poker on college application - Page 5

higher_energy · #41 12-20-2006, 08:29 AM

that was a monster post...

one more thing though. you probably have no clue as to what you want to do and if you do know, its kinda scary actually.

in any case, if you think you want to do finance - seriously consider being in NYC.

adanthar · #42 12-20-2006, 07:30 PM

Jeff,

You in particular have no need to go to a top notch school. In fact, for you in particular, a top notch school is an opportunity cost, possibly for six digits a year.

You need a school and a curriculum where you can make B+'s while doing absolutely nothing. If you lived in Cali, I would recommend their community colleges because they're absolutely perfect for you/can get you into Berkeley two years from now if you're so inclined. Since you don't, look into similar type situations in the Northeast.

Keep in mind that if you stop with a college degree, your education will be absolutely useless for anything you do, because you are capable of making mid six figures from now until the end of time and therefore will never work 'for' anybody with a BA/BS. The only thing you can do that would net you more than that is Wall Street work, for which you can simply go to grad school.

Anyway, as to recommendations/personal statements, just play up the Magic/starting a successful business stuff and ignore poker.

ActionJeff · #43 12-20-2006, 07:37 PM

Adanthar,

that's pretty much the perspective I've embraced.

Higher_Energy,

Thanks a lot for the well thought out post. I'm gonna add a few more colleges to my list and go with your approach and hope for the best. I don't think I will include poker on the apps for other colleges, but I will give it a shot for ones that I wouldn't get into otherwise.

Writing an essay about my success at poker and my life experiences playing competitive games should be enjoyable anyway. I certainly like talking about it hehe

higher_energy · #44 12-20-2006, 07:41 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Jeff,

You in particular have no need to go to a top notch school. In fact, for you in particular, a top notch school is an opportunity cost, possibly for six digits a year.

You need a school and a curriculum where you can make B+'s while doing absolutely nothing. If you lived in Cali, I would recommend their community colleges because they're absolutely perfect for you/can get you into Berkeley two years from now if you're so inclined. Since you don't, look into similar type situations in the Northeast.

Keep in mind that if you stop with a college degree, your education will be absolutely useless for anything you do, because you are capable of making mid six figures from now until the end of time and therefore will never work 'for' anybody with a BA/BS. The only thing you can do that would net you more than that is Wall Street work, for which you can simply go to grad school.

Anyway, as to recommendations/personal statements, just play up the Magic/starting a successful business stuff and ignore poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

ok this sounds great except that this is probably the worst advice in this thread on so many levels

college is a no-brainer....i won't get into to the benefits of having the degree down the line and the "stability" of online poker as a source of income.
do you REALLY want to be doing this your whole life without a solid opportunity to switch into a different field?

wall street with a mediocre grades from a community college....good luck with that.
no my bad, you are sending him to grad school first? what is he going to do there and where do you think he will be admitted?

adanthar · #45 12-20-2006, 07:59 PM

[ QUOTE ]
wall street with a mediocre grades from a community college....good luck with that.
no my bad, you are sending him to grad school first? what is he going to do there and where do you think he will be admitted?

[/ QUOTE ]

I went from Marymount Manhattan College (you've never heard about it for many good reasons) to a top 10 law school following exactly the same path that I just told him to do. The college you go to means maybe 1/3 as much as the grades you get there, which in turn mean 1/3 as much as the LSAT for law school and 1/3 as much as work experience for B-school. In the meantime, four years of actually having to study at a real school costs somebody with AJ's talent at least half a million dollars, if not more than that. These are not numbers you make up with slightly increased career prospects or whatever unless you go to Harvard (and probably not then/Harvard won't take him anyway.)

If he feels like quitting poker and applying himself 100% to school/poker looks like it's going to die, he can do it four years from now when the quality of the school he goes to actually matters.

higher_energy · #46 12-20-2006, 08:05 PM

ok it depends as always and you are an exception
i am guessing that you killed the LSATs

there is a myriad of other reasons why AJ should still pursue a college degree, even if he is giving up 500k, but i am bored to type them right now

adanthar · #47 12-20-2006, 08:08 PM

obv, but with his 1510 that shouldn't be a problem.

I never said he shouldn't go to school - of course he should, and if he goes to a CC of course he should transfer to a real college in two years. He simply shouldn't go to a school that's challenging for him, because it isn't worth the opportunity cost.

good2cu · #48 12-21-2006, 02:30 AM

Actionjeff,

What do you want out of college?

lastsamurai · #49 12-21-2006, 04:16 AM

I totally agree with adanthar...you could go to a JC in cali, attend every class..and get a 3.0 just for showing up....all the classes i dropped out of i took at a local JC and got A's w/ little/no effort.

plus 4 hours away from vegas...and poker rooms in so cal are better than the ones in vegas/AC

Allinlife · #50 12-21-2006, 05:36 AM

I put poker on my application for waterloo chem engineering and got in if that means anything to you.. I basically said I put in efforts/ learned to manage risks / developed good analytical thinking and that I made enough to pay off tution.