Selecting a personal statement topic is the first step and, sometimes, the hardest. Looking at your own personal experiences will be the key element to crafting the perfect personal statement. See the three recommended steps below.
Go back through your life and make a chronology that includes: (1) academic, personal, and extracurricular accomplishments; (2) tragedies and obstacles overcome; (3) experience or background that makes you a unique addition to the legal industry; (4) books or other pieces of writing that stuck with you over the years; (5) important/inspirational courses and professors you’ve taken; (6) meaningful jobs and volunteer work you’ve done; (7) the most important/inspirational people in your life and (8) if you’re leaning heavily towards a type of law you’d like to practice someday or a cause you’d like to serve using your legal education, then list in your chronology the events that pushed you in those directions.
Ask your 3 closest family members and 3 closest friends to list the qualities they admire most about you, and the accomplishments, obstacles overcome in life, and life and academic experiences that most immediately come to mind when they think of you. Compile and condense those lists to see which qualities, accomplishments, obstacles overcome, life and academic experiences would make the best source material for a law school personal statement. Then add these to your chronology (and for the qualities, list any life experiences that exemplify those qualities). When canvassing your family and friends, you may want to show them your chronology to help move along with your conversations with them.
With all this information organized into a chronology, you should be able to easily generate compelling topics for personal statements.