Essay Topics 2023

[Nguyet Edmondson]

TheUniversity of Chicago has long been renowned for our provocative essay questions. We think of them as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions. They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between.

How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.

Lost your keys? Alohomora. Noisy roommate? Quietus. Feel the need to shatter windows for some reason? Finestra. Create your own spell, charm, jinx, or other means for magical mayhem. How is it enacted? Is there an incantation? Does it involve a potion or other magical object? If so, what's in it or what is it? What does it do?

-Inspired by Emma Sorkin, Class of 2021

We know that applying to law school can be daunting, and the University of Michigan Law Admissions Office welcomes having the opportunity to demystify the application process whenever possible. Please reach out to us (by phone at 734.764.0537 or by email to [email protected]) with any questions, at any point; our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8AM to 5PM, Eastern time. We are also happy to meet with applicants, alone or in small groups, to answer general questions about the Law School and the application process. (We do not, however, perform evaluative interviews). We offer student-led tours when classes are in session and maintain a list of classes that visitors are welcome to attend. We encourage applicants who plan to visit Ann Arbor to contact the Admissions Office for appointments (or register online).

You will be able to keep track of your application via our online status checker, but we will also inform you by email when (1) we have received your application (usually within 5 business days of submission to LSAC); (2) we begin processing your application (usually within 5-7 business days of our receiving your CAS report); and (3) we have made an admission decision. Please be sure to add us to your safe-senders list in your email program so that our emails to you do not get filtered into your spam folder.

Applicants can access and view our application for the 2024-2025 admissions season beginning in early August 2024, and can submit applications beginning Monday, August 26, 2024. Our regular-decision deadline is February 28, 2025, and filing of the application form alone is sufficient to meet that deadline. (See below for a discussion of our early-decision timeline.) Because we use a rolling admissions process (that is, we review applications in the order in which they are completed), we encourage applicants to submit their application form and all supporting documentation in advance of the deadline, if possible. Applicants who submit supporting materials after the February 28 deadline may be at a disadvantage.

Also, please note: While providing your Social Security number on the application form is entirely optional, you must provide it to us in order to be processed for federal financial aid, including loans. Therefore, if you do not wish to include the number on your admissions application but do intend to submit the FAFSA, please contact our Financial Aid Office (734.764.5289 or [email protected]) to discuss.

Please note that as a general matter, we are not able to delay our application review in order to wait for an additional LSAT score. If you want to ensure that we do not make a decision on your application until we have received your latest score, you should wait to submit your application until about a week before the relevant score is due to be released.

LSAT takers will be able to complete LSAT Writing, a proctored, on-demand writing exam, on their own computers, at a time and place of their choosing, either shortly prior to or after the completion of the rest of the LSAT exam. Those who already have a writing sample on file from a previous exam do not need to submit additional samples, although they may do so if they wish. We consider an application complete once we have one LSAT Writing sample.

Registration with the Credential Assembly Service (CAS)

CAS registration directs LSAC to compile a number of LSAC Law School Reports to be sent, upon request, to the law schools to which you apply. Law School Reports include an undergraduate academic summary, all LSAT scores and writing samples, and copies of all transcripts submitted to CAS.

Transcripts

For every US and Canadian undergraduate institution you have attended, you must request the transcripts be sent directly to LSAC. CAS will summarize the transcripts and send a summary report, along with copies of all transcripts, to each law school to which you apply. (Please note: If you receive additional grades after applying, you should submit your updated transcript to LSAC, which will in turn send us an updated report.) If you attended an international undergraduate institution, you should arrange to have your transcript mailed to LSAC, Box 2000-M, 662 Penn Street, Newtown, PA 18940-0993. A Foreign Credential Evaluation will be completed by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), and will be incorporated into your Law School Report. Please be aware that there can be significant delays in processing international transcript requests. If you completed international work through a study abroad, consortium, or exchange program sponsored by a US or Canadian institution, and the credits for that work are clearly indicated as such on the home campus transcript, you do not need to provide copies of the international transcript.

All applications for admission must be accompanied either by a $75 application fee or by a fee waiver. The application fee may be paid for with a credit card via LSAC. If you cannot use a credit card, you may instead mail us a check drawn on a US bank, made payable to the University of Michigan. We cannot accept cash.

To request a fee waiver based on any of these criteria, please complete this form. If your request is granted, we will email you a fee waiver coupon number that can be entered on the payment page at the time you transmit your application through LSAC. Please be assured that requesting a fee waiver has no bearing on our admissions decisions; the application reviewers will not have that information available to them. We employ a need-blind admissions process and welcome and encourage applicants from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Although Michigan requires only one letter of recommendation, we encourage you to submit three. Typically, the most helpful recommendations are from undergraduate or graduate faculty, but letters from employers, particularly for candidates with significant work experience, can provide extremely informative input as well. Recommendations from coaches, volunteer supervisors, or others who know you well and have had the opportunity to assess your abilities and contributions may also be worthwhile additions. Personal recommendations, from family friends or others, are generally not helpful.

Personal Statement

As you prepare to write your personal statement, please keep the following in mind. First, we do not have a fixed checklist of particular attributes we seek in our students, and you will have the best insights into what is most important for us to know. Second, there is no set convention for communicating the information you choose to share. A successful essay might involve writing directly about expansive themes such as your goals or philosophy or background or identity, or very differently, might be a vignette that reveals something significant about you. Your personal statement gives us an opportunity to get a sense of your voice, perspective, and experiences, as well as your writing ability, and there is no particular formula to follow. Applicants have in the past elaborated on their significant life experiences; meaningful intellectual interests and extracurricular activities; factors inspiring them to obtain a legal education or to pursue particular career goals; significant obstacles met and overcome; special talents or skills; issues of identity, such as gender, sex, race, or ethnicity; particular political, philosophical, or religious beliefs; socioeconomic challenges; atypical backgrounds, educational paths, employment histories, or prior careers; or experiences and perspectives relating to discrimination, disadvantage, or disability. Any of these subjects, and many more, could be an appropriate basis for communicating authentic and genuine information about yourself that will aid us in reaching a thoughtful decision. In other words, think broadly about what you might wish to convey and how you might best convey it.

While we do not impose a page or word limit for the personal statement, we value clear and concise writing; most personal statements are between two and four pages. For ease of reading, please use double-spacing and at least an 11-point font.

Supplemental Essays

Supplemental essays allow you an opportunity to provide us with relevant information that you were not able to include elsewhere in your application materials, as well as to further showcase your writing skills. If you think writing on any of the topics suggested would help us get a better sense of who you are, we encourage you to consider submitting your responses to one or two (but no more) of the following topics. Each essay should be between one and two pages. For ease of reading, please use double-spacing and at least an 11-point font. Please be sure to include the number of the prompt you are addressing at the top of your essay.

We offer a binding Early Decision program for applicants who have considered and investigated their law school options carefully and are confident that the University of Michigan Law School is their clear first choice, regardless of financial considerations.

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