Poker as a Personal Statement topic?

NicholasDay

Hello everyone! Quick question:

I've been thinking long and hard about my personal statement and I've decided that I can write the most enthusiastic paper about a poker experience that I have had. I believe that this is a great story and would really catch the attention of perspective admissions staff. However, I am concerned that the subject matter may be viewed negatively, as poker / gambling can come with a stigma.

What do you all think about this?

jurisprudent

I would tread carefully here. Gambling isn't necessarily illegal everywhere, so I would just make it clear that you were in a legalized setting (i.e. casino) and participating recreationally as opposed to anything else.

Alex

@NicholasDay said:
Hello everyone! Quick question:

I've been thinking long and hard about my personal statement and I've decided that I can write the most enthusiastic paper about a poker experience that I have had. I believe that this is a great story and would really catch the attention of perspective admissions staff. However, I am concerned that the subject matter may be viewed negatively, as poker / gambling can come with a stigma.

What do you all think about this?

Hard to say without more information. Are you going to be able to construct a narrative that tells the reader about you as a person and why you are a qualified candidate? If so, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with this topic. As @"yeram.choi" said, tread carefully.

nicole.brooklyn

I would need a lot more context to weigh in here. Like, were you an undercover reporter during the World Series of Poker and afterward you penned a best-selling memoir of the experience? Did you used to play poker with your grandfather's friends when you visited him in his old folks' home, where you'd hear stories about the Second World War, the first railroad passenger trains, etc.? Or, are you 100k in gambling debt and this is the first story you shared at Gamblers Anon before finding your true friends and a path to debt-free living?

This could go a lot of different ways! Scenarios 1 & 2 that I've described sound ok to me, but Scenario 3 is big, bright red flag. Anything that hints at compulsive behavior or addiction is a no-go in my book. You never know -- an adcom member might have a compulsive gambler in their fam & you could be hitting a sore point w/ someone.

LSATcantwin

Idk why but just the idea of a poker personal statement made me excited. It's like "what's this guy gotta say?" Kinda feeling. Of course, I'm some random Internet dude and not an admissions officer. Take it for what little it's worth haha

plantbaseddiya

I am sure admissions reads mind numbing personal statements about the same topics and themes over and over. Be creative, be bold, be daring. That's what a great future attorney is. As long as it is well written and meaningful- You will be fine. I'm sure you're smart enough to not write about something illegal so I have full faith that whatever it is, it will be good content and worthy of making a story out of. Best of luck-

Cant Get Right

I think poker is a great mechanism to tell a story. There's not a thing in life that poker doesn't provide a perfect yet cliched metaphor for. You do have to be careful though, as others have suggested. You're not likely to find someone in the admissions office who already gets the context, and you don't have the space to paint a picture of what playing 5/10 cash games on the local circuit (or whatever) is like. That puts your essay on unstable footing that really just depends on the admissions officer reading it. I wrote a draft PS about my time in poker that I ultimately didn't go with. Basically, I quit the game immediately after proving to myself I could go pro, so I was able to tell a cool poker story with lots of lingo (they love the lingo, lol) while focusing on the downsides of pro poker and my personal motivations for leaving it. It was a cool PS, some real Teddy KGB kind of plays. Ultimately, I wanted something that helped flesh out my resume a little, so opted to write about a professional experience that contextualized my work experience. Anyway, I felt like focusing on leaving poker would defend against some of the potential for them taking a negative view. If you're going to law school, I assume you're able to talk about the downsides of that life and motivations for getting out, so I think that's a good way to frame it if you decide to go with that.