My First Semester in Law School

What comes to your mind when you hear "Law School"?

Some would say that it's all about thick and heavy books, expensive fees, sleepless nights, intimidating professors, depressing moments, little to no social life, and everything else that you might think of. In short, it is hard. Even Law students would agree to that, as well as those who are now lawyers, though Law students are usually the ones who assert it since most lawyers wouldn't scare you like that. In fact, lawyers would even encourage you to go to Law School and be a lawyer like them. But since none of us are lawyers yet, it might be easy to get overwhelmed by all these sentiments.

I have heard a lot of these things even before I entered Law School. Yes, I am now a Law student who just finished the first semester, and here I am, seeing to it whether I should debunk those or not. Haha!

After my PhiLSAT experience post, you might be looking forward to seeing how my first semester in Law School has been.

Before anything else, I would like to apologize for not replying to some of your PhiLSAT inquiries. I got very busy. I know it's kind of a lame excuse for some of you, but I can't seem to really find time to help you well during the hectic semester that has passed by. There were those who PMed me to ask for help regarding grammar and sentence correction, critical thinking, some possible references and reviewers, and everything else that I think should be given ample time and focus. But then again, I was focused on Law School, so I hope you understand.

Anyway, I really hope you all aced your PhiLSAT. For those planning to take the next PhiLSAT, all I could advise is to practice, practice, and practice. That is all there is to it. Find reviewers and exercises with answer keys to test yourself. Have a friend or a family member to coach you. He or she doesn't have to be an expert. Support and motivation are enough for them to give you in times of preparation. The internet is also your friend; use it to your advantage. Search what you don't understand. Watch YouTube videos if you have to. Another tip is that once you have your own technique in answering possible test questions, all you have to do is keep that in mind and answer as many other questions as you can. Like I said, practice is the key. I only spent about 2 days preparing and I still passed, how much more for you?

Without further ado, let us proceed.

So, how was my first semester in Law School?

Well, to tell you guys, Law School is almost exactly like what I mentioned above, but there is more to it than just that. Here are my sentiments so far during my first semester.

Books are indeed very costly, with prices ranging from around 1,500 to 2,500 pesos, coupled with an expensive tuition fee which will definitely make us guilty if ever we fail the subjects (God forbid). On a positive note, this will motivate us to study harder.

Of course, you will have sleepless nights since many of us study better if we pull an all-nighter. Personally, I do study late at night and continue it in the afternoon of the next day at the library. In Law School, my routine has been like: classes at 5:30 to 7:30 pm (or 9:30 pm in some days), go home, surf the internet a bit, study from 10 pm to 2 or 3 am, sleep, wake up at around 11 am, prepare for school, arrive at 1:30 pm, go to the library, study until 5 pm, and wait for the 5:30 pm class, then the cycle goes on. This is my routine from Monday to Saturday (classes on this day are only from 2 to 4 pm), and yes, we only have a Sunday to rest, unless we use this time for studying as well.

As for the professors, all of them might be intimidating when you first meet them because of their titles, since aside from Attorneys, there are also Deans, Judges, and Justices. But once you get to know them throughout the semester, some might still be intimidating, but others would turn out to be okay. Just stay as calm as you can when it comes to oral recitations. When professors reprimand you for not answering the question well, keep in mind that they are only trying to help you and giving you a glimpse of what it's like in the courtroom. Also, it is important that we get to hear from the upperclassmen about how they are like so that we can prepare accordingly since professors have different teaching styles. Some professors don't really require you to memorize everything word for word as long as you understood the provisions and cases, but some require you to do so. It is good to know what to expect, but nevertheless, we should just do our best either way.

As for the depressing moments, I can't deny that I have some of those moments as well, but usually, these would come from my intense fear of failing because aside from costs incurred in studying Law which we should not take for granted, I also have some sense of pride and that I hate disappointing anyone, especially my family. We get discouraged once in a while with just a failing score, but schooling has always been like that anyway.

Some also say that Law students don't have much social life. From my experience, that isn't entirely true, since, in Law School, I have met a lot of new friends. After our graduation in college, we won't get to meet our old friends as often as before anymore, and that is a reality that we have already accepted, but despite that, we end up gaining some friends in our next chapter in life.

With this, I can say that my block mates are awesome. We became close, and we have kept each other's sanity intact because, despite all these stress in Law School, we still have some time to unwind. We even watched a movie together as a block, since it was timely that there was a movie about Law School that was released, so we took the opportunity to watch it. If you're interested to know what movie it is, the title is "Bar Boys". If you're an aspiring lawyer like us, I highly recommend that you get a copy of this movie and watch it.

After watching Bar Boys :) Credits to the owner.

We also have some events sanctioned by our Association to promote camaraderie among colleagues such as the General Assembly, Testimonial Dinner, and our annual pageant for a cause which is for the bar operations where we raised some funds for the bar exam takers and volunteers. Since I was the President of the block, I had a hands-on effort in preparing most of these events along with the rest of the officers and my block mates as well.

After our General Assembly block presentation :) Credits to the owner.

Our former Dean's birthday party :) Credits to the owner.

Testimonial Dinner of new Bar Exam passers :) Credits to the owner.

A picture with our pageant representatives along with the support system for the photo shoot :) Credits to the owner.

At the pageant-slash-fundraising event :) Credits to the owner.

From my first-hand experience, Law School may be a walk in a Jurassic Park because of all the uncertainty on whether we may pass or not, as well as those oral recitations that would get us trembling every time and the surprise quizzes that leave us #shookt, but we should remember that we are not going through this alone. There may be some who would underestimate our struggle, but nevertheless, as long as we know that we're doing our best, that is all there is to it. 

Honestly, for the past five (5) months alone, I sacrificed almost everything. I sacrificed my work opportunities, my real estate profession, my blog, my time in social media, my hobbies and interests, and many others that I thought I would still have time for. The time that I could have used for all these were reserved for studying, and due to my time management skills, I managed to sneak in Korean Drama marathon once in a while, but that's just it. Watching Korean Drama for me helps because it makes me improve in picturing out different stories and relating Law concepts, and that's why I love making time for it, especially if the drama is related to Law as well.

Since I am a slow reader, I can never cram last minute. If I only have very little time to study, chances are, I would just cry and surrender for real. For major exams, I should already be studying at least 3 days ahead of the test day, or else I am doomed. Since I can't remember a lot of details by just reading once or twice, I have to read a case over and over again for about one week to master it. That is how slow I am, and it amazed me how I survived the semester. I am just thankful that we had the option to focus on either provisions or cases to use for answering essay questions, but one thing I learned is that I have to be faster in absorbing cases this time.

I can really say that a lot has happened during the past few months. Since most of us in the block are within the same age group, we can pretty much relate to each other. It was like the first day in college undergrad when it was easy to get close with everyone. We all have our own groups of friends, but we always find our way to come together as one.

We were also blessed with professors who helped us adjust. We were taught different things like how to correctly and convincingly answer essay questions and on how important it is to improve our handwriting. We were given some enlightening talks. They were like parent figures to all of us, and that is one of the things I love during my first stay in Law School.

With our favorite professor :) Credits to the owner.

I also learned that Law School is for those who are really interested to become a lawyer no matter what it takes and for those who can stay focused all throughout the semester. In just one semester, there were six (6) of my block mates who withdrew their enrollment. It's not that they weren't able to survive, but they simply realized that they had other plans.

With all the moments spent with my block mates and the adjustments we had with our professors and study habits, I'm not really sure if the previous semester went by too fast or too slow. If ever I would write a comprehensive blog post on the happenings during my semester, I may be able to name at least two (2) highlights per month, but I think this overview should be enough for now.

To sum it all up, my first semester in Law School was great, although it was bittersweet at some point, a journey would be boring without challenges. I am looking forward to the next semesters to come. I am expecting the next semesters to be more challenging, but I hope I'll get to survive until the end.

Till here :*