Writing Individualized PSes

[thechoson]

Are most people writing a different PS for each school they apply to?  Or the same ones?

[absy]

I'm writing the same one and slightly tweaking

[jacy85]

I pretty much wrote the same one.  It would have been awkward to insert the "Why I want to go to [insert name of school here] paragraph at the end, so I didn't.

[TheDecline]

I'm writing one and still considering slight tweakage at the end, but probably won't.  One PS is requiring significant tweakage because the prompt is requiring a slightly different route than the one I am currently taking for all other schools.

[dr_draino]

I put together a sheet describing all the essays required for each school I was applying to including any optional essays.  For my sanity, I wanted to keep the number of essays I wrote to under 4, and was hoping I could get by with 2.  I narrowed it down to 3 distinct essays. 

After writing the main PS, I looked at each school to see if there was a place where I could logically drop a "and this is part of why I want to apply to X" without making an major changes, but if there isn't a place where that fits with my PS as written, I'm not gonna sweat it and just leave it generic.

I have two optionals, one of which will apply to several schools.  I left the opening paragraph and concluding sentence available for tweakage for that one to make sure that it was completely clear as to how this topic applies to the stimulous.  In some ways, I think answering an optional essay in a completely on-topic way is more "personalization" than you can possibly do with a "I want to go here because" paragraph.

[TheDecline]

In some ways, I think answering an optional essay in a completely on-topic way is more "personalization" than you can possibly do with a "I want to go here because" paragraph.

Good point, I agree with you.   

[seankenn]

I wrote two PS's.  One which encompassed the why I want to go to law school and the other which diversified myself.  Unless specified, I sent the diversification one.  But many schools ask for your motivation to pursue law, so I had my second one handy.  Sometimes, if no length was specified, I would send both.  I found that except for on e school these two essay covered all personal statements.

[shadowcreeper]

I wrote one personal statement, but my last paragraph is dedicated to each school. It is about why I want to attend X school. Most of it can go from school to school and still seem like it is focused in on the individual school. But I do add a line or two about the programs that the school has, or the externships or clincs that they offer that interest me.

I want each school to feel as if I did my research, so why not toss in a few lines specific to each school. It does not take too much time to edit one paragraph, but I agree, I would not write an entirely new essay for each school.

[dancer3]

i'm writing one unless a school has a specific thjing they want covered.

[The ZAPINATOR]

I've got a couple different statements, but I'm using one as the main statement and then using the others as optionals in most cases.  I did the slight tweakage at the end thing.

ZAP