Law school app- not sure if right place or not

[NickMPK]

[ QUOTE ]
I need to write an essay on 'interesting background experience' and I wrote about poker and it sounds like one big brag.

Roughly, poker has made me lots of money to do lots of cool things that most people cannot do. And I do it while working less, traveling more and at the end of the day I'm much happier than those 9-5 bastards.

Is this a really bad idea?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, your essay is rarely a deciding factor in law school admissions.
But if you are one of the few people on the border for whom it is a deciding factor, this sort of essay will probably get you rejected.

[El_Hombre_Grande]

The essay doesn't often matter. But this topic could be misinterpreted, so DON'T do it.

Write an generic essay about your love of nature and how you want to be an environmental lawyer and save the whales.

[BarryLyndon]

Tell them that you are a representative of a demographic they may be interested in. Then, discuss about how you went to a lot of countries, that you saw poor people, and that you want to bring your great stories about worldly affairs and your affinity for different foods/drinks to their law school. Then, add a nice paragraph about how you are interested in the law and how you want to utilize logic to a greater end ($, wearing a tie, going to a cocktail hour).

Barry

[eric3770]

I would write about some of the cool things you've done and places you've been but I would not advise bragging about how you did them because of poker.

Alternately, you could write about poker as a vehicle for learning math/logic or people skills or even as an interesting means of making a living. Just don't give the impression that money is what you like best about poker if you end up writing about it.

If your impression is that your essay seems like one big brag that's a good indicator that your essay might be reworked.

[Philo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I need to write an essay on 'interesting background experience' and I wrote about poker and it sounds like one big brag.

Roughly, poker has made me lots of money to do lots of cool things that most people cannot do. And I do it while working less, traveling more and at the end of the day I'm much happier than those 9-5 bastards.

Is this a really bad idea?

[/ QUOTE ]
You're much more successful and happier than those 9-5 bastards, but yet you want to go to law school and join them? Makes no sense.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, he said 9-5, not 9-midnight.

[Philo]

[ QUOTE ]
I need to write an essay on 'interesting background experience' and I wrote about poker and it sounds like one big brag.

Roughly, poker has made me lots of money to do lots of cool things that most people cannot do. And I do it while working less, traveling more and at the end of the day I'm much happier than those 9-5 bastards.

Is this a really bad idea?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it's ok to write about your poker experiences, but just don't come off sounding like an arrogant ass. What others have said about LSAT and GPA is correct--law schools focus almost exclusively on those quantitative factors in their initial decisions (with the LSAT score being more important in most cases), but an arrogant essay can send a red flag and a very good school could decide not to admit you since they have so many other highly successful students to choose among.