I had sent an email to Harvard regarding a query and its been three weeks since they have responded. Does it normally take this long??!!

I wanted to know whether the Personal Statement which has a word limit of 1500 includes footnotes also. The first part of this statement requires us to write about some legal problem and this is where i was wondering that if footnotes are required whether the same would be counted for the purpose of the word limit of 1500.

Any light with regard to the above will be of immense help!

I believe that the 1500-word limit includes the entire text plus the footnotes, if the applicant is inclined to use footnotes.

However, I have not encountered any personal statement which makes references or citations. I kept my personal statement simple to read (made a simple restatement of the problem) and just expanded the discussion of the various issues at play in resolving the problem. To put in footnotes might clutter or unduly complicate the problem for the reader. You must remember that the admissions committee is (probably) not from your country. Hence, any discussion of the problem, surrounding issues and solution should be easily understandable and, to the extent possible, easy to relate.

Just out of curiosity, where do you come from mushroom77? Thanks.

Ekchi, thanks a lot for the useful information.

The answer to your question is India.

One question for you if you would want to answer the same: Are you from Harvard?

Yes. Chose Harvard over Yale.

Am a complete sucker for meritocracy. Bow to you.

I would really like your feed back on this essay on the legal problem which Harvard wants. I was thinking about wrtitng on some legal problem in India BUT I dont know what exactly to write about and how to go about the same. Any pointers which you can give will be very useful.

Really appreciate your help.

Thanks.

Try to write something easily understandable by foreigners. Most of the time, local problems are similar or related to greater international problems. For example, world commodity prices, while international in scope, may have distinct local manifestations. It would help to write on these, as the reader can easily relate to the problem, and see the local effect of the international problem. I suggest you take this route.

As for the analyses, try to use legal and policy frameworks. It would make the reader understand the problem and your proposed solutions more easily. However, do try to suggest applications which are not conventional or age-old. Innovative solutions will make your personal statement stand out.

Thank you very much. I get the drift of what you are saying. It will be very useful in thinking out what to write.

Thanks again. Its really appreciated.

Hello guys!

I seriously recommend not using footnotes on your essays. The word limit is too short to be wasting them on citations or sources. Remember that you have 1500 words to write both the PS and the essay.
As regards to the topic of the essay I would recommend a non cliché one. Write about something that most people don't know about and that is much related to the area of law that you like (it doesn't even have to be interesting!!!). In my case I wrote about a particular legal issue affecting my country and I got admitted. I think that the whole purpose of the essay is to assess your legal writing skills whereas the PS is aimed at evaluating your creativity and the reasons why you intent to do an LLM.

Hi Daverod. Thanks for the advice. May I ask which country you are from? I am from India an i was wonderung that if the legal problem is too local would it not perhaps become obscure to persons who are not exactly familiar with it?

Another question that i have is: some of the issues i have thought about writing seem to translate into a social or political or policy problem rather than strictly remaining a legal one. Is that fine or does Harvard want the legal problem to be a problem of the law?

Thank You!!

Hello everyone,

Daverod, regarding the second part of the essay, should I write a personal statement and be creative or the idea is to write a statement of purpose an be more serious (explaining just why I want to study an LL.M at Harvard and how my experience will help to it)?

Hello Chiarella!

In the second part of the essay I would recommend you to be as creative as you can, but that doesn't mean you don't have to address the issue of why are you pursuing an LLM and why do you want to study in HLS. In my personal statement I described how my life has always been about challenges, how my relationship with corporate law initiated and developed and why an LLM in HLS would help me overcome challenges of the future.

One important thig: Try not to sound cocky in your statement!

Hope this helps a bit.

Hello everyone,

Daverod, regarding the second part of the essay, should I write a personal statement and be creative or the idea is to write a statement of purpose an be more serious (explaining just why I want to study an LL.M at Harvard and how my experience will help to it)?

hey everyone!

Can someone please tell me how much detail we need to get into?

for the legal question.... how much detail
for the second part... should be state which classes we want to take? how much detail?

A sufficient description of the broad policy problems is enough. Pros and cons should probably be included in your discussion. If you go too much into details, you run the risk of sounding boring (which is bad, since the object of the game is to make your application unique). I'm not sure if you watched the movie 21. The Admissions head in the movie was trying to emphasize the merits of making one's application stand out.

Also, to spend more words than necessary on Question 1 will mean less words for Question 2, where you need to do your sales pitch.

hey ekchi.

thank you for your guidance :)

Hi everyone,
I am from India and want to apply to Harvard. I am working in an LPO. I wanted to know whether LPO(Legal Process Outsourcing) experience counts as work experience in Harvard or any other college of such stature.

Thanks.

I personally think any experience counts to them, if it does to you. It's all about how you project it and the learning acquired through it.

If it is a pointless exercise for you, I'm certain they'd see it the same way.

Thankyou for your reply. Much appreciated..