📋 YOUR PRE-LAW CASE FILE

Ongoing Reflection Prompts

From The Princeton Review Workshop

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HOW TO USE THIS NOTE

Add to this whenever something happens that fits one of the prompts below.

Don't wait for big moments. The small ones are usually better. Date each entry.

You are building your essay material in real time.

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🔍 THE PROMPTS

1. THE MIND CHANGE

Describe a time you believed something, encountered evidence or an argument against it, and actually updated your position. What made you move?

What did it cost you?

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2. THE RULE THAT DIDN'T FIT

Was there a policy, procedure, or norm — in your chapter, a class, a job, anywhere — that was applied to a situation it wasn't designed for? What happened?

Who decided? Was it right?

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3. THE ROOM

Think of a time you were in a room where a decision was being made that affected people who weren't there. What was your role? What did you do with it?

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4. THE HARDER RIGHT

Did you ever have to represent someone else's interests instead of your own — and do it well even when it was uncomfortable? How did you make that call?

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5. THE CONVERSATION THAT STAYED

Not a lecture — a real exchange with a person where something they said genuinely unsettled or reoriented you.

What were you thinking about for days afterward?

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6. THE GAP

A class, internship, volunteer role, or trip where reality pushed back on your assumptions. What did you expect?

What did you find instead?

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7. THE SMALL INJUSTICE

Something minor — someone treated unfairly in a meeting, a process that quietly disadvantaged someone.

Did you act? Why or why not?

Do you wish you had?

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8. THE DECISION YOU'D REVISIT

A call from the past year you've reconsidered — not because it went badly, but because you understand it differently now. What changed?

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9. THE LEADERSHIP MOMENT

A time you went from participant to decision-maker — even in a small context. What did you do that you didn't have to do?

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10. THE THING YOU KEPT THINKING ABOUT

A book, article, case, class discussion, or idea that you couldn't put down.

What was it? Why did it stick?

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🎯 YOUR LEVEL OF IMPACT CHECK-IN

From Stanford's Barometer of

Participation — ask yourself quarterly:

○ Showing Up

○ Showing Up for a Long Time

○ Leadership

○ Innovation

○ Advocacy

○ Legacy

Where are you right now?

What would the next ring require?

What's stopping you?

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⚡ THE THREE QUESTIONS BEHIND

EVERY STRONG PS

1. What happened (specifically)?

2. What did I actually learn (honestly)?

3. Where am I going because of it (and why does law get me there)?

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