Grad's guide to graduate admissions essays - Colleen Reding 2015

American university Washington college of law
Law

The first time I entered a library I was concurrently exhilarated by the immense vault of knowledge before me and overwhelmed by the realization that I could never consume it all. I wanted mastery over the stacks of books, but recognized that individually I was capable of only so much. I was and still am limited by my time and talents. Over the next decade, I found the solution to my predicament as I began to realize the power of the many over the individual. My greatest strength became my ability to enable others to reach their fullest potential and to organize a team toward a shared goal.

Two experiences brought me to these realizations. The first is the sport of rowing. At Georgetown, I have rowed on the varsity lightweight crew team for 4 years. The mechanics of rowing rely on a concert of competing forces. In our eight-man boat, the four port rowers pull from the left, creating a force that pushes against that of the four starboard rowers, pulling from the right. As the forces meet, they propel the boat forward toward the finish line. The second experience has been my work with Wikipedia. This platform engages in “crowdsourcing,” the practice of outsourcing a project or problem to the crowds. It harnesses the power and wisdom of many contributors and focuses it toward the common, unified goal of creating an encyclopedic-type entry. In a Wikipedia article, a number of collaborators with different perspectives and interpretations spar to create the most complete version of an entry. Both rowing and Wikipedia leverage the power of competing forces and derive their strength from the many. If only one rower were to pull hard, the boat would veer off course. If only one contributor were to write an article, the entry would lack completeness.

I believe that our judicial system is fueled by similar principles of competing forces and also derives its power from the contributions of many. The Constitution itself depends on the constant influx of great minds competing for successful interpretation and amendment. In the courtroom, adversarial competition works to bring justice to the surface. For my senior thesis in American Studies, I am proposing a theoretical enhancement to our current public defense system. Often, a public defense does not compete with the same force as a private defense. In an effort to resolve this discrepancy, I propose the option of having a defense “by the public.” In a platform similar to Wikipedia, volunteers could brainstorm together, building the most concrete argument for the defense. Students, professors, and all interested parties could unite and through competition produce a powerful, balanced, and complete argument. The responsibility of the public defender would now be to mediate between the public and the courtroom, and to deliver the product that the crowds have produced. This process leverages competing forces and harnesses the power of the many toward a more complete justice. Most importantly, this enhancement would benefit the less fortunate by producing a more equitable system.

I hope to go to law school to acquire the skills I need to effect the positive societal changes I feel deeply responsible to produce. I fully grasp the power of the many over the individual and plan to apply this knowledge to my study and practice of the law. Ultimately, I aspire to become a force that competes with the great legal minds of past and present, and to interpret the law in a way that allows justice to prevail for all.