Athletes going into law?

lexii123

Hi everyone, I'm wondering if there is anyone else here who was a student athlete in the US and is now getting ready to apply for law school. I feel like because I was an athlete and was very dedicated to my sport, my gpa suffered at times. I had a 3.5 undergrad GPA which I know is not very competitive. I'm wondering if being an athlete is very relevant to applications or if it makes it seem like I did not care much about my grades and chose sports over academics. If anyone can relate or has any knowledge of athletes who went to law school I would love to know about it because I haven't met anyone in the same position.

Keel1222

I think you're in a strong position to argue that through you personal statement. Also 3.5 not being very competitive is relative to what schools you want. There's plenty of great schools you could get into with a stellar LSAT and a lower gpa. (I'm doing this right now! Well maybe except for the stellar part, but a good score)

I wasn't a scholarship-earning athlete, but have spent my undergrad fighting in martial arts tournaments and training every day for that at a high competitive level. So grain of salt as the time restrictions on uni athletes are much harsher than hobbyist competitors. BUT I would say that athletic experience is a GREAT foundation for LSAT training. The drill, analyze, repeat structure is already familiar to you and is drastically different from pure academics. Honestly I'd be interested if any of 7sage's tutors have noticed this correlation too, but you're already in a good position mentally to really kill this test I think.

For you, just make sure your application package is the best representation of you. It seems you could go to a lot of darn good schools with proper LSAT prep and emphasizing your sport experience through references and the personal statement.

deflategate

Hi, I also was a collegiate athlete and was fortunate enough to have met several individuals who either ran track, played baseball, football in college and still attended law school and ended up having some pretty great careers. I think one of the best things you can do to get in touch with people like this is to contact with your athletic/academic counselors, and see if they can put you in touch with people who have gone down a path similar to yours. At my university, there was a program run through our athletic advising office where they connected us with mentors in who were former athletes in our career fields of interest. If there is something similar at your school you should definitely take advantage of it and try to make connections with these people! In my experience, they can be very helpful and reassuring about the whole process, and sometimes even offer to connect you with others or go over your application materials (personal statement, diversity statement, etc.)