17 and in law school: meet Parker Rhoades

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — While most teenagers are figuring out high school, Parker Rhoades is figuring out law school. At just 17 years old, she’s the youngest student at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law.

“On the first day of orientation they were like there is a 37 year gap between the youngest and oldest student in this class from 17 to 54 and the second they said 17 everyone started looking,” Parker said laughing.

The days that followed, Parker said her peers kept coming up to her asking—so are you the 17-year-old?

When asked if she feels intimidated, Parker said no, which comes as no surprise given that she has always been ahead of the class. For example, in high school, Rhoades said, “they tried to reteach me Algebra 1… I had already learned Algebra 1, and I told them.”

On top of not letting her take any AP classes as a freshman, Parker began questioning whether it was worth staying.

“I went to my mom and I was like I can’t do this. So she withdrew me from my classes.”

Parker then looked into trade school where she figured she could go into plumbing…but that plan quickly went down the drain when the school found out she was only 15.

“They were like well you’re not going to be 16 so we actually can’t accept you this year.”

With plumbing off the table, Parker began exploring other paths.

“I wanted to do something to improve my country. I thought there were problems so I should fix them.”

She noticed that many politicians start out as lawyers, so she decided to pursue law herself.

“I was like I already think in systems of rules in my mind so I might be good at this.”

The first step was earning her GED.

“I had to wait until I was 16 to sign up for it and then I just took it as quickly as possible. I don’t mean to brag, I didn’t even have to study.”

From there, Parker moved on to college.

“I went through my undergrad in 17 months and got my degree in political science. I had a 4.0.”

Now, she’s in law school.

“So far, it’s not bad it’s just reading and stuff. I’ve heard it gets far worse.”

Before it does, Parker is already skipping ahead to the bar exam—and a potential roadblock. Utah requires test-takers to be 21, but she’ll only be 20 when she finishes law school.

But instead of letting her age stand in her way, Parker is taking her case straight to the Supreme Court justices.

“I spoke to one of them and they told me who to email at the Utah bar and then it goes up the chain and they see if they want to change the rule. But if it doesn’t get passed, I’ll try to do more, like lobby basically.”

For Parker, this isn’t just about her.

“I also think it’s inherently kind of unfair. Like your age has nothing to do with your ability to understand all the stuff that you need to understand.”

Until then, Parker says she’ll keep studying—and having fun along the way.

“I do research and stuff—I find that fun.”

Her end goal is to go into criminal defense or constitutional law.