Writing my College Essay on Poker?

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Did you recently watch Risky Business by chance??

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nh, sir.

Dude, seriously, do not write your essay on poker, they will think you are a degenerate gambler who will flunk out after first semester.

An essay can be about anything. It's the writing as much as it is the story. Just as long as it's more about yourself than the game, it can be a great admissions essay. Write what you're passionate about. If you're a poker player, write about poker. This is representing you, not the cliche HS Senior.

FWIW, I go to Northwestern and got in writing my essay about juggling.

--Go Cats!

[wall_st]

Dear humboldt,

I love weed it is really important to me and I smoke it every day. If I come to your school I think I could really do some serious smoking. Right now I smoke all of the time (NEARLY EVERYDAY!) and I know all about it, I can tell apart buds that look nearly identical to the average person. I know how you should handle different types of buds when you are growing them because I have a lifetime subscription to high times! In my free time I enjoy posting on the high times internet message boards, in fact I posted there just before writing this essay! What do I have to offer your university ? Well nothing really unless you have a major in hyrdroponics (LOL IM SO HIGH RIGHT NOW!)

Replace the following words with their equivalent:

Weed, Smoking = Poker/playing poker
Hydroponics = Game theory
handle different types of buds = When to re raise against a UTG raiser
High Times = 2+2

This is how your college essay will read to anyone. This includes anyone with a background in poker. If someone from high school writes in about how they like to do some borderline illegal activity how do you think things will play out ?

I am applying to get my MBA right now. During which time I will support myself via poker. The last thing on my mind is writing about poker, because I understand how the general public views it, as GAMBLING! Some people no matter how smart and well educated will just view you as some degenerate moron who will do nothing for their school. In fact you will probably be viewed as a very high liability to dropout.

Why do you think there are so many posts on these boards concerning talking about confrontations concerning gambling between loved ones. If your loved ones cannot understand something like that how will people WHO ARE PAID TO JUDGE YOU FOR A LIVING VIEW YOU ?

[raptor517]

not the best idea.. but could be interesting.. you may get someone that is intrigued by it. dont make it sound like its a problem. just talk about it in a statistical sense and maybe break down some terms, etc, and show how based on math, its a very beatable game. they will eat it up. im doing a sociology paper on leadership on doyle brunson. gotta see if he'll schedule an interview with me. would be teh pwnz. holla

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It really depends. When I was applying for colleges, I knew I'd get accepted into wherever and the essay I wrote didn't matter.

If you're not a shoe in for these schools, and your essay is going to be a key tipping point...you'd hate for it to be about poker.

As an aside, I bet there are thousands of dumbass teenagers this year saying, "omg I'm gonna write about POKAH!!!!" Not saying you're a dumbass, it's probably just not nearly as unique as you think.

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Where (did you end up / are you going)?

That's great, but I don't think the admissions committee is going to worry about someone having a juggling problem. Gambling, on the other hand, is a serious concern. The people on your admissions committe will be my age (36) or older, most likely, and will not know enough about poker to be impressed, and will immediately be turned off by some kid with nothing better to write about than gambling on the internet. Go work for Habitat for Humanity, or volunteer at a shelter and write about that, they eat that stuff up. Unless you are really borderline on getting in, it really should not make that much difference. But writing it on poker is definitely -EV.
GL

[The4Aces]

you could write about the sterotypes with poker and how you dont fit the mold. AKA your not addicted to gambling. Bankroll managment [censored] like that.

[BrettP217]

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That's great, but I don't think the admissions committee is going to worry about someone having a juggling problem. Gambling, on the other hand, is a serious concern. The people on your admissions committe will be my age (36) or older, most likely, and will not know enough about poker to be impressed, and will immediately be turned off by some kid with nothing better to write about than gambling on the internet. Go work for Habitat for Humanity, or volunteer at a shelter and write about that, they eat that stuff up. Unless you are really borderline on getting in, it really should not make that much difference. But writing it on poker is definitely -EV.
GL

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OK OK
i wont write about poker

ill go with the above bull [censored] approach...hold the applause

Im a pussy

[raptor517]

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That's great, but I don't think the admissions committee is going to worry about someone having a juggling problem. Gambling, on the other hand, is a serious concern. The people on your admissions committe will be my age (36) or older, most likely, and will not know enough about poker to be impressed, and will immediately be turned off by some kid with nothing better to write about than gambling on the internet. Go work for Habitat for Humanity, or volunteer at a shelter and write about that, they eat that stuff up. Unless you are really borderline on getting in, it really should not make that much difference. But writing it on poker is definitely -EV.
GL

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OK OK
i wont write about poker

ill go with the above bull [censored] approach...hold the applause

Im a pussy

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stfu, dont be a pussy, write it on poker. just do it right. holla

[lorinda]

How about taking the negative angle and mix it in with your knowledge of actual play and rules.

"Player 123 would go bust because he simply did not understand Concept xyz..... he could have stopped this occuring by simply <lowering stakes/understanding Concept abc/whatever"

"Player 345 was underrage, which is bad for the industry because...."

"Player 456 was a compulsive gambler. While the industry does direct people to gambling helplines, these helpful pieces of info are usually small and hard to find...."

I suspect that it's a significantly more popular essay than it has been in other years, maybe put a fresh (for the college guys) slant on it. Every other essay will be saying how they play poker, and win at it. You can drop this in there but in disguise.

Just a thought,

Lori