John F. Kennedy Jr. didn’t take the straightest path to the bar. After cutting his teeth at elite prep schools like Phillips Academy and Collegiate School, he landed at Brown University in 1979. He spent four years there, diving deep into American history and graduating in 1983.
But academia wasn’t his only obsession.
Fresh off his Brown degree, JFK Jr. had a distinct interest in performance. He didn’t stay on the academic track exclusively; instead, he stepped onto amateur stages in New York City. These weren’t minor roles. He appeared in a number of productions, showcasing a flair for the dramatic that would later define his public persona.
His mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, had other plans.
She urged him to pivot toward law. So, he traded scripts for statutes, enrolling at New York University to earn his law degree. He crossed the finish line in 1989, but the final hurdle proved steeper than expected.
The bar exam is notoriously brutal.
JFK Jr. failed it twice.
Two strikes and he was out? Not quite. He went back to the drawing board. On his third attempt, he finally passed. The road to becoming a lawyer was paved with retries, but he made it across the finish line.
“He failed the bar exam twice before passing on a third attempt.”
This persistence became a defining trait. It wasn’t just about getting the degree. It was about proving he could handle the pressure. The acting roles faded, but the legal credentials stuck.
Years later, the image of JFK Jr. holding a law journal would dominate covers. The actor was gone. The lawyer remained. But those early stage experiences? They never really left him. They shaped how he spoke. How he moved. How he connected with an audience that wasn’t just in a courtroom.
It’s a reminder that education isn’t always linear. Sometimes it’s a series of detours. A few failures. And one final, hard-won pass.
