Can You Talk About Faith in Your Law School Applications?
By Sydney Montgomery, Founder & Executive Director
Can you talk about faith in your law school applications? And if so, what's the best way to do that?
Today, we're gonna be talking about incorporating faith, if you so choose, into your law school application process. We're gonna talk about some do's, some don'ts, and where it makes the most sense to share that part of your background, your experiences, and your identity.
This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because we're a faith-based organization.
What faith-based means to us is that we believe in serving the whole person. We believe in meeting all of your needs; not just the transactional nature of working with your essays, but also being there for you if you're having a bad day, if you need a mentor or encouragement, if you need help finding healthcare providers, for example, for accommodations.
We believe in community building and making sure that no one feels alone at any step of the process. But, for us, being faith-based is also about being open, tolerant, and affirming. We serve students of all faith or no faith. Our staff and our law school consultants are of all faiths, and sometimes no faith, and that's okay because we want to make sure that we're meeting people where they're at.
This is just a place where there is love and encouragement and a welcoming environment. We know from working with so many different kinds of students that faith is often something that students might want to bring into their law school application process, but they're honestly just not really sure how, or they're not sure if it's the time or the place, and so I wanted to talk about it.
There are three places where it probably makes sense, maybe four, to talk about faith in your law school application process. There is your personal statement, your diversity statement, and your “why us” essay. The fourth one is a potential for your resume.
I think a lot of times people might overthink this question a little bit. Can I talk about faith in my law school applications? Well, that really depends. Is faith an integral part of why you're going to law school?
Personal Statement & Your “Why Law”
If you've been listening to us talk about personal statements, you know that we always say that your personal statement should convey why it is that you want to go to law school and why now.
Some of you have a very concrete reason why you want to go to law school that is intertwined with your faith.
Let's say you're really passionate about religious freedom and religious rights, and that issue is what's bringing you to law school. It makes sense to talk about your own personal faith and how you've worked in that religious freedom issue in your law school personal statement, right?
Your essay may follow the framework: I have experienced this kind of religious discrimination and it has spurred me to law school. I have tried to make these changes outside of the law but realized that it can affect the most change by going to law school and working and getting experience in this area.
Perhaps you're really interested in going into child advocacy and you've done a lot of work at your church with children or with domestic violence victims. You can mention that you did that work at the church because it gives context to the story.
If it's integral to a story or an anecdote that is furthering you telling me why you want to practice a certain area of law or why you want to go to law school.
A Personal Statement Don’t
Do not preach at the admissions committee. I have seen this done before; it is not pretty.
As I mentioned, I am a Christian. However, I am not, and I did not, and I would never recommend someone to write a sermon in their personal statement. What do I mean by that? I always say the personal statement is not a place to center an issue.
For example, if you are very passionate about gun rights, your personal statement is not the place for you to argue why there should be more gun control or why we should have more gun rights. If you want to go to law school to fight for gun control, your personal statement should include two to three stories that show how you’ve developed that passion and why the next logical step is law school.
Yes, this essay is persuasive. But you are persuading admissions to admit you, not to agree that gun control is necessary.
I give this gun control or gun rights example because the same thing goes with bringing faith into your personal statement. It is not the place to try and convince an admissions reader that your faith is correct or evangelize.
It is also not the place to quote scripture. In fact, you should have no quotes in your personal statement whatsoever. This essay is about you, not someone else. Make sure you’re not recentering it on your faith or a specific person; let the spotlight be on you.
The bottom line is that if you're bringing faith into your personal statement, it's really not about the topic or the tenets of your faith. It's really about those anecdotes that help me understand who you are more and help me understand why law school is the next logical step in your journey.
The Diversity Statement
I have read some of the most beautiful diversity statements that are about faith or the intersection of faith and identity.
For example, oftentimes the intersection of faith and being LGBTQ+ produces a really moving diversity statement. Another example is choosing to walk away from a faith, culture, or background, and how that gave you a different perspective on the world that would be a value add in a law school community.
The question in a diversity statement is usually: How have your diverse experiences shaped who you are and given you a different perspective that would contribute to the law school community?
You want to make sure you’re answering this question by sharing one or two narrative anecdotes. And yes, absolutely, it can be about faith, but it also can be something that elicits and shows a perspective that you have.
I'll tell you myself, my diversity statement did center on my faith, and it actually centered on a time when I realized that I didn't fully agree with everything that my church had said or taught me. I realized that the world was… significantly more nuanced, there were many more shades of grey, than the black and white that I had been taught growing up. That was important for me. And there was an incident and a moment and a trigger that I talked about in my diversity statement and it was a time when I learned to think for myself.
It was a time that I expanded my own perspective and my own worldview and learned that things weren't so neatly in boxes. It changed how I interacted with others. It changed how I saw situations, people outside of my church, in my church. How I moved through the world was different because of that experience.
It was about my faith, but at the same time, it wasn't, right? It was about my experience in church, and it was about my own personal set of beliefs and concept of my personal faith, and how I redefined that, and how I worked through that.
It was an experience that didn't need to convince anyone to believe anything. It was an experience that showed who I was and my growth. I think it's really important to think about what the main point of the story that you’re telling is. It can be centered around growth, a changed perspective, or how you treat others.
Maybe you're saying, well, I don't have a change, but it is really important to me. You can still show how faith intersects with your life and gives you that unique perspective.
“Why X School” Essay
There are some obvious examples of where mentioning faith makes sense in a “why x school” essay. For example, Notre Dame is a Catholic law school, and so perhaps one of the reasons that you're feeling particularly called to Notre Dame is because of its tradition of faith and the atmosphere of being in that space.
But what if it's not a Catholic school? What if it’s Harvard? Then you should be researching what faith-based communities are available to you at that school. I can tell you that at Harvard the Black Graduate Ministries was very active; it’s actually where I met my long-term boyfriend and was very influential in my life.
Take some time to research those things. Researching means more than just going on the website and seeing that they have a Muslim Student Association. Saying, “I am Muslim and you have a Muslim Student Association, so I think your school is a great fit for me,” is not very convincing. Many other schools likely have that, too.
Reach out and talk to those students. I'm a big fan of talking to people and relationship-building. Go on Instagram, or if they have an email, and ask if you could talk to a prospective student about their experience being in that organization, or their experience being a law school student and maintaining their faith.
See what they say. See if anything resonates with you. Maybe they tell you that they have weekly Friday night dinners where they talk about law and faith. If that drives you to want to be part of that community, then you should talk about that in your essay.
Your essay framework can look like: I had such a great conversation with this organization, with so and so, and they told me about the Friday night dinners and the Saturday volunteering and the Sunday worship… To be in a place where I'm supported academically and also spiritually would be everything to me because I grew up in this environment that was also really supportive spiritually. I know it would give me the strength to continue to be the best lawyer that I can even when things like my first year of law school get difficult.
That is pretty compelling, and in the grand scheme of “why us” essays, a lot of people are lazy and they just go to the website and they're like, well, you've got this really great crim law clinic and I'm interested in crim law. Thank you. And you're like, okay, thank you for reading the website.
Plus, you'll have learned a little bit more about this school. When you get to actually choosing a law school, you will know a lot more about the communities of support that you will have.
Your Resume
The last place that I mentioned was your resume. If you're very involved in your synagogue or you're very involved in a campus ministry organization at your undergrad where you've done a lot of volunteer work, you should definitely mention it there.
When they see that you’re involved in the Jewish Student Association, you’re not talking about it but it’s mentioned. You should feel comfortable mentioning those things, especially if that’s where a lot of your time is going.
At the end of the day, your resume is a list of how you spend your time. Sometimes students are like, I don't have a lot on my resume, but I spend five days a week at church. Then you have something to put on your resume, especially if you're doing activities like volunteer work or community service or giving back.
Final Thoughts
You should absolutely not feel like you can't talk about faith in your law school application. There are so many ways that you can talk about faith in your law school application if it's important to you, no matter what your faith is, in a way that is just showing who you are, showing your experiences, showing your stories, your anecdotes, in a way that is not going to be offensive or pushy. You’re just telling your truth, and admissions officers just want to get to know you. If faith is an integral part of your identity, you should not feel like you have to hide it.
You are awesome, exactly the way that you are, with all of the different parts of your identity, and you are worthy and valuable to a law school, exactly the way that you are, with all of the parts of your identity. You should feel that way in the process.
We’re here to support you through the application process, as well! All members of our one-on-one private packages and boot camps become a part of our Beyond Barriers Student & Alumni Network, which includes faith-based affinity groups! I also host the Mindful Prayers for Students podcast which I suggest checking out, and you can submit prayer requests on our Break Into Law School podcast.
As always, reach out to us if you have any questions at hello@smontgomeryconsulting.com.