE INTERNET.

Your law school personal statement is, actually, quite similar (hopefully not topically). You’re the only one who knows your story; you want everyone on the admissions committee to know it; and you want to write it in a way that sticks in their heads.

So if you were a crazy internet message board CAPS LOCK POSTER/SCREAMER, your law school personal statement would be in all caps.

You have two pages, double-spaced, to make yourself into an interesting person who will add to the law school. That’s not a lot of space. Every single word in that essay should be worthy of BEING IN ALL CAPS. You can’t waste a single word, so, when editing, make sure that each and every one adds something to the essay.

Just make sure your pinky doesn’t slip off of that “a” key.