Admission Essay to Law School
In applying to Law School, it is my fondest wish to progress my career to a place where I feel as though I am making a significant difference to the world and the people whose lives I defend. My professional life to date has been squarely focused on military life and now, I would like to build on that and forge a career in Law. I pride myself on being hard-working and entirely focused on living up to my responsibilities and seizing every opportunity to succeed, progress and have won a number of awards from the U.S. Army that testify to this – including two Army Commendation Medals and two Army Achievement Medals; awards I won through working hard and encouraging my peers to do the same. It is this excellent work ethic that I look forward to applying to my Law School education. I take the view that life is not a rehearsal and as such, it is important to try my hardest throughout everything that I do. I believe that this has been demonstrated through my reliable and consistently excellent professional record so far.
My U.S. Army career has been a constant source of pride for me over the years and I feel that my progression demonstrates my desire to continue improving and working hard. Since 2007, I have been a Captain in the Army – a position which has seen me encompass a number of roles; largely ones involving working in human resources. From November 2007 until November 2008, I worked as the Assistant Brigade Human Resources Officer. This role saw me leading a platoon of 70 soldiers and I was responsible for their training, their personnel evaluations and the overall job performance of the men including the continued responsibility of ensuring the safe and accurate firing of artillery pieces and the electronic computation of firing data. During this time, I found my confidence as a leader growing – skills which were aided by my undertaking and successfully completing the Infantry Officer Basic Course and followed by the Airborne Qualification Course – both in 2007. I also completed the Officer Basic Course in Human Resources in 2009. The successful application of these skills to my career demonstrates my ability to learn and apply new knowledge to enhance my professional prowess; the latter of these two courses saw me being awarded the Airborne Badge too, which I wear with pride.
Following the completion of this role, in November 2008 I took on a new job as Battalion Human Resources Officer which involved me taking on a variety of responsibilities including the personnel and administration officer for a training battalion and Principal Staff Assistant to the battalion commander. The administration side of the job saw me working closely with a wide range of people in managing their training, qualifications, evaluations, recruiting, retention and strength management – amongst other things. In short, I was responsible for the overall running of the battalion Personnel Administration Centre (PAC) and I also worked in equal opportunities, safety, records management and retention. The role was broad and involved a significant amount of flexible work from me; I was commended for my consistent hard work and the excellent management of the battalion’s administration and personnel. I believe that whilst many may not discuss the Army’s administration in any great detail, the role was as part of the overall team and I like to apply this ethos to all areas of my life: ‘working together to achieve better’ is a mantra I enjoy. During my time in this role, I undertook more military courses entitled the Mortuary Affairs Course and the Captain’s Career Course in Human Resources – again, both provided me with stronger skills to apply to my daily work.
More recently, since November 2010, I have been working as a Reserve Officer’s Training Corps Instructor. The role has seen me shift away from the administration and human resource areas of my job, and more towards the teaching and training side. I have welcomed this change as I enjoy fresh challenges. I particularly enjoy the aspects of this role that allow me to assist others in progressing their own careers – applying for scholarships, counselling and mentoring students throughout their training, building up the academic skills of cadets etc. So far, I have worked closely with just over 50 cadets and I find that each one presents new tests of my abilities and I am proud to find that I am in a role which enables me to help others to advance in their lives.
It is with my application to Law School that I hope to find further opportunities to help make a difference – I am seeking rewards from my professional life that go beyond financial rewards: I want true fulfilment in my work. I have worked closely with a wide spectrum of people throughout my career and I feel that this will greatly benefit me in a future law career. I am passionate about learning and I aim to educate myself in every opportunity I am provided with. I am ready to progress on to the next stage of my life and I hope that you will feel that I am suited to doing this at your institution.
