Application Tips: How to Approach Stanford Law School’s Optional Essays

In addition to the standard personal statement and resume, Stanford Law School (SLS) invites applicants to submit responses to up to three optional essays. SLS provides one optional diversity essay prompt, as well as four short-answer essay questions of which candidates may answer up to two. We urge you to respond to the maximum number that you can. Compelling responses will only strengthen your candidacy. 

Optional Essay. At Stanford Law School, we value the ability to communicate constructively across differences – even when the stakes are high or the differences significant. Please discuss a time when you encountered a viewpoint that contrasted with your own and explain how you responded. Would you do anything different if the same thing happened today? Your essay should be approximately one to two pages in length.

This is a timely question. SLS generated headlines and controversy last year after students disrupted a guest speaker, 5th Circuit Judge, Kyle Duncan. In the aftermath of the incident, SLS officials made a public apology noting that the protest was not aligned to the school’s values around free speech and that students would be required to attend free speech training. Similar controversies at Yale and other elite programs have led the ABA to push forward legislation that would require law schools to enact policies protecting the free exchange of ideas on campus.  

Given this context, SLS is looking for students who are able to exchange ideas respectfully and with humility, even when impassioned. Engage the reader in a situation when you disagreed with another party or were challenged to learn more about a contrasting position. Were you able to listen and learn from someone you disagreed with? How did you remain calm? Did maintaining respect for the other speaker allow you both to come closer to one another’s position? Did you come to an agreement? If not, how did you maintain your relationship despite the differences? What parts of the interaction were you proud of? What mistakes did you make? Be sure to provide insight into what you learned from the experience and how those insights will inform your interactions with students, professors and visiting speakers at SLS.

Optional Short Essays. If you think these optional short essays could help us get a better sense of who you are, we encourage you to consider submitting your responses to no more than two of the following questions.  Note that there is a 100 to 250-word limit for each question. 

As you consider the four short-answer essays, keep in mind your overall application. Select the questions that will allow you to enhance and complete your profile.

If you could sit and chat with anyone, living or from any time in history, who would you chat with?  What's one question you'd ask?  Why?  

The key part of the question is the “Why?”. Give a person and a question, but spend most of your limited word count on the why. What about this person do you admire and/or are curious about? What do you hope to learn from them? 

You're given the opportunity to teach a one-day class to your fellow students at Stanford Law School.  Based on your particular skills and talents, what would you teach?

This essay provides a great opportunity to showcase a non-academic side of yourself with the admissions committee. Do you have a unique hobby or interest? Have you mastered the chocolate souffle? Are you an avid guitar player? Show the admissions committee what you are most passionate about.

The library in the town where you grew up has been destroyed.  Choose three books to contribute to rebuilding the library's collection. 

The key part of the question is also the “Why?”. Give three titles, then explore why each one is meaningful to you. Did one prompt a significant evolution in your perspective and/or have a particular impact on your community? Is another relevant to the town’s history? Did your third title elevate minority voices? Show the reader what you value most through the books you select.

Music has a way of setting tone and mood for any occasion.  With this in mind, pick three songs or musical works to be playing in the background as the Admissions Committee reviews your materials. 

It’s time to get creative and show some personality! SLS is looking for students who will be collaborative and form lasting personal and professional relationships, so exposing a bit of vulnerability to showcase a quirky or sentimental side is a good idea. You could choose three titles or musical works that correspond to different parts of your life (i.e., a running mix, a study mix, and a social mix). You could propose a theme and pick three titles that fall under that theme. Or you may opt for three songs representing different eras in your life. As with the other optional questions, be sure to spend most of the word count on the “why?”. 

Your Law School Application: Create a Brainstorm Document

Before you can begin work on your personal statement, resume, and school-specific essays, you’ll want to create a brainstorm document where you will explore your formative experiences—what you thought, felt, said, and did. While your brainstorm text does not need to be polished, your unfinished thoughts should be organized for greater ease when writing. Putting meaningful experiences into different "buckets" helps a lot. You might have some crossover with experiences technically fitting into two buckets or more—don't worry about that; put them in one bucket, for now, to keep things grouped. Maybe write: "This is also a leadership experience" or "Integrity/Critical Thinking" in your notes.

Bucket 1: A-ha Moments: What meaningful experiences changed your mind about or expanded your perspective on something? Some could be spectacular successes, others, catastrophic failures. Have you learned from a mistake? What skills of yours did you discover in a challenging time? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel? (Prepare yourself, we're going to ask those last two repeatedly.)

Bucket 2: Intellectual Curiosity: What experiences have prompted you to seek out additional learning or research? What ideas or issues are you most passionate about? Why? Do you have related academic or professional experience?

Bucket 3: Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: In what meaningful experiences did you utilize critical thinking and problem-solving skills? How did you determine the best course of action? Did you approach something one way at first and then correct yourself? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel?

Bucket 4: Leadership Abilities: In what meaningful experiences did you show your leadership abilities? Did leadership come naturally to you, or did you work to get to this place? (Both things are great!) How did you support your team? Did you encourage collaboration or independence? Did you feel supported by your team? Did you experience any pushback, and how did you handle that if you did? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel?

Bucket 5: Teamwork and Collaboration: During what meaningful experiences did you work with a team or collaborate with others? Were you working with people unlike yourself? Was there a struggle for balance in the beginning? Any confusion? What did you appreciate about your team members? How did they influence and impact you and your actions? Did one or two team members step up in a way you admired? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel?

Bucket 6: Ethical Behavior: Fill this bucket. In what meaningful experiences did you showcase your ability to stand strong and make the right decision? How have you demonstrated your personal ethical code? What did you think about these things at the time? How did you feel?

Bucket 7: Experiences that Reinforced Your Commitment to the Study of Law: What meaningful experiences reinforced your commitment to studying law? Have you known that you wanted to go to law school for some time? What situations let you know that you were on the right track? Was it meeting a judge or lawyer you admired? Was it accomplishing something academically? While volunteering? What did you think of these things at the time? How did you feel?

Bucket 8: Miscellaneous: What experiences have you had that you can't quite categorize? What else should we know about you? What do you think we don't necessarily have to know? Don’t be afraid to expose some vulnerability and use everything you’ve got. You should even include things about yourself and what you care about that you don't imagine will be a factor in an essay. You might be able to weave aspects of your personality or some fun facts into your Personal Statement or school-specific essays to add some color—or something even better.