Nice story. I couldn’t imagine being a Division 1 player at a top program AND sitting in a law school classroom lecture every day of the week. Kudos to his parents because obviously they did a very good job.
Law school class time is probably a lot easier than an undergrad schedule. Fifteen hours per week in the classroom, classrooms usually in the same building, classmates usually in the same section so easy to contact for study groups. No running across campus for teacher’s office hours, no trying to schedule a needed class in the French building, or an art course that only meets from 2-5 on Tues when you have practice. All nice and compact in one place.
@twoinanddone In general, the first year of law school is generally much more intensive than undergrad work. While the classes/professors/peers might all be in one building, the amount and level of reading, writing assignments, class prep are a big jump from what is required for most undergrads.
A Notre Dame football player, Chris Stewart, went to law school during his last year of eligibility. He took a leave and played in the NFL for a few years, returned to law school, graduated, and is now clerking for a judge. Bright futures ahead for him andr the young man in the article noted above!
I wasn’t making a comment about the academic effort required, but of the ease of the scheduling. I actually found first year not that tough because I like reading much more than I liked math or science classes, and there were no midterms, just finals. I went to night school, worked all day, and was a better student than I was when I was an undergrad working 15 hours a week and running all over campus to go to this class or that lab. I found it helpful that other students had the same schedule as me, that I could study 2 or 3 subjects with the same group, that we didn’t have to find time in our schedules to coordinate a study time as we all had the same schedule (most of us worked full time).
The ones who had it hard were the students with families. They had to work, go to class, and somehow find time to spend with their kids.
Following up on what Happy1 said…
In law school, students are more likely to encounter a tyrannical and unhelpful teacher like Professor Kingsfield, rather than an affable and accommodating “Mr. Chips.” I admire anyone who can handle the former.
This is a nice story, but not exactly unprecedented. NFL Hall of Famer Alan Page, one of the best defensive linemen ever to play the game, earned his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School while holding down a “day job” as All-Pro defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings. He went on to a distinguished legal career after retiring from football, eventually becoming a Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, where he served with distinction for 22 years before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 earlier this year. Page was the first African-American to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Talk about inspiring!
"Law school class time is probably a lot easier than an undergrad schedule. " - I would not rely on this, I do not think it is correct. I am not familiar with the law school, but Med. School schedule is cruel, it is simply torturous all by itself without any other commitments. I also heard from the friend (her D. graduated from Law school just recently) that the writing assignments in the Law school are horrendous. So, to say that the Law school (or another Grad. school, like Med. school) is easier that UG is way out of synch with reality.
For me, law school was easier than undergrad. All the courses were of interest to me, they were all in the same place (one building), the profs all had offices in that building. It was 15 (for me 12 because I worked 40+ hours per week and went to night school) hours with the same group of students per week. No science labs, no math, no traveling to an internship at the State Capitol which took me 8+ hours of travel per week one semester. If someone had been paying 100% of my COA as is being paid for this athlete, I would have traded that for working 40+ hours a week in a second. As I said, I admired people like my co-worker who worked 40+ hours per week (for very little money), went to school at night, went home to a wife and two young children, and commuted about 30 miles one way every day (to another state, over bridges). He would have loved to have played basketball for his ‘job’.
I have a student athlete. She works hard. She doesn’t work harder than her sister who has to have a job because she doesn’t have a scholarship paying some of her costs like the athlete does. Her day is a lot more structured because she has time for class, time for working out, time for practice.
Some law students do have trouble with courses that involve writing, but I didn’t. Law students are in an atmosphere that they like, that they chose, and most thrive reading all the time, discussing cases, arguing. First year doesn’t have that much writing. My friend and study partner was an engineer and hadn’t written anything, had never had an essay exam in college. He struggled (he didn’t like to use commas, as they ‘hung below the line and looked messy’). A lot of the people struggled more with producing the papers because it was before the days of computers and those who couldn’t type needed to get the work done with enough time to pay a typist (sometimes me) to type the papers. We’re not talking novels, just 5-10 page papers. Study partner had something most of us didn’t - a secretary at work who could type his stuff up! This is no longer a problem because everyone has a computer and can type. The comma thing would still be an issue for poor Dan.
I remember when Alan Page began his legal career (I also remember when he was terrorizing the likes of John Brodie, Roman Gabriel, Johnny Unitas and other great NFL quarterbacks). He was also the first defensive player ever to win the league MVP award. Chief Justice Page is, and remains, an absolutely admirable fellow. Other NFL players who became lawyers include Jean Fugett, a great receiver for the Dallas Cowboys and later chairman of the conglomerate Beatrice TLC.
Good for this young man!! Kudos!
As a Notre Dame parent, it warms my heart to see two Notre Dame alums (Stewart and Page) used as examples above of how to balance school and sports at the highest levels. This striving for excellence (academics at the highest level and pursuit of a National Championship in every sport) is part of what makes Notre Dame so special.
The valedictorian of Notre Dame’s Class of 2015 was a student-athlete: http://news.nd.edu/news/57473-anna-kottkamp-named-2015-valedictorian/
Page played a Monday night game in SF and flew back the same night to attend a Tuesday morning class.